Keep them from protecting baby?

[Bastianboy]

We're looking into getting another pup here pretty soon. They did the breeding about 4 weeks ago and I am really excited about it. Dad is an incredible service dog, confirmation dog, agility and obedience dog who I have seen in action several times and he never stops amazing me. Mom is also into conformation, agility, obedience and herding. We would be getting a little girl to do all of the activities with as long as she enjoys it and a buddy for Bastian as well. I have grown up with dogs, but always just one.

My question is, how do I keep Bastian from feeling (and acting) like he has to protect her. The reason that I'm asking is that an Australian shephard in our puppy class got a "little sister" about 3 months ago. She sometimes comes to our class to be around other dogs and people and today she was sitting by us and Bastian was loving on her (he LOVES babies) and Roper (the older Australian shephard) was doing okay until my husband came over and was petting the baby. Then he got angry and growled and even put his teeth on Brian. Obviously this was not okay, so he got a good healthy correction, but Brian couldn't even pet him after that. He'd start growling and bearing his teeth. His owner had mentioned when Bastian was loving her that Roper didn't like other dogs around her, but never people. I don't want Bastian to even think this is an option. Roper and Bastian have been buddies since they were about 6 months old. Does this always happen when there is an older dog with a pup??? One thing for sure is that they will be seperated, meaning they don't both always get to go places together. Will that help?? Thank you!!!

[poohbearsmom]

No, this has never happened in my household. We have always let the last dog 'grow up' and learn a reasonable amount of obedience before adding a pup.
We allow the dogs to socialize, and always keep a vigilent watch on behavior, so that we can manage them properly. By this I don't mean to interfere with the way they work out their pecking order... It's easy for a big dog to injure a pup inadvertently, and so on....

It's always a good idea to limit the pup's time with the older dog(s) in a household, as you want the pup to bond to you moreso than them. In order to do this, I think it's important to be aware that you need to be AT LEAST as fun as the other dog in the household, which takes up more of your time, and sometimes some imagination.

Who corrected the aussie? Your husband, or his owner?

[Bastianboy]

His owner was holding the leash at the time and popped him up. Bastian has a reasonable amount of obedience on him...If his brain grows up I soon we might be trying for his CD next summer. He knows everything, but still has a shorter attention span than I would like.

[poohbearsmom]

Originally Posted by Bastianboy

His owner was holding the leash at the time and popped him up. Bastian has a reasonable amount of obedience on him...If his brain grows up I soon we might be trying for his CD next summer. He knows everything, but still has a shorter attention span than I would like.

Sorry if I'm going off topic here....
Sometimes it's good to go back in training and make baby steps again to reinforce that you mean what you say.

I've done a lot of this with Deiter in the past year or so, and it's paid off LARGE. We started from scratch at the beginning of this year, and I've used a lot of positive reinforcement with negative punishment. He's really becoming an extremely reliable boy.

Don't be afraid to examine what you truly can achieve with Bastian... sometimes having a training notebook, or diary can do wonders. This way, you can really train with a plan. Set a goal for your training session... make note of successes, problems, etc... then take time to think about how you'll deal with him during the next session.. what you'll work on.. what you need to bring out, or extinguish, etc....

In addition, by not accepting less than he gave you the last training session, and making sure you end a training session at the right time (sometimes I'll quit training after ONE perfect behavior execution)... The better you can deal with Bastian, the easier it will be for you to deal with a 2nd dog in the household.

Back to the aussie dilemma... could be the aussie has a temperamental or behavioral issue that's been left unchecked. Remember, aussies are a herding breed, so Roper might simply have been behaving on instinct...I've met a few that were a little fearful... but you're right, the teeth on skin was unacceptable. I really don't know enough about aussies, nor have i met more than 10 or so in my life, so others are probably more qualified to disect his behavior than I.
Did your husband attempt to feed him treats to make ammends?

Again, we've never had issues like that with a new pup in the house.

[Bastianboy]

Our breeder really thinks that he can go beyond his CDX with his amount of drive and how smart he is. I will take him as far as he'll go in obedience, agility and herding. He's sometimes too smart for his own good, just distractible at times.

After a few times of trying to pet Roper without Lily being close at all, he did give a treat and Roper was fine. But, even after that, unless he was giving a treat, Roper growled. It was very out of his character. He's always very wiggly to see all of us.