[Hoosier91]

One other question. I have an older female lab (Hoosier around 9-got her from a rescue) and now have a new puppy(Max). Max tries to play with her pretty frequently and she just growls at him and tries to get away. He, of course, is persistent following her. She is growling continually when he pays her attention. I am not really sure if I should intervene ie. make him leave her alone (which is nearly impossible short of crating him) or ask her to stop growling which I do and then she just looks sad and annoyed and starts it up again in a few minutes. She growled continually for 30 minutes this morning at him, but never made a move to put a stop to his puppy biting, playing behavior. Any thoughts or guidelines? I don't want her to be miserable...she is a very gentle spririted dog.

 

[BigBrownDog]

I would stay out of it. She needs to put him in his place and he seems to not be getting it from just the growling. She may (and should) really lay into him so that he learns his place and when to stop. This is really something that they need to work out together. As long as no one is being injured I would let them make their own relationship.

But - you should play with and otherwise tire out this puppy so that he is not always pestering her. She might like a tired puppy much better.