Older dog thinks he's always in trouble...

[MrsWiseguy]

We have two dogs, a 4 year old yorkie/chi mix named Edgar, and an almost 4 month old yorkie named Stewie that came home with us about a month ago. My older dog has always been very submissive. His ears go back and he'll roll on his back when he knows he's in trouble (getting in the garbage, etc). He's so mature now, that we're to the point that all we have to do is say, "What did you do?", and he'll roll right over.

So with the new puppy, we're working very hard on verbal commands to deter bad behavior. The problem we're having is that the older dog thinks he's the one in trouble! I feel really badly about that, and don't want it to cause any long term damage to the older dog.

For those of you with multiples, how did you manage training the younger pup, while maintaining the training you've done with your older?

[Monday]

Originally Posted by MrsWiseguy

We have two dogs, a 4 year old yorkie/chi mix named Edgar, and an almost 4 month old yorkie named Stewie that came home with us about a month ago. My older dog has always been very submissive. His ears go back and he'll roll on his back when he knows he's in trouble (getting in the garbage, etc). He's so mature now, that we're to the point that all we have to do is say, "What did you do?", and he'll roll right over.

So with the new puppy, we're working very hard on verbal commands to deter bad behavior. The problem we're having is that the older dog thinks he's the one in trouble! I feel really badly about that, and don't want it to cause any long term damage to the older dog.

For those of you with multiples, how did you manage training the younger pup, while maintaining the training you've done with your older?

Great Question!!!!
I have the same problem, so I am going to watch for an answer as well ...
Monday is going to be 5 next Sunday and Friday is just 10 months old ....

[Yorkiekids]

That's a tough one. Maybe if you call the other one by name when your discipling him your older dog won't think he's in trouble.

[MrsWiseguy]

I do call him by name. I think it's the tone I use. I'm sure you all know the "in trouble" tone.... My older dog immediately thinks he's the one in trouble. It breaks my heart.

[kalina82]

when you discipline the younger one and you notice your older thinks he's the one in trouble what do you do? do you turn your attention to him and tell him its ok or do you ignore his behavior?

[MrsWiseguy]

I partially turn my attention to my older one and try to pet him to let him know it's ok. However, I'm not sure if I should turn all of my attention to my older one and take a loving tone because I don't want the baby to think that I'm encouraging his behavior. Am I just over thinking this?

[kalina82]

Originally Posted by MrsWiseguy

I partially turn my attention to my older one and try to pet him to let him know it's ok. However, I'm not sure if I should turn all of my attention to my older one and take a loving tone because I don't want the baby to think that I'm encouraging his behavior. Am I just over thinking this?

Instead of turning any attention to your older one when he does this i would completely ignore him. he may still think he is doing something wrong even tho you think you are letting him know its ok. i think if you ignore him when he does this he'll eventually see that the yelling is not directed at him and he can stop rolling over when he notices that no one is paying attention to him doing this.

so continue to discipline the younger one when he needs it and take out all of the loving tones toward the older one because they are both getting mixed signals i think.