New to the site, and need advice!!!

Hi guys,
We're new to this site and was just after some advice. We have a 1.5year old ruby male name Kobi. We just bought a 7 week old blenhiem male which we named Chester. Chester has been home with us for 3 days now. In this time Kobi has been very distant from us. He hides out upstairs all day. He won't come to us when we call him, he won't play with Chester. Everytime Chester comes near he would run away. We think maybe Kobi is actually jealous of Chester. This is really breaking our hearts to see Kobi like this. We are even thinking about taking Chester back. What can we do? PLEASE HELP!! Any advice will be much appreciated.
Thanks Tony and Tira.:xfngr:

Our first cavalier was the same when I got a charlie puppy , she hated her, would not have anything to do with her .
I even have a photo of them together in the bed & the cavalier has a look of disgust on her face at this little thing daring to get in her bed. she left the room as soon as i'd taken the picture ,lol

But they became good friends in the end so don't take the puppy back yet !

I can imagine that must be upsetting for you. Give it time. I wonder if Kobi is scared of Chester. I know this sounds really weird, but it can happen. We had a Great Dane that was terrified of our new puppies when they were first born. She just had never seen anything quite so tiny & annoying. She settled down soon enough.

As you say Kobi might be a bit miffed or he might just find the puppy really annoying. Puppies have needle sharp little teeth & some adult dogs don't like being bitten by them.

Why not restrict the puppy to an x-pen for a while. At this stage the puppy doesn't need a whole lot of space & keeping him a little confined is going to make toilet training easier.

Are you crate training Chester, and is Kobi crate trained?

Kobi needs to have his own sacred space where he can go to & not be annoyed. Crates are wonderful for this.

Anyway, bottom line is... don't be too hasty in taking Chester back. I am pretty sure this is temporary and there are just so many things you can do to make Kobi comfortable in the meantime.

Yes, Kobi is frighten by Chester. We've been trying to pay extra attention to Kobi so he doesn't feel left out. It's heaps reassuring to hear that ours have experienced the same problem and has over come it. So we guess in time they will get over it.

Thanks we feel heaps better!!

Ok, so try to organise it so that Kobi can get away from that annoying little puppy, without actually having to go & hide. I can not stress how important this is. Maybe even something that Kobi can jump up onto to get away. I really do think the x-pen & a crate for the puppy is your best answer as it is not really fair on Kobi to have to go hiding. Do you have those?

Giving Kobi some extra loving is a good idea, but by the same token do not be seen to be rewarding Kobi for his fearful behaviour, otherwise you may reinforce that. It is best not to fuss too much over either of them. Act as normally as possible. If you act normal, Kobi will probably gain confidence by this, whereas if you fuss, he will be thinking there is something to be fussing about.

Oh and relax. It will work out!

All good advice above -- this is fairly normal behaviour; give your original dog PLENTY of attention and he should come around gradually.

A little concerned you were given a puppy so young though -- I am not sure where you are based but in many countries and states 8 weeks is the absolute minimum legally for rehoming a puppy and most kennel clubs internationally will stipulate that as a minimum as well for members. 7 weeks is really very young for a cavalier. Most breeders do not home puppies until at least 8 weeks but it is more typical for them to wait til the puppy is 10-16 weeks in this breed as they are so tiny and immature. Just be aware being taken from a mother and siblings at such a young age can sometimes produce some behaviour issues as they haven't really had time to be socialised fully. It is really good that there is another dog there as this helps to minimise problems. I'd certainly check with the kennel club under which the puppy is registered as I would report a breeder for homing puppy at this very young age. Just something to consider.

Cinders was 6 when Minnie joined our family. We crated Minnie from day 1 to ensure Cinders had some free time and space. Cinders reaction was similar she wouldnt go near this strange creature and ran away everytime Minnie came anywhere near her. We just carried on as normal and just made sure that Cinders was given her food first and that we didnt make an issue of anything. This went on for about a week - then one day they were both in the garden and started playing - it was wonderful to watch.
Now they are the best of friends (well most of the time) and as Cinders has now lost her hearing she looks to Minnie to help her. So just hang in there!

We will take on your advice and hopefully everything will work out!

Harvey was so scared of Alfie he never came off the sofa for about 5 days as this was the only place he could watch Alfie without Alfie near him. As you we were thinking if Harvey was so upset we would return the puppy to the breeder. Glad to say we carried on now look, what can I say.

After 1 month

Six months on they choose to share

Harvey and Alfie looks so happy together now, the pics look great. Can't wait til Kobi and Chester are like that. We just hope that it will be sooner than later.

I totally understand how you feel, but please be patient and like others have advised already be sure to give Kobi lots of attention and always feed him first and give treats to him first.

When we brought Darby home a year ago this coming wkd, Dudley's nose was out of joint for a good 4 to 6 weeks he wanted nothing to do with him. I was a wreck as I also thought that I had done the wrong thing, and I had waited 2 years for Darby. Now they are buddies so please be patient it will happen, for some sooner than others.:flwr: :hug: :flwr: