new puppy play fighting with older dog

we have recently (3 days) got an 8 week old Huskamute puppy and he is a little star. We already have a 6 yr old collie/staffi cross who has the greatest temprament of any dog I have known. we made sure that the puppy stayed with his mum and litter mates to learn basic behaviours for the first 8 weeks before bringing him home. He was definately the dominant dog of the litter.

Now he is at home he (Nanuq) and our other dog (Merlin) love to play fight Merlin being for the most part very gentle with Nanuq. Nanuq however seems to go for it with Merlin and nips and bites at Merlin who has a few times put him in his place. Now don't get me wrong they get on brilliant I just want some reasurance that this is normal behaviour and Merlin is 'teaching' Nanuq how to act.

That sounds to me like Merlin is doing a great job of teaching Nanuq dog manners...if you had said Merlin never puts him in his place, I would've been worried, equally so if you had said that his 'tellings off' were too aggressive.

Sounds like Merlin is an excellent role model You are lucky to have him - husky mixes can be very noisy in their playing whcih can make it appear less playful but it sounds like Merlin will tell Nanuq off if/ when needs be

Absolutely agree with the above answers, it sounds to be working out perfectly. We had a problem with our older dog NEVER putting the pup in her place. We had to intervene when she got too much for him, but of course, as the dog trainer alway said "But it has to come from HIM", and it never did, not unless food was involved!
This sounds to be the right balance, congratulations, and i really hope they end up being best mates, it sounds as if it is going in the right direction!