One thing I'm concerned about with Future Puppy is that he is going to be a big dog, and Cooper and Gracie are both under 12 pounds. They get along okay with bigger dogs, but they aren't comfortable with them. They ignore Chloe (who is 45 pounds) and Cynder, who is 30 pounds, scares them when she tries to play with them. Seabees, who was about 55 pounds, scared the ever loving crap out of them, even when she was ignoring them.
They aren't going to tolerate having a galumphing puppy bounce all over them. I think it will help that the puppy will be their size when he first comes home and they'll be able to correct him as they see fit without feeling too intimidated, but the puppy is going to grow and I see things heading south rather quickly if he can't be taught to leave them alone. I wasn't too worried about it as Chloe was always really gentle with smaller animals, even as a puppy, but after seeing how much of a dimwit my sister's Retriever/Pit puppy is and how he tries to clobber Chloe and Apollo even when they are telling him to Back Off, I'm concerned the Future Puppy will do the same thing with Gracie and Cooper. Not only will this make them unhappy, they could really be injured by a 30 pound puppy that doesn't know his strength pouncing on them.
Is there anything I can do to make sure this won't be an issue?
They aren't going to tolerate having a galumphing puppy bounce all over them. I think it will help that the puppy will be their size when he first comes home and they'll be able to correct him as they see fit without feeling too intimidated, but the puppy is going to grow and I see things heading south rather quickly if he can't be taught to leave them alone. I wasn't too worried about it as Chloe was always really gentle with smaller animals, even as a puppy, but after seeing how much of a dimwit my sister's Retriever/Pit puppy is and how he tries to clobber Chloe and Apollo even when they are telling him to Back Off, I'm concerned the Future Puppy will do the same thing with Gracie and Cooper. Not only will this make them unhappy, they could really be injured by a 30 pound puppy that doesn't know his strength pouncing on them.
Is there anything I can do to make sure this won't be an issue?