We have a 1 year old border collie female; we just got another puppy that is now 12 weeks old. The thing is if the puppy does something wrong during the puppies training the older dog thinks she is in trouble. Or when we are trying how to train puppy like sit or stay the older dog feels left out and gets upset and wants extra attention making it hard to focus on the puppy. I feel bad if I put her in her puppy training crate while I train him because she looks at me like she feels left out. I know we needed to give her extra attention, but the thing is the puppy is having hard time learning. Its really like monkey see monkey do. And if the older dog is not there he does not know what to do. What can I do that both dogs would benefit. There both very sweet and good tempered. They’re like my kids. when I put the puppy in the puppy training crate he throws the biggest fit and will whine, bark and cry to be with her if they are seperated. It makes it tough to crate train puppy. He is more attached to her then me.
This is often the case when you have 2 dogs living together.You mention that your puppy will throw the biggest fit if he’s seperated from your older dog and that he’s more attached to her then you.This often happens when the puppy becomes more reliant on the older dog for companionship, play and communication.When we purchased our 2nd dog, we trained, walked, played and fed him separately from our older bitch as a big part of the puppies training.
Yes your older dog may look as if she feels left out but it’s in the best interest of both dogs if done this way.Walking your puppy seperatly etc gives you time to strengthen your relationship with your puppy and devote much needed training time and socilisation.
Many people assume when they get a new pup that it will learn off the older dog and be socilised by the older dog, this is not totally the case, as older dogs also teach puppies bad behaviours, thought hey do help to stop a puppy biting. Socilisation needs to be done separately away from your older dog, so the puppy builds his own confidence up without relying on your older dog.
Again training needs to be done separately; if possible join a puppy training class where just you and your puppy go and spend quality bonding time together. Commit to a quality how to train puppy program. At home you could train in a different room to your older dog. It’s important you build a strong bond up with both dogs so they dont become to engrossed in each other, as training becomes very difficult when both dogs won’t listen to you as they don’t value you as high ranking as they do each other. Good luck.
14 Responses
2008 Oct 25
i have 2 germN SHEPARDS AND 1 PUPPY SO I PUT THE 2 OTHA DOGS IN A OTHER ROOM OR OUTSIDE AND JUST TRAIN THE PUPPY
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2008 Oct 25
bring the dog over a relatives house when you are training her
or have someone in your family take her/him for a walk while you are training the new one.
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2008 Oct 25
I had a 9 year old dog that still wanted to "join in" and felt left out. Your 1 year old is still a puppy herself.
Involve both dogs in training. Tie one up for 3 minutes or so, train the other. Then swap over.
It teaches the dogs a number of valuable things.
1.) To stay calm when the other one gets attention, knowing their turn will come soon.
2.) "Watching" also teaches something.
3.) Nobody feels left out as they are all part of the fun.
If they one tied up on the lead barks and carries on, ignore it. The moment it is quiet, dash over, give it a treat (positive reinforcement) then rush back to the pup being trained.
Ignore the wrongs, reward the rights.
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2008 Oct 25
Sign your puppy up for obedience class and take him alone. He'll learn to be around other people and dogs without his big sister to show him what to do. You'll both learn a lot. Meantime, one of you should take the puppy to class while the other should stay home with the other dog and pay extra attention to it during that time. Good for everybody.
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Been there, done that.
2008 Oct 25
It's very easy, when you focus your attention on the puppy your Border Collie will know you are not sending any word commands to her. I myself have a Border Collie and she is extremely intelligent as well as trained.
So when I give word commands to my other dog, my Border Collie might raise her head and look at me but when she sees that I am not looking back at her she knows the word command was not meant for her.
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2008 Oct 25
Use the puppy's name before the command. This allows the puppy to learn its name and lets the other dog know that you are not talking to her. for example dont just say sit but "Missy, sit" you can also incluse the older dog in the training of the puppy.
When training have both dogs present, ask the older dog to sit and then follow by showing the younger one how to sit. remember to use their names both of them ( for example "Missy, sit" "Memphis, sit") the older dog will actully help teach the younger one while at the same time feels importants and part of the pack. You are also make sure that the dogs know their role in the pack. feed the older one first for example. this will make the older dog more confortable with the change, and make her understand where in the pack she stands. Feeding the older ones dinner and treats before the pup is not playing favorites but rather communication with your dogs in their language.
Hope this helps
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I'm a professional dog trainer/instructor and a animal behaviourist
2008 Oct 25
When you are teaching a dog a new trick, it is very difficult to learn if there is another dog loose trying to get involved. For your puppy to succeed, you will need to separate it from the adult while you are teaching something new. Put her in another room, or outside. She will be fine, especially if someone else is with her while you work with the puppy. Once the puppy understands the commands, you can work them both together. This works really well, especially if you often only give a treat to the dog that does the command fastest! It will help the puppy learn from the adult, and she will not have to be left out.
Make sure your adult dog has some alone time with you as well. She still needs one-on-one attention too.
As for the dog thinking she's in trouble, well, first off try not to yell or get really mad. She is just reacting to your tone, she doesn't necessarily think she's in trouble, she just wants to make you be calm and happy again, and knows that submissive posturing is a good way to do that. It might also help to use your puppy's name when you say no. When my daughter started crawling and getting into things, my dog used to think he was the one in trouble when I would tell her no or run to stop her from going somewhere dangerous. But it didn't take very long before he realized that that tone could be directed at someone other than himself. Now when I tell her no, he might lower his ears a little and watch me closely, but he doesn't expect any punishment.
Dogs are masters of body language and vocal tone. She just needs to get used to the situation and she'll learn quickly that the one in trouble is the one being given "the look."
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2008 Oct 25
train them together ? if the puppy sees the older dog doing things and getting treats and stuff he/she may copy! people say dogs are like kids lol so the older dog might set a good example !
do whatever you did when you trained your older dog and then test it on the puppy !
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2008 Oct 25
We had a mutt and a German Shepherd puppy. If the puppy was scolded for being bad the mutt thiought he was being scolded. So we said "Bad dog!" to the mutt and "Boeser Hund!" to the Shepherd. We trained him in German. Perhaps just using different words for each dog would help.
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2008 Oct 25
I had the EXACT SAME PROBLEM with my border collie x australian shepherd when i brought my german shepherd pup home. She is so sensitive and in tune with us, and everytime i growled at the pup she'd go and hide behind the lounge or something and just look so sad …. I felt terrible!!
So i did two things.
First thing was if the pup was doing something wrong i would say his name first (they're a super smart breed so she should understand it pretty quickly). I would say like "Riley – leave it …" or "Riley – lay down" or what ever … and then would follow it up with a praise for her .. like "Amy, you're a good girl! – good girl Amy!!" Sounds silly, but she picked it up, and she understands now when it's him that's stepping out and not her.
She even goes as far as to growl at him when he does something wrong when i tell him … which is funny considering he is about twice her size now (and still growing)!
The other thing i did was to seperate them for about 1/2 hour a day, as time out and love's for each of them – and training for the pup. (I gave the other a tasty chew bone or something to keep them occupied while i spent time with the other one.)That way you can focus on pup and get his attention, without him just running around and playing with the older dog, and you can have some quality time with your girl too.
Further to that, I took my pup to puppy pre school once a week, and my girl to aggility once a week also – so they both got some bonus one on one time.
It's a big thing bringing another pup home, it totally changes the one on one life the first dog had with you – so make sure you let her know you still love her just as much.
You'll get there!! In a little while life will go back to normal – just one baby extra!
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2008 Oct 25
hello what you need to do is to make the older dog join in, after all he/she is still a young dog aswell , you will find that the puppy will copy the larger dog, so you have to praise both dogs equally .hope this helps , it worked well with my 2 dogs.
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2008 Oct 25
You dont really need to crete it if it is good in the house.
If the older dog thinks it is the on getting told off make sure you give pleanty of praise to the older one & ignore the other one after telling off for a short period of time .
The older dog MUST get nearly all of your attention it was there 1st after all, & your dog will see this.
ou have to train the puppy away from the older dog. Train in the garden for a short while, while the other is indoors, When the training is over give praise, give the older dog more praise, & then take them out on a long walk playing with them both together, ball games frisbi etc thats what I do that way they both have your attention, both interacting with each other etc
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2008 Oct 25
Try and kep training ona seperate basis and devote time to them as individuals
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2008 Oct 25
This is often the case when you have 2 dogs living together.You mention that your puppy will throw the biggest fit if he's seperated from your older dog and that he's more attached to her then you.This often happens when the puppy becomes more reliant on the older dog for companionship,play, and communication.When we purchased our 2nd dog, we trained, walked, played and fed him seperatly from our older bi tch.Yes your older dog may look as if she feels left out but it's in the best interest of both dogs if done this way.Walking your puppy seperatly etc gives you time to strengthen your relationship with your puppy and devote much needed training time and socilisation.Many people assume when they get a new pup that it will learn off the older dog and be socilised by the older dog, this is not the case, as older dogs also teach puppys bad behaviours.Socilisation needs to be done seperatly away from your older dog, so the puppy builds his own confidence up without relying on your older dog.Again training needs to be done seperatly, if possible join a puppy training class were just you and your puppy go and spend quality bonding time together.At home you could train in a different room to your older dog.It's important you build a strong bond up with both dogs so they dont become to ingrossed in each other, as training becomes very difficult when both dogs wont listen to you as they dont value you as high ranking as they do each other.Good luck.
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