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Canine Behavior/my older dog ecepting his puppies

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Expert: Elaine Allison CPDT - 4/6/2008


Question
(i have labs)my dog Dixie had puppies about 6 weeks ago and their dad Bj wont come close to them and if there walk past he will growl at them and I'm scared that he might hurt them
so how would i be able to get him to like the puppies

Answer
I think if he was going to hurt them he would have. Growling is communication and 6 week old puppies are learning (among other things) bite inhibition.

Give him the opportunity to accept them in his own time frame. If you are truly concerned that he will hurt them, then keep them separate. Try to avoid forcing the issue, he may not have been exposed to puppies b enough to be comfortable with them.  

Canine Behavior

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Elaine Allison CPDT

Expertise

I can answer questions (within reason) about aggression. In an email format we have to be responsible and not speculate where an in home evaluation would be appropriate. I cannot answer medical questions.

Experience

19 years professional full time, hands on experience.

Publications
Dog Fancy, book on aggression coming soon from Dogwise publishing.

Education/Credentials
Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT) Endorsed member NADOI (National Association of Pet dog trainers) and certied multiple time in explosives and narcotics detection. I have my own working explosive/protection dogs.

Past/Present Clients
Currently Director of Animal Services for a Utah humane society.

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