Doodle puppy terrorizing our two older dogs-help!

[Sharon Schlegel]

Our 17 week old, 20+ lb doodle, Sadie is terrorizing our older dogs (they're both about 12 lbs & much smaller). Our male has been really great with Sadie since we brought her home. He played with her along with some gentle discipline. Our female not so much.  Since she's so much larger she now harrasses them to play constantly (jumping on them & biting). She will also 'crowd' them out when one or both is trying to get a drink. They don't want to go outside if she's there as she's so rough. Help! I'm open to any suggestions anyone might have.  Thanks!

[Corinn Laitre]

Imagine a toddler is 2x the size of the adults in the family... It's a scary picture and it's how your two smaller dogs are probably feeling right now lol. Its our responsibility to ensure all pack members/family members feel safe at home. So what I've done in this situation is not allow the puppy to have free reign. Puppy is on leash with you in the house, or in the kennel and play times offleash are monitored to ensure no one is getting too intense and should only be done after puppy has had a longer walk or other form of excersize so they can learn to control their excitement around the smaller dogs. Puppies can be a little nutty by nature so until they gain self control its up to us to teach them whats appropriate around other dogs and especially smaller dogs. You can take the pup out on a lead to pee until she understands pee breaks are just for getting busy and not outside playtime. My dogs know that the front yard is for play and back yard means pee breaks, so its a clear distinction for them, so maybe you could try something like that ? I also made my big dog(medium goldendoodle) lie down on the floor when he wanted to play with my smaller dog(yorkie) so it was more evenly matched. Hope that helps! The time you spend now will be well worth the efforts when you can trust them to be friendly and respectful of eachother.

[Sharon Schlegel]

Thank you so much for the suggestions\advice! I've obviously given Sadie way too much freedom. I'll implement the lead in the house right away. I've used the lead inside when she's out of control but not continuously. How did you teach your doodle to lay down to play with your Yorkie? Again, thanks so much, Sharon

[Laura and Angus]

A lot was already covered by Corinn, but have you enrolled in a "puppy play/socialization" type class? We had a class where puppies got to play together and there were trainers on-hand to separate the puppies and help you (the puppy parent) learn how to correct your puppy during play. This helped us a lot to teach our puppy how to play and then how to safely separate him when he started to get too rambunctious. It might be helpful to work with a trainer at this time as well to teach. 

[Sharon Schlegel]

Thanks Laura. Sadie & I are going to puppy class, but have only had one class thus far. The puppies were allowed to play but there was no mention of owners being involved in teaching appropriate play behavior. I'll happily take any advice you can offer! I appreciate your taking the time to respond. Sharon & Sadie