[Superjam]

So brought home a puppy 4 days ago and my 4 year old is scared of him. The first introduction went well as he sniffed the 8 week old male. Although every time the puppy comes near him he runs away. if the puppy touches him he jumps like he was poked by a hot poker. He lets out a few growls but his tales wags and he has not done anything aggressive.

So what I need to know is if I should just leave them be and wait it out or should I force them to interact more ?

I feel bad for both dogs. The puppy follows him around and wants to play. And the older dog just looks uncomfortable now.

 

[akodo1]

Your adult dog will grow more used to your puppy and will tolerate it better. Be aware that an adult dog will often 'correct' a puppy who is bugging it too much with a growl or snap. You have to be tolerant of that (within reason...anything more than a snap and you need to step in immediately).

Sometimes an adult dog will growl a bit at the puppy to say 'I just want to be left alone now' and the owner will correct the adult dog. The adult dog will understand that growling at the pup is not desired and instead will try to get the pup to leave them alone by physically moving. Trouble is, pup pursues and the adult dog gets no peace. If you aren't letting the adult dog correct the pup, then you need to control how much time the two spend together, and remove the pup from where it can access the older dog when the older dog is leaving and the pup is following it around.

But generally I prefer to monitor the adult dog and let it give corrections as needed.

Note, that the adult dog will growl and say 'leave me alone' or even snap to get the message through, but the pup will try and re-engage in a while. That's expected. That's the way it is supposed to work. In general an adult dog will humor the puppy and play a bit a few times a day.