Hope you can give me some suggestions? Dixie and Teddy, our new yorkies are doing so well and now they are 12 weeks old and 10 weeks old. They are wonderfully playful and we are over the moon in love with them. I have two Bichon Frise's that I purchased from this same breeder 7 yrs ago. They also are wonderful little female dogs, always together and very spoiled. Now they are of course very curious about the new puppies and they have seen them and want to play with them but also are very territorial. I know it is natural for them to want to let them know I am the alpha dog, I was here first etc., etc. I want them to be together but also I am worried in that the bichons have nipped at the puppies when they have been together. We tried putting the bichons on a leash but they still did this. My vet has suggested putting a muzzle on the bichons for a short amount of time, no more than a half hour at a time so they can be with the puppies, smell them, bat them around with thier snouts but cannot open thier mouths to hurt them. Many years ago when the bichons were tiny puppies we had a large golden retrievor that we had this same thing happen and the vet suggested that also and we did get a muzzle for the golden and it really worked out well. It gave her time with the puppies as they grew when we wanted them to be together but we knew short of stepping on them she could not hurt them with her mouth. What do you think about this with two Bichons? They are not usually aggessive at all, I believe all they are doing is natural but I don't want these adorable little yorkies to get hurt. Do you think muzzles for bichons would be good for awhile or what do you suggest? Thanks for you input!
