I am of a different mindset on this matter. I feel a puppy is at a disadvantage going up against an older dog, and is due your protection, as you put her in this situation. Just as the older dog would be also due your protection if the pup was bothering her too much.
Just as in a single dog household, the puppy needs you for nurturing, training, love, emotional developement, nourishment, and a safe place to sleep, in order for it to develope a stong self esteem and grow into a well adjusted adult.
In the wild, yes, there are puppies in packs. But the Mommas watch over and protect those puppies from other members until they are a bit older and are ready to learn their place in the pack. Also, most of the time, pack members are related somewhere along the line.
Pack mentality is great and can explain alot of behavior going on in any established group, but you are just now forming a pack with your dogs and yourselves, which in itself is an unnatural occurence.
You are expecting an older dog, who has led a life of being the only dog member of a pack with humans, to accept a new member without ever being in that situation itself, and to 'teach it the rules', of which it is clueless. The only thing a single dog would think is that it's lifestyle/life as he knows it is being threatened by an intruder.
Another thought... from the human point of view... everyone tells their first dog, we're getting a new puppy... you will have a new little brother or sister. That still makes you the Mommie, the rulemaker, the enforcer. Even human toddlers will get jealous of a new baby, and can try and hurt the baby that all of a sudden has taken all Mommie's attention away.
So I would change up real fast on how you're treating this puppy, IMHO. I would get some rules in place for the older dog, and set up a safe zone for the puppy where she does not feel threatened for breathing. It's good to give the older dog more attention, so that she feels less threatened by the puppy, and you'll be reinforcing your bond with her at the same time. The puppy won't be affected by this, she doesn't know any better at this point in time. She's busy discovering the world around her. Have separate puppy time for you and her, to establish that bond. Then have supervised time for the dogs and humans to be together, where you teach each one what is expected of them when any situation presents itself. |