>I was wondering you guys could offer some advice for getting them to >at least get along and be able to stay in the same room without the >puppy trying to go after the Shih-Tzu and the Shih-Tzu able to relax >when she is around..
Well, since the only replies I see are all this Dog Whisperer dominance-based stuff, thought I'd throw in some other ideas from a more positive and motivation-based perspective. First, your dog's reaction is totally normal! And I wouldn't call it fear necessarily (hard to tell without actually seeing them). A lot of older dogs don't care for puppy enthusiasm and they basically just have a fight-or-flight reaction...they can either leave, or they can snap at the puppy to correct their behavior. Snapping usually works well for the adult dog to teach the youngster some manners but if you have a dog that just is very soft and not inclined to snap (or has been corrected to the point that they don't know that it's even allowed in such situations) then flight is really their only option. I would disagree with the person that says that's just how puppies are, and the other dog will just have to learn to deal with it. That's so not the case. A puppy is no different than a young child that has a lot of energy. They still have to learn how to behave themselves when asked, whether in school, in church, at the dinner table. Clicker training is my method of choice (and of a large percentage of trainers today, due to its incredible effectiveness when used correctly) and it's amazing how fast you can teach a puppy simple things like to sit quietly in a dog bed, or to respect an older dog's space and not jump on them, by clicking and treating the behavior you want. A leash is a great tool even in the house, not to correct a puppy but to just give yourself a bit of control while they are learning. I always feel that when it comes to bringing a new dog (or any pet in) it's MY job to teach them the rules and to protect my other pets from unwanted behavior. So if for instance, my puppy is trying to jump on my older dog, I can use the leash to prevent them from doing that, and as soon as they feel the leash and react to it by sitting or backing up, they get a click and treat. Soon you should be able to put a cue with the response (easy) and click and treat for them responding to an "easy" on their own. At the same time you can reward the older dog if they stay put and do not leave....and very often as long as you are taking the job of controlling the puppy, their flight response will go away. When you do not have the time or attention span to be controlling the situation, keep the dogs separate in the meantime. Training in this way can give you amazing control over the behavior of your dog. Unlike dominance methods of training where the dog responds to commands out of fear (often resulting in slow and somewhat reluctant responses) dogs trained with positive reinforcement respond with speed and enthusiasm...and that has saved my dogs' lives more than once. Just as an aside, I just finishing up a pre-release copy of a new book about clicker training and the science of why it works so well, not just for dogs, but all kinds of animals, and is even being used in people as well (called TAG for teaching with acoustical guidance). It was a fascinating read and I definitely would recommend it for anyone that tends to sneer at clicker training as gimmicky and silly. Although some people will forever be convinced that training is about dominating the animal and that mindset is always hard to change. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:296886 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
