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My Dog is Jealous Of The New Puppy! What Should I Do?

Aggression By Kayla Fratt 12 min read June 23, 2022 14 Comments

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dog jealous of puppy

Bringing home a new puppy can be a time of total joy! But puppies also bring a lot of stress with them.

These little furballs can go from cute to crazy-making faster than you can say Pug – and your current dog probably agrees!

It’s not uncommon for owners to realize that their dog is jealous of the new puppy. What to do?

Let’s talk about how to build harmony in your home – new puppy, older dog, and all.

What Does Jealousy Mean in Dogs, Anyway?

When people call or email me asking about how to fix their dog’s jealousy, my first question is always to ask:

“When you say your dog is being jealous, what does that look like? Pretend I’ve never seen a dog before in my life and describe it to me in as much detail as you can.”

I ask that because jealousy is poorly defined in dogs.

Many scientists and trainers don’t believe that dogs are capable of feeling the complex emotions that we call “jealousy,” though we’ve all seen dogs act in a way that sure looks like jealousy. The actual science is rapidly changing, so it’s just hard to say!

When people say their dogs are being jealous, they often mean that their dog:

  • Gets between the puppy and the owner (called splitting).
  • Growls at the puppy when they get too close.
  • Gives the puppy the stink-eye if they get too close.
  • Growls, snarls, snaps, or stares the puppy around resting places.
  • Asks for extra petting after a puppy joins the house.

To really be considered jealousy, we should only see these behaviors directed towards another dog in the presence of a person or treasured item.

A 2014 study titled Jealousy in Dogs reports:

“We found that dogs exhibited significantly more jealous behaviors (e.g., snapping, getting between the owner and object, pushing/touching the object/owner) when their owners displayed affectionate behaviors towards what appeared to be another dog as compared to nonsocial objects.”

In other words, the dogs were more likely to act in a way we’d call jealous when the owners were paying attention to another dog, versus when the owner paid attention to an inanimate object.

These dogs might not be feeling jealousy the same way we do, but it sure looks similar.

This won’t surprise you if you’ve watched your dog wiggle between you and another canine, or even get a bit snarkier with some growling or snapping.

The exact behavior(s) that you’re calling jealousy matter, though! It’s one thing if your dog is just following you around asking for extra pats – and quite another if your dog is growling, snarling, or snapping at the new puppy.

Jealousy vs Resource Guarding

Trainers (like myself) get a bit nervous about the term jealousy because the term downplays the serious issue of resource guarding.

Resource guarding is a serious problem where your dog reacts aggressively towards perceived or real threats to her access to an object (like her food bowl, toys, or your lap).

dog-guarding-food-bowl

If your dog is “acting jealous,” she is probably guarding resources. The two are closely related, and it’s hard to draw a line in the sand separating them.

Is My Dog’s Jealousy a Form of Dominance?

The second most common label that I hear when dogs are uncomfortable with puppies is dominance.

Most owners are convinced that when an older dog growls at the puppy, it’s because the adult is asserting her alpha status. If the adult dog gets between the owner and the puppy, the adult showing dominance…

Right?

In some ways, this might not be far off.

Dominance is best defined by E.O. Wilson in Sociobiology: The New Synthesis as:

“The assertion of one member of a group over another in acquiring access to a piece of food, a mate, a place to display, a sleeping site or any other requisite that adds to the genetic fitness of the dominant individual.”

To break that down a bit, dominance is essentially the relationship between two individuals and a resource – it’s not a personality trait. It’s really not a huge social factor in dogs because they don’t naturally live in strict packs with a single dominant pair.

While your dog might be generally outgoing, playful, or energetic as a personality trait, dominance isn’t a permanent personality trait.

dog jealously dominance

Many people, including the TV dog trainer Cesar Millan, expand the definition of the word “dominant” up into a catch-all reason for all behavior problems. He (and others) consider dominance and “being alpha” to be the root of behavior problems such as refusing to get in the car, pulling on the leash, or snarling at the owner.

The problem is that when you blame your dog’s behavior on this misconstrued version of dominance, pack theory, or being alpha, it’s very easy to get sucked into violent and scary training tactics that are meant to “put your dog in his place.”

Not only is the scientific reality far from what Milan and others call “dominance,” but there’s an ethical issue with how dominance theory leads us to behave towards our dogs.

Dominance is situation-dependent, pair-dependent, and item-dependent – it’s not a unilateral relationship.

For example, my own dog will readily yield his toys to most other dogs, but will not give up food. That changes based on how stressed he is, who the other dog is, how hungry he is, and many other factors.

There’s also a difference between keeping a resource and taking a resource from another dog. My own dog will growl to keep dogs away from his food bowl, but won’t come steal from other dogs. If his resource guarding was truly dominance-based, we wouldn’t expect so much variety in his response!

Calling a dog dominant doesn’t tell us much about the dog. You might be misreading the situation, and “dominant” means different things to different people. Focus on what you see, not how you interpret it.

Is Your Dog Showing Dominance, Or Is He Just Insecure?

All of that said, dominance isn’t usually the best framework to view behavior problems. It might be part of what’s going on (especially in dog-dog resource guarding cases, aka “jealousy”), but it doesn’t tell the owners much that’s useful.

It’s more likely that your dog is growling at your puppy because he’s insecure than because he’s dominant. Dominant, confident dogs aren’t threatened by little baby puppies – just like confident adult men aren’t threatened by toddlers.

Part of the reason that we want to avoid calling your dog dominant is that this suggests that your job is to “put your dog in his place.”

When you think your dog is dominant, you’re more likely to use correction-based training techniques that might actually make your dog more insecure.

This is especially problematic when your dog is jealous towards the puppy.

Correcting your dog around the puppy might make your dog afraid of or aggressive towards the puppy (because he learns that puppy = pain), which backfires in the long run.

So what can we do instead if your dog is jealous of your puppy?

My Dog is Jealous of the Puppy. What Should I Do?

In general, your dog’s jealous behavior is probably rooted in insecurity.

That means that we don’t want to punish or correct your dog for jealous behavior. This will just make her more insecure (though it might stop the behavior at the moment).

Instead, our approach for helping a dog who’s jealous of a puppy will focus on a few main pillars of behavior change. It’s worth noting that this process works for adult dog on dog jealousy too!

Step 1: Manage the Situation

Managing the environment is one of the fastest and easiest ways to stop family dogs from fighting.

First, you’ll want to identify what sets your dog off.

If the food bowl is a problem, feed the dogs in separate areas and pick up food bowls when they’re done eating. If sharing the couch is a problem, don’t let both dogs on the couch at once.

You’ll also be best-served by giving your adult dog regular breaks from the puppy. As anyone who’s been around a toddler can say, babies aren’t always fun! Your adult dog needs a break.

dog-puppy-jealousy

It’s incredibly important to avoid letting your puppy pester your adult dog and stress her out except in practice scenarios. Use indoor room separating gates or baby gates, dog crates, closed doors, and tethers to give the dogs space from each other.

Don’t just let your dogs “work it out” – if the puppy is pestering the adult, the puppy needs to take a break. If the adult is getting irritable, give her a break!

Step 2: Counter-Conditioning

Your main job is to teach your dog that the puppy being nearby is awesome!

If your dog likes the puppy being near you, food, and toys, your dog is less likely to growl, snarl, snap, or split things up.

We do this by teaching your dog that the puppy approaching a valued object (you, food, toys, etc) makes chicken or a different fabulous treat rain from the sky.

The key to counter-conditioning is that the relationship between puppy approaching and chicken must be absolute. Every time the puppy comes close, chicken happens – even if your dog is stiff or growly.

You can see an example of how we’d do this in the video below. Here, I’m teaching my dog Barley two things at once: to not chase the cat and to tolerate the cat being near a food bowl! Use a muzzle at home if you’re worried about your pets.

Step 3: Teaching Alternative Behaviors

Sometimes, counter-conditioning is all that you need. If you just change your dog’s emotional response to the puppy, you might not have a problem anymore. But often you need more.

That’s where teaching an alternative behavior comes in!

Teach your dog to lie on a mat or touch his nose to your hand – then you can use either of these skills to interrupt her when she’s getting tense with the puppy. Your dog might even start to use these behaviors on her own if she’s getting stressed.

These two behaviors are best for treating jealousy because they create space between the two dogs and the resource – that makes them far better than “sit” or “lie down.”

I’m a huge fan of hand targeting in particular. Hand targeting (when your dog touches his nose to your hand) is a great skill to teach your pooch which can be used to break his focus – no just on an annoying puppy, but on squirrels, cats, or anything that might spell trouble for your pooch.

Hand targeting is also great for stopping your dog from jumping up on visitors, moving your dog off of the couch or bed, or getting your dog to come close enough that you can clip his leash on.

Check out the video below to learn how to teach a dog how to hand target!

Step 4: Relationship-Building For Your Adult Dog and Puppy

Your dog is probably jealous of the puppy because they’re not really friends yet.

Heck, your dog wasn’t asked if he wanted a 2nd dog to join his family, and he might be pretty miffed about the idea – at least at first, until a friendship can blossom.

While being best buds won’t cure things (my dog will even growl at his best friend Monty if tries to steal food), it can help make things better.

Try to take the two dogs on joint activities like walks. Giving the dogs something to focus on other than each other will help reduce tension. The more space that the dogs have during bonding, the better!

Just like with people, dogs bond well through activity. Giving your dogs fun activities to do together (like hikes or days at the beach) will help them bond more than just leaving them alone in the living room together.

These four steps will generally help most cases. In fact, even working with a professional will probably include these four basic steps and not much more. But if you’re still having issues, working with a trainer will provide additional ideas of different training games and management setups that can help.

When Should I Get Professional Help For My Dog’s Jealousy?

If your puppy has been in your home for just a few days and your adult dog is just a bit clingy, you probably don’t need to worry too much.

However, there are some cases where you may need an extra hand from a professional, including if:

  • The problem has persisted for more than a few weeks.
  • The problem is getting worse.
  • Things aren’t getting better with the four steps outlined above.
  • The adult dog has snapped at or bitten the puppy.
  • Either dog is starting to appear generally stressed and tense.
  • There is a significant size difference between the dogs, especially if that size difference is permanent or likely to get worse (Bernese Mountain Dog puppy towering over an adult Chihuahua).
  • Your adult dog has a history of resource guarding, aggression, or other behavioral concerns that could impact the situation.

That said, don’t wait for things to get that bad – you can always get help from a trainer sooner rather than later! As you’re shopping around for help, be sure to find someone who is a behavior consultant rather than a plain old trainer.

Ask about past clients similar to you and how the trainer resolved their cases – and don’t be afraid to be picky! Read all about how to find a good dog trainer here.

***

To summarize, your dog might be feeling jealous – but that can mean a lot of things.

Your dog may be displaying dominant behavior if it fits the details above, but it’s not helpful to think about this as a dominance issue – especially since this behavior is likely a result of insecurity.

Focus on making good associations with your dogs and giving them other things to do. And get help when you need it!

How did you help your adult dog get over his jealousy of the new puppy? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Also check out our resources on:

Dog Suddenly Aggressive
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Written by

Kayla Fratt

Kayla Fratt is a conservation detection dog trainer and Certified Dog Behavior Consultant. She is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant with the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, a member of the American Society for K9 Trainers, and is a member of Dog Writer’s Association of America. She lives in her van with her two border collies traveling the country to help biologists detect data with her nonprofit, K9 Conservationists. Before coming to K9 of Mine, Kayla worked at Denver Dumb Friends League and Humane Society of Western Montana as a Behavior Technician. She owns her own dog training business, Journey Dog Training and holds a degree in biology from Colorado College. When she’s not writing or training Barley and Niffler, Kayla enjoys cross-country skiing, eating sushi, drinking cocktails, and going backpacking.

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14 Comments

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Collin

Hi all I have a 5 year old labradoodle and a 4 month old shepherddoodle. They both get along fine when they are together but as soon as a person is involved the older dog gets winey and very needy for attention. He also gets upset whenever someone tries to discipline the puppy. It’s made it very hard to get the puppy house tried. Any advice?

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Ben Team

Hey there, Collin.
Have you tried any of the tips Kayla outlined in the article, like building positive associations or just using management techniques?

Reply
Victoria

I have an 8 week old dachshund (only a day) and a 4 year old Mal-shi. The Mal-shi is fine when the pup is quite , however, if the pup comes close to me the Mal-shi growls and has snapped. We have a play pen and not forcing interaction, but the Mal-shi won’t even sit on the same blanket the pup has used.

We introduce them on neutral ground and there was no signs of concern during that. What shall I do? Do you think it’s salvageable?

Reply
Ben Team

Hey, Victoria.
We certainly wouldn’t consider the relationship “unsalvageable” after only a day.

Keep safety in mind and try some of the things Kayla outlined. Let us know how it goes!

Reply
Teresa Heath

We have an older Chihuahua 7 yrs and a 11 month old Australian shepherd mix. Chihuahua is my shadow on a regular basis. He has anxiety issues and gets nippy and growls when the puppy gets excited. We try to not force them together. Is it wrong to say ‘No’ to the Chihuahua’s behavior?

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Ben Team

Hey there, Teresa.
You’re on the right track with not forcing them to interact if they’re not feeling it, but we generally advise owners to avoid “punishing the growl.”

Now, saying “no” is not a terrible “punishment,” but growling is one of the only ways dogs have to express displeasure, fear, and discomfort. So, when you take this communication tool away from the dog, he may only be left with biting as a way to tell the Aussie to back off.

In a nutshell, you just want to keep things positive and give them all the time they need.
Best of luck!

Reply
Julie Cartmell

Have 6 year old cavachon
Who is my shadow and never leaves my side .
Have no aggression problems and loves all dogs he meets , is best friends with daughters Maltese who is 2 years older.
They play beautifully.
Just had new pup a Maltese and he’s having a few issues , he has growled at pup if he comes too close , so we correct pup, he had a new toy and pup ran to it , he snapped at pup who yelped and ran !
I’ve removed toys.
I’m a bit worried .
Pup is very small in comparison and my dog just ignores him most of the time but does occasionally go up and sniffs him !
I feed them separately and they sleep separately too .
Have invested in a playpen for puppy for peace of mind whist I’m doing chores etc .
Had him a week now .

Reply
Ben Team

Hey there, Julie.
It’s always tricky bringing a new pup home to the pack!

But it sounds like you’re doing everything reasonable, and we applaud you for grabbing a playpen — they can be really helpful for dog-management.
Best of luck in your pursuit of domestic harmony!

Reply
Rafael

Pure bred yellow lab 4 years old frustrated with new puppy of 11 weeks old. New puppy just wants to play but lab gets annoyed with her. Lab (Jack) has nipped at new puppy (Luna) twice in a matter of a week ! I know it’ll get better cause Jack is generally a very lates back gentle calm dog, but in the mean time it’s just as frustrating for me as it is for Jack. What to do ?

Reply
Ben Team

Hey, Rafael.
Most of Kayla’s tips should help you out — just try to use puppy gates (or some other type of boundary) to give your adult pooch some space while working on the deeper issues.
Best of luck!

Reply
Ann

My 2 year old Golden Retriever is growling and has snapped at my new 11 week old puppy. The older dog has gone to daycare where he played with lots of different aged and sized dogs but occasionally would growl and snap at other dogs over toys. Outside they get along much better but inside he gets growly. I have been tethering the pup inside but I stepped away one time and heard him snap at the puppy. The puppy squealed but was just scared but not injured. any suggestions?

Reply
Ben Team

It’s hard to tell from afar, Ann, but it sounds like your golden may be exhibiting resource guarding.
You’ll likely need some professional help to deal with this, but check out our resource guarding article to learn more.

Reply
Birdie

My dog is just pushing us away, is that normal? She doesn’t get excited when we come home anymore, shes just in her dog house and staying away from us. What can I do?

Reply
Ben Team

That’s odd, Birdie (not to mention, kinda heartbreaking!).
Has anything else changed, besides the new pupper? Does your first dog get along well with the second?

It’s hard to tell what’s going on from afar, but while trying to figure it out, we’d recommend making sure to spend plenty of quality time with your original pooch — including plenty of time away from the new doggo.
Best of luck!

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