Community Chat

[CrazyDaisy]

First congratulations on your new puppy, it is always exciting and scary at the same time.

To answer your first question, yes having one or more dogs relieving themselves in the house is going to complicate house training.  The puppy is going to be very confused since it will smell the same to him inside and out.  Extra precautions need to be made to make sure everything is properly cleaned inside and new smells contained.

Going from older dogs to a high energy puppy is going to be a big change.  Find a trainer that uses positive reinforcement techniques.  Making a dog work mentally is just as tiring as physically.  You want to build a positive relationship with your puppy not one of domination.

Lastly with older pets, let them get to know the puppy at their own pace.  Some may be interested in minutes while other may take months.  You may need to give them separate spaces till everyone is comfortable with the new addition.  Forcing everyone into "one big happy family" can backfire.  You may want to look at doggy day care places close by.  It gives the puppy a place to run and play on his own as well as the older dogs a break.

Good Luck, enjoy the new addition.

[dennylilly]

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@Shanus wrote:

@dennylilly. Sadie our beagle was 9 when we got Molly as 10 wk. old puppy. Sadie somewhat perked up since Molly wanted to play. House training was easier since Molly followed Sadie out the doggie door. 

We did do immediate obedience/puppy classes for both for basic commands which helped a lot.

I never believed in pee pads. Counter intuitive since teaching dog it's OK to pee in the house. As puppies, we walked them & took them to same spots to "get the idea". Take puppies every every hour, when they wake up, after playing/chewing & after eating. They form their pattern of "potty". 

Watch your other pets for any jealously or nipping/rough playing. Supervise, but don't intervene. They all need to establish their own hierarchy. 

Watch for any problems at feeding time & if necessary, feed new puppy in separate room. Crate train puppy immediately so he can be in a safe place when you can't watch him. 

I guess that's my best advice. It worked w/ my beagles and after the first few months of some scuffles over who's dominate, they now cuddle up together on the dog bag and share a water bowl (separate food dishes). 

Good luck!!!

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I thank you.  I was planning on crate training and agree with you on these tips

[dennylilly]

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@on the bay wrote:

@dennylilly~

Something you might want to think about-

Since you have elderly pets now, when one or more gets sick and need extra attention, that in itself becomes a fulltime pet mama job. Not just giving medication, but taking to the vet, extra love and care special diet, cleaning up additional accidents. 

I think our senior pets deserve all the love and care and attention in their last years, especially all the unconditional love they have given to us.

A puppy is also a full-time job. How will you deal with both a puppy and if you need to, one or more ill seniors as well?

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My Yorkie was deaf, blind and had few teeth and was given his meals seperate from the others and was well taken care of despite having 4 other pets to care for.  I am up for the job!  He died in his sleep at 15.  My pets are well loved and taken care of.  I am dissapointed that so much focus is on how wrong a puppy is regarding the other pets-- I was concerned with training--not hurting my older animals. This has come as a surprise to me to be honest.  I more thought the puppy would bring some life and fun back to the old ones.

[dennylilly]

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@CrazyDaisy wrote:

First congratulations on your new puppy, it is always exciting and scary at the same time.

To answer your first question, yes having one or more dogs relieving themselves in the house is going to complicate house training.  The puppy is going to be very confused since it will smell the same to him inside and out.  Extra precautions need to be made to make sure everything is properly cleaned inside and new smells contained.

Going from older dogs to a high energy puppy is going to be a big change.  Find a trainer that uses positive reinforcement techniques.  Making a dog work mentally is just as tiring as physically.  You want to build a positive relationship with your puppy not one of domination.

Lastly with older pets, let them get to know the puppy at their own pace.  Some may be interested in minutes while other may take months.  You may need to give them separate spaces till everyone is comfortable with the new addition.  Forcing everyone into "one big happy family" can backfire.  You may want to look at doggy day care places close by.  It gives the puppy a place to run and play on his own as well as the older dogs a break.

Good Luck, enjoy the new addition.

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Thank you sooo much!  I love the idea for the puppy to go to the doggie daycare for friends of her own age LOL

[faeriemoon]

Not sure why you asked for opinions in the first place.  You said in your original post you were planning to wait until your senior pets passed, but the opportunity for this puppy presented itself.  Many here are agreeing with your first instinct to wait.

Good luck in whatever you decide.  

[KingstonsMom]

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@faeriemoon wrote:

Not sure why you asked for opinions in the first place.  You said in your original post you were planning to wait until your senior pets passed, but the opportunity for this puppy presented itself.  Many here are agreeing with your first instinct to wait.

Good luck in whatever you decide.  

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@faeriemoon

No kidding....don't ask for advice and then get snarky if the responses you get are not what you want to hear.

Clicking my 'ignore' button now......

"FOR THE OTHER POSTERS :

As far as not being sure about getting the puppy, I have been sure- was only dreading the training part....I did not EVER feel i would hurt my seniors by getting one.  I still don't think it will hurt them.  I had three dogs and two cats until my 15 year old Yorkie died a few years ago...so I am fully capable of taking care of all my pets and spending the time necessary to give them the best care,  My Yorkie was a pain in the butt his whole life --yet he was well loved and taken care of till the old age of 15.  So those of you thinking I don't know the first thing about caring for multiple and old pets... I have to 12 year old dogs and two 16 year old cats!  That doesn't happen when you don't have a clue...."

[CamilleP]

I'm with most of the other respondents, I would not advise you to get a puppy at this time.  However, if you are bound and determined to get a puppy, then I have one absolute piece of advice for you.  GET A REAL FENCE!  There is no way a wiggly little puppy should ever be asked to learn to handle the shocks of an "invisible" fence!  You are already asking a HUGE amount of behavior changes for this baby; new house, new people, senior pets to respect, house-training, no momma, no littermates.  Putting a shock collar on that puppy is quite apt to turn it into a terrified little mass of confusion and fear!  Under no circumstances should you get a puppy unless you can install permanent, real fencing.  If you can not or will not get a real fence, then wait to get a puppy until both your senior dogs have crossed the Bridge, so you can safely spend 100% of your time training a new puppy to safely live in your house and yard and eliminate appropriately.  All it would take is one moment's inattention while you are outside with your dogs for your puppy to go right through that "invisible fence" and be run over by a car, and as long as you have two senior dogs as well as a puppy to pay attention to, you cannot possibly give 100% of your attention to the puppy.

[BriggsiePeawiggle]

I just got a 3 month old puppy and have a 7 year old dog. The 7 year old was raised with another dog who recently passed, and he was grieving, so I thought a puppy would cheer him up. At first he was SO MAD at me, but they have become fast friends already. This is what we did. (Our pup is VERY smart, so it wasn't hard.) We allowed Bentley, our 7 year old, to have the run of the house as always, but Charlie, the new pup is not allowed down the hallway to the bedrooms. This gives Bentley a place to escape when he no longer feels like having a puppy jumping all over him to play. He wouldn't have anything to do with the pup at first....then they started to play in the yard, but Bentley wouldn't allow play in the house. Then finally after about 3 weeks he started to play with him in the livingroom. Now they really are buddies. They ride in the back seat of my van together. I always take them to the vet as a pair -- even if only one has an appointment -- because the car trips seem to bond them more closely.  We are lucky that Bentley is a very very gentle dog. He has "warned" the pup a few times when pup bit him too hard in play, and it sounds like he's going to kill him, but he never hurts him at all. There is NO play without one of us supervising all the time, and when the puppy gets a little too exhuberant, we break it up. Puppy has learned what STOP means and ENOUGH. 

[Drythe]

@dennylilly

As a lifetime dog & cat Mommers, I believe in multiple generations.  I have never felt in anyway that I was being unfair to any of my beloved family.  The younger ones learn family life from the older ones, and the youngsters learn to respect and appreciate their advice and counsel.

Of course this blending will take time & work on your part, life will be a circus for a while, but you already know this from experience and are willing to commit to it.   I have never use pee pads, but I see you are planning to remove them.

Best wishes & much joy to you and your blended family.

[dennylilly]

I agree with you that said I was snarky and not accepting the advice that I ASKED for.  Yes and I apologize for that.  I guess I did not expect the reactions I got from some of you.  I also found some of you seem to feel the generations can be a benefit.  So I DO appreciate ALL of your input that I asked for and will take each and every comment to heart and think over all of these things.  So please accept my apologies those that I was not nice to.  I am a nice person so I don't want those statements to be the only way I present myself.  I was reading these posts to my daughter and she said the same thing to me!

I do want to clear something up.  i will not use the invisible fence for the puppy for a VERY LONG TIME.  I will not use the doggy door either right away.  The puppy will be with me in my home office, bedroom or crate at all times so I can keep her from peeing in the house.  Therefore she will not be outside loose in our unfenced yard.  At some point I will introduce the fence in the same way I taught my other dogs-- it involves much training and only one time do they get the shock-which is like static electric shock- I felt it-it does not hurt the dog it just corrects them.  They are warned by a beep and need to never be shocked again.  They learn the beep first.  Belive me I would not hurt my dogs....