Biting, barking, jumping puppy drives his older brother nuts................
 

My husband and I have no children, but we do have furry "babies" in the house. We have just brought home a new 4-month-old Yorkie named Milo. Our adult Yorkie - Murphy - who is 7-years-old and has only been around two indoor cats for his entire life..... now barks, growls and bears his teeth at Milo. Sometimes they do OK and other times Murphy runs, jumps on a couch or growls and holds Milo down. When they are in the yard, Milo follows Murphy around and Murphy runs from him. Overall, we knew it would be hard because Murphy is really possessive of me. However, he's getting used to Milo and even wags his tail when they sniff each other and we're not right there with them.

Last night, things changed a little. I was standing in the kitchen and Murphy got behind me and the cabinet and sat on my foot. Milo ran up and for about 20 minutes kept standing and barking at Murphy. We tried to break it up by saying "OK....no barking...be nice...." and taking Milo to the family room and trying to entertain him with a toy. We even crated him to calm him down. He also chases Murphy around the house, tries to bite his back legs and nips at Murphy's face and coat.

We know Milo is a young puppy, but he's terrorizing our older dog and we're afraid Murphy will really never get along with Milo. Should we intervene and try to stop the puppy from nipping and barking or should we let the two of them sort it out?

Any insight/feedback would be helpful.

(PS - Overall, we could not be happier with having two Yorkies. We just want them to be pals!)

Welcome to YT!

I don't think you have anything to worry about. Sounds to me like normal pack order establishing. As long as they aren't hurting each other, I'd let them do their thing, and only intervene if it looks problematic. Also, young puppies DO nip and bite, and you can teach them that it is not appropriate.

When Chloe was brand new, we had a heck of a time getting her to stop the normal playful nipping and biting. We use this technique where we would gently wrap our hand around her snout when she bites (not hard, but in a soft hold that shows you're in control) and gentle wiggle and say in a low deep voice No bite! Eventually, she'd start rolling over on her back, and she'd lick. At that point, we'd say "good girl" and let her be on her merry way. This worked the best for us.

Even now, once in a while when playing, she'll get a little mouthy, and all I have to say is the low and deep NO bite! and she's on her back.

good luck! :thumbup:

Welcome to YT!

I don't think you have anything to worry about. Sounds to me like normal pack order establishing. As long as they aren't hurting each other, I'd let them do their thing, and only intervene if it looks problematic. Also, young puppies DO nip and bite, and you can teach them that it is not appropriate.

When Chloe was brand new, we had a heck of a time getting her to stop the normal playful nipping and biting. We use this technique where we would gently wrap our hand around her snout when she bites (not hard, but in a soft hold that shows you're in control) and gentle wiggle and say in a low deep voice No bite! Eventually, she'd start rolling over on her back, and she'd lick. At that point, we'd say "good girl" and let her be on her merry way. This worked the best for us.

Even now, once in a while when playing, she'll get a little mouthy, and all I have to say is the low and deep NO bite! and she's on her back.

good luck! :thumbup:

Welcome to YT!

I don't think you have anything to worry about. Sounds to me like normal pack order establishing. As long as they aren't hurting each other, I'd let them do their thing, and only intervene if it looks problematic. Also, young puppies DO nip and bite, and you can teach them that it is not appropriate.

When Chloe was brand new, we had a heck of a time getting her to stop the normal playful nipping and biting. We use this technique where we would gently wrap our hand around her snout when she bites (not hard, but in a soft hold that shows you're in control) and gentle wiggle and say in a low deep voice No bite! Eventually, she'd start rolling over on her back, and she'd lick. At that point, we'd say "good girl" and let her be on her merry way. This worked the best for us.

Even now, once in a while when playing, she'll get a little mouthy, and all I have to say is the low and deep NO bite! and she's on her back.

good luck! :thumbup:

My two (which are a year apart) do the same thing. My eight month old chases the older one around nipping and stealing his toys right out of his mouth. Out of the hundreds of toys they seem to have, a toy box in practically every room, and they still fight over the same toy, just like kids. Unless the growling and barking sound bad, I let them figure it out.

We had gotten the younger dog as a "companion" for our older one and to get him up and moving around since he loves to just lay on the top of the back of the couch and not move. That she is great at! :^)