Pack Mentality

[dalmain]

Hi Guys

I have a 8 year old male bouvier and a 11 year old male scotty and they get on like a house on fire and are both awesome with the children. We've recently added a male bouvier pup to the mix and everything seemed to be going seamlessly, until BIG BEN, the older male bouvier pounced on the pup, it looked like he was mauling the poor thing, but after some jumping and shouting and on closer inspection the pup was fine, except having wet himself. This has happened on another two occasions. He has displayed no signs of aggression to kids whatsoever, if fact he is extremely patient with them.

Should I be worried, what must I do???

[Sue]

Originally Posted by dalmain

Hi Guys

I have a 8 year old male bouvier and a 11 year old male scotty and they get on like a house on fire and are both awesome with the children. We've recently added a male bouvier pup to the mix and everything seemed to be going seamlessly, until BIG BEN, the older male bouvier pounced on the pup, it looked like he was mauling the poor thing, but after some jumping and shouting and on closer inspection the pup was fine, except having wet himself. This has happened on another two occasions. He has displayed no signs of aggression to kids whatsoever, if fact he is extremely patient with them.

Should I be worried, what must I do???

Older dogs will often take over the momma role and help educate the young'uns, teach them manners, and teach them to respect their elders. As long as it's noise and maybe a little spit, and not blood and injury, it's probably ok to let the older dog deal with it.

When I have both old dogs and puppies at the same time, I do make it a point to supervise them closely, at least at first until I am confident the older dog is not going to be malicious or over do the discipline. I also make sure the puppies are not allowed to pester the older dogs. Puppies can be totally merciless and old dogs really should not have to deal with that.