Training New Puppy Older Dog Interfering

Hi all,

Just need a few tips. My husband and I (mostly) successfully raised and trained Penny, our puppy-mill Pomeranian, who is now a 1.5 years old, neutered female. (I know, we were idiotic getting a puppy-mill puppy, we got scammed, we genuinely didn't know, we've donated to ASPCA to try to expiate our sins).

Penny's now a pretty well adjusted, decently-socialized, obedient and loving little pup, so my husband and myself felt like we were pretty good at the whole dog-raising thing.

Hah. Maybe not so much, actually. We decided it was time Penny had a little brother, so this time we went with highly reputable breeder, AKC puppy, great bloodlines blah blah blah. We ended up with Parker (we call him Parker the Pestiferous or Parker the Barker, depending), a 3 month old male Pomeranian who arrived 4 days ago. He's turning out to be quite a challenging little guy actually. Very, very resistant to crate or even playpen, screams like maniac in playpen even when I am in the room! Absolutely PETRIFIED of NYC streets... But that's not my question (for this thread anyway)...

Mainly what I'm asking now is how do you work with a new puppy when the older dog keeps getting in the way?

Penny barrels in as soon as I get the treats out, she pushes into new pup's crate any time she can, esepcially if I'm trying to put a stuffed kong in there or something (and really, who can blame her?) How can I possibly keep Penny out of Parker's crate?

She's also constantly trying to snatch treats from the poor little guys' mouth when I am trying to train things like simple sit etc..

I know Penny's jealous. We've spent loads of time giving her extra attention. She generally loves her new brother and cries when he goes to sleep because she wants to play with him. (They are mostly playing really well, maybe a little too growly, but I supervise closely and give time outs for growling - we're getting there...)

So what's the secret for working with one dog at a time in a multi-dog household? I mean I could put Penny in Parker's playpen while I work with Parker, but I'd hate for her to feel my attention to the new pup is 'punishing' her. Any suggestions?

Since they have only been together for four days you can understand Penny getting in the way a little. In time I reckon Parker will learn so much from her. In the meantime while your working with him maybe OH could take Penny out for a walk or into the garden
Good to hear both dogs have a lovely home, no matter where they came from

I used to crate one and let them observe while training the other and then swap them over and let the older dog go through their tricks etc rewarding each in turn. I also do group training and the others have to sit and wait while each dog in turn gets given a trick to do. It's amazing how much the youngster can pick up from observing the older dogs in action. As for Penny barrelling in for treats teach her or practice her "leave it" command and get her to sit for a treat.

Ok, thanks Eileen, so yeah, Penny's behavior is pretty standard eh? Thing is in these tiny little one bedroom NYC apartments there ain't no garden (unless you look in our rubbish bins... ) and no way to really isolate Penny except by confinement.

Poor hubby's working hard for the money, leaving me at home with the 'kids' all day. He can walk Penny in the evening, and I can train while they are out, but I'd like to also work with little Parker the Barker during the day...

And for heaven's sake she just will not stay out of Parker's crate! I tried putting extra delicious things in Penny's crate - she's not interested. I tried reverse psychology - locking Penny in Parker's crate while we did fun things with Parker outside the crate... she wanted to get out, but as soon as I opened the door she came out and went right back in again. Arrgh! Thanks for listening. (I probably need some dog-mommy therapy at this point... two dogs = waaay more work than double one dog...)

Ahh, ok, Trouble, thanks. So yeah, put Penny in her own crate and close the door while working on crate-training Parker... can try that. Can't really keep Parker in crate unless he's sleeping because he's still really a big crier and whiner about being 'locked in'. His breeder obviously didn't confine the pups so he's pretty resistant. He's getting better but I don't want to rush it and give him a negative association to his crate. Sigh.

Oh, yeah, and the old 'leave it' command. We haven't practiced that with Penny for a long time. Will try that. Thanks Eileen and Trouble for the help.

PennysMaid,
A one bedroom NYC apartment, garden or no,sounds like heaven to me. Have been to New York twice,both times stayed in Manhattan...oh absolutely loved it,shoppers paradise!!
I think you're definately on the right track with what you're doing,just maybe take a few more days for all to settle in....huge changes for all concerned Puppies as a general rule are mad as hatters,Penny will soon let him know when he's crossed the line

Congratulations on your new arrival and kudos to you for bringing up a well balanced Pomeranian (fantastic little dogs I love them - one jumps out the hedge on my staffie X, everytime we walk past and barks like crazy, my dog can never quite make out what it is!).

Anyways - I think you've giving yourself a really hard time and I'd give up all training for say 3 weeks until Penny has got used to this little creature around and Barker has orientated himself to his new home - if I were you, I'd stick with playing games, making a fuss of them both and allowing them to bond, Penny will adjust and leave you to it when the novelty has worn off.

I do envy you - I'd love a second dog to train.

I have recently got another dog and its the first time I've had two together. Tonks come running the second she hears the clicker, so if I want to train without her I either put her in another room or in Remus' crate. It's not a punishment because I always give her a chew, bone or kong.

I can't imagine having a dog for 3 weeks and not doing any training. You can still play games, bond and have loads of fun but training only takes 5 minutes about 3 times a day and at this age they are like a sponge and just soak up whatever you teach them. The established dog will not just leave you alone to get on with it and the novelty of treats never wears off. It's not difficult to find 5 minutes here and there to fit in a bit of training. When I brought my youngest home I already had 6 dogs and the amount she picked up just by copying them is astounding. It's also a great opportunity to teach them all to wait their turn and having 7 dogs lined up all ignoring gravy bones until told "ok" is definitely achievable so two should be no problem. To be honest training is ongoing all the time in this house the dogs are just not aware of it half the time.

Ok, great feedback everyone, thanks.

Thanks for the congrats, Baxter8, you're probably right that I don't need to be expecting absolute perfect puppy and dog behavior after 4 days - I could cut us all a break And yeah, Poms are so great aren't they? Really intelligent (generally), and with these big personalities. Helps that they're unbelievably cute too.

Remus and Tonks... hah, I love it. Thanks catrinsparkles, yeah, I'll try crating Penny with a yummy kong (though she's going to get fat with all these extra treats she's been scamming).

Wow Trouble, seven dogs???!!! That's impressive. Well, I'm afraid Penny's not quite that well behaved, she was a puppy mill pup so she's still a very reactive young dog. Can't imagine her sitting still waiting for her turn to take a treat, lol, so we are going to take both Penny and Parker to group obedience together. I'm sure Penny can use the refresher. And yeah, I do small 5 minute sessions with Parker, try to keep it fun like a game. He's got 'sit' down already!

Ok, well, as I type this Penny is in Parker's crate chewing on the hollow stuffable bone that's tied in there. I gave up fighting her for today. Doesn't seem to matter that she has the same toy in her crate - has to be HIS crate and HIS toy, of course. Sigh.

Thanks again for the help everyone. I'm sure I'll figure out a system here. Should I make a different thread for Parker's more serious issues? Like his abject fear of Manhattan and catatonia in puppy playgroup etc?