Re: New puppy

In Reply to: New puppy
Posted by:  Annette O'Sullivan
Posted on:  October 27, 2001 at 11:41:09

: I have a 2 1/2 yr old JRT. I recently purchased a JRT puppy. My older dog is acting very depressed,what can I do to make him still feeled loved?

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Hi Annette,

Congratulations on your new pup.

You are right to be concerned about your first JRT. This will be a very critical time with the older dog and the puppy and the relationship they establish.

It is REAL easy to want to devote much if not all your attention to the puppy. It's hard to resist them, let alone a JRT puppy, but in order to be fair to your first dog and to help these two have a happy, healthy relationship you are going to have to spend some of the time ignoring the puppy.

You need to crate the puppy at times and devote much attention and love to your older dog. Make sure that when treat giving your older dog gets them first, take him out for walks, just the two of you and play some games with him, just the two of you.

If any of these dogs are still intact and you don't plan on showing conformation, please consider spaying and neutering. It will do much to lessen any territorial aggressions that might spring up and your dogs will be happier and healthier for it.

Make sure too that you never leave the two of them alone together. Puppys can be pains in the butt to older dogs and they really don't know when to quit. You don't want to risk anything untoward happening to the puppy because the older dog couldn't take it anymore.

So remember, show your first dog how much you love him and do it a lot!