my dog is growling at my new pup

by shona
(scotland)

i have a 2 year old male, non neutered bichon, I got a 8 week old male bichon yesterday, my older dog is growling at puppy will they be okay?


Hi Shona
Yes, in all likelihood your older dog and the new puppy will soon be friends, and will enjoy each others company.

However, you can expect a bit of an adjustment period while they get used to one another.

The older dog growling at the younger one is perfectly normal, and just his way of exerting his authority. The puppy will understand this perfectly!

The energy, enthusiasm and playfulness of a puppy can be an irritation to an older, more mature dog, but once they work out the 'pecking order' and get used to each other it will all work out.

It's best to let them work it out on their own though, don't get involved unless you're seriously worried one of them is going to get hurt, and this rarely happens.

If your resident dog is normally pretty friendly and gets along well with other people and dogs, you likely have nothing to worry about. However, don't leave the two of them alone together unsupervised, until you're sure they're friends. This could take a few weeks.

You can find out more about introducing a new puppy into a home with a resident dog on my Introducing A New Puppy page.

Best of luck with them!