It is our job to protect both. Notice my shoes and how close I am to this interaction.
First, let me say Happy Friday. I hope that everyone is having a great day and looking forward to a wonderful weekend ahead. This morning as I pulled up to my laptop, ready to write a blog…I pondered. I have so many topics that I want to write about but decided that “intervention” was a good one for this Friday morning.
Intervene - to occur or happen between other events or periods:
to occur incidentally so
as to modify or hinder.
I have heard many times “the dogs will figure it out.” This advice is given to people who may be having issues with their dog/dog relations. Often problems occur when you add a new dog or puppy to your home. The residing dog or dogs can become very unsettled with the newcomer’s presence. Leaving them to figure things out all alone with no intervention can lead to huge problems.
Let’s take for example; a new puppy in your home with a reigning 7/8/9 year old. Maybe your older dog was happy being alone, they liked the quiet in your home. Then, a rowdy, crazy puppy arrives to shake things up. Often older mature dogs will growl, snap and generally lay down the rules with a puppy; but this doesn’t always happen, sometimes they do nothing. When a dog is really meek, they may not step up to discipline a puppy. But let me make it clear, that normal desirable discipline is very different from aggression.
Growling, body language and snapping are normal discipline behaviors from an adult dog towards a puppy. Feedback is required for puppies to learn. Ahhhh, there is that term again “feedback.” Feedback is so very important for us and for our dogs. Our dogs are constantly giving feedback to us and to our other dogs. If they don’t offer feedback as far as boundaries then it is left to us to step up. It is very important that we teach our dogs that you have their back, all of their backs.
This means that if your puppy is annoying your older dog who is not offering any feedback; resulting in being bullied, then you need to intervene. If your adult dog is going overboard on the feedback and traumatizing your puppy, you step in to create clear boundaries, what is appropriate and not appropriate. Feedback is a very important part of living with dogs.
As we offer feedback to our dogs we create a symbiotic life with another species. They learn to look to us for guidance and we learn to read, guide and assist our dogs.
If you leave dogs to “figure it out,” it can often go wrong very quickly. Without our intervention with puppies and adult dogs; puppies can turn into monster puppies that no one wants around. Without our intervention when adult dogs are being too over protect, overly aggressive with their feedback; then we need to step in to protect our puppies from being traumatized.
If we don’t intervene and we leave any of our dogs feeling that they need to protect themselves, then things can go very wrong. It is never a good feeling thinking that you are all alone and no one has your back.