| AlicetheYorkie | 04-13-2011 06:07 AM | Quote:
Originally Posted by JasmineNoelle
(Post 3497684)
We just recently added a 12 week old standard Poodle to our family. At first everything was fine, but now I have concerns. The standard Poodle weighs 19 pounds and he and our little 5 pound Yorkie love each other. However, he has started playing much to rough and I am afraid he will really hurt her, not intentionally, but I have to protect her. I don't know how to handle this. I don't work and of course I don't ever leave them alone for even a minute. | Hmm, I had the same problem at first too, Miya never tried to hurt Alice or anything, but the first week or so she wanted to play with her and didn't understand that "pawing" Alice was bad. It's different here since Miya is 3 years old and we taught her what "nice" means when she was a puppy (for gently taking a treat from us instead of grabbing it and she liked to chase our cats too) so I just had to tell her that every time Alice went over to her and she learned quickly that she has to be gentle with her. Since your Poodle is still a puppy, it's gonna be a harder. I'd work alot with the Poodle to teach her "nice" - with Miya we would ask for a command and when we went to give her the treat if she tried to snatch it excitedly, we'd put it back and tell her "nice" and keep doing it untill she'd gently take it, then praise. Also, I've seen some really hyper standard poodle puppies, so maybe take him for a really long walk before letting him and your Yorkie have suppervized play, correcting any rough actions and praising when he's gentle. You probably have kind of a long road here only because the Poodle is still a puppy, but on the plus side, he'll learn how to treat your Yorkie right from the start, it's just going to take some work on your part. Work hard with your Poodle on obedience, I'd try a puppy class too, and they'll be ok. And of course, like you said you're doing, keep a very close eye on them, even though I trust Miya I still don't leave them alone unsupervized. |