question about new puppy - please help!

hi all,

with our new bluebell who arrived on saturday, i have a question...

well both dogs sleep in the kitchen in their beds, and bluebell is a bit of a bossy boots, and seems to turf daisy out of her bed, so that she can sleep in it, and daisy gives in and she has been lying on bluebells puppy bed which is way too small for her! i felt a bit guilty today as i want daisy to be in her bed as thats what she loves, and the puppy to be in her bed!
I gave bluebell treats when she climbed into her bed, shall i just keep doing this? I dont know what will happen tonight, i worry that daisy will sleep on the floor and bluebell will be in her bed! They wont share the bed yet either, i think bluebell wants to share it but daisy wont.

Also bluebell bites daisy a lot too, sometimes very hard which seems a bit mean, i guess she will stop though ?? but sometimes bluebell does seem a bit rough.

I think bluebell is trying to be the boss!

anybody have advice on this?

Maybe you'll need to get a larger bed and save the puppy bed for when you are watching TV and can supervise, for example? That way if one dog is pushed out of a bed another similar bed is there, and that's what I would do. Sounds like Bluebell just prefers more space!

It is normal for puppies to be bossy and they nip in play. Usually adults tolerate this fine and let puppies know when enough is enough. Given that this may be a little rougher for Daisy though with her health conditions, I'd just keep an eye out and give Daisy a break away from Bluebell if she looks under pressure or tired. You might call Alison for some advice on this too as she has such good experience in this area. .

I can't wait for lots of Bluebell and Daisy pictures!

Hi Emma!!

Ok first of all, Bluebell is testing Daisy out, she is seeing how far she can push her before Daisy tells her that enough is enough! Believe me it may look as if Bluebell is biting very hard but it is not as bad as you may think! Have you heard Daisy yelp yet? Bluebell is learning her place in the hierarchy right now and personnally I would allow it to continue unless Daisy takes umbridge and retaliates with undue force!

It is still very early days yet in their relationship, boundaries need to be made and they both need to accept each others prescence in your household. I daresay that within a few weeks they will be sharing the same bed and you won't be able to tell where one starts and the other finishes!!

I currently have a 4 month old boy who has been doing similar things with his 6 yr old Grandpa, they have now reached an amicable agreement and all is well between them, playfighting can look (and sound) very nasty but it is all "mouth and NO trousers" in most cases!!

As far as the bed situation goes I would give them both the same size bed and leave them to sort themselves out, I daresay you will soon find that 1 bed will do instead of 2!!

Hope this has been of help??

Best Wishes

thank you , those are a great help. i think it is to do with the size of the bed, i think it is just too small! We are going to get another bed for bluebell tomorrow so that whoever is in one, the other one has somewhere to go as well. thanks again x

I had the same problem to start with and got 2 beds the same size they both go to there own beds to start with but always end up together