Bad temper!

[Leannef94]

Hello all,

We brought little Ollie home about 2 weeks ago and he was quite reserved for the first week and seemed to be a little alarmed by our 4 year old black lab. Now he's beginning to play with her, but shes a lot bigger and I think it frustrates him that he can never win the game of tug a war or get the toy off her! He begins to get angry and bark, then he stops playing with the toy and begins biting her feet and ears while growling. Our Labrador is really laid back and easily offended, so rather than telling him off she just seems to get upset! I try picking Ollie up to put him in a time out but he just growls and bites me just as hard! He's only 9 weeks, is this a problem? Or just a typical puppy tantrum?

[PennyB]

sounds about right in my house but then Stella joins in most of the time but when she wants to sleep she will tell Bosley off and he's OK with that but have had other pups that won't always back down. Bosley will sometimes have a strop with Stella but she might just ignore it. If this gets too much I try to get Bosley to calm down.

It might be worth getting him to chill out on his own - let him have something to chew in a crate or somewhere away from your adult dog just to give he a break

You may find this gets less and less once your pup begins to do other things on his own especially when he begins to go out (it will tire him out more)

[QuaCKeReD]

I would guess he is trying to show your other dog he is frustrated, and not getting any response means he tries harder?

Wonder if its worth leaving them to 'sort it out' themselves, rather than intervening - by doing so you may be enabling your other dog to not have to respond (assume you dont want her to be constantly upset with Ollie)?