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What can I do?

Question Comment 1: We have a 10 week old Male beagle puppy, Sir Issac Newton. (I wanted a another Newf, but this is a rescue from a woman who couldn't handle its active and noisy style.) The Hubby got it to help her get over a misscarrage.;-( The pup was 6 weeks old when they got him. We got him at 8 weeks. I don't know why she didn't contact the breeder.

He keeps jumping and nipping at the muzzles of my 8 year old spayed Newf and 14 year old Afgan/BC. The Newf lets him lick at her lips for a while then gets up, raises her muzzle out of reach and moves away. She will give a loud bark if the pup still persists, which causes him to back off for a short while . She actually seems to enjoy the licking, but gets tired of it after a while. The BC has a hard time moving and get very annoyed because he can't get away from the pest. He has started to bark at the pup if it gets close to him. We never leave them alone and sometimes keep the pup on a leash or give him a time-out when he gets to persistant.

1/ Why is the pup licking muzzles? Is this something he will grow out of?
2/ Otherwise, he is house training nicely.
3/ Would it do any good to contact the breeder? (He has akc registation, so we have their name. We haven't sent them in yet.) He is not going back. We like him and don't plan to send him back to a breeder that kicks them out at 6 weeks.
4/ Any other suggestions are welcome.

Normal Behavior

Comment 2: Licking muzzles is a normal behaviour....pups will do this to solicit a vomitting episode from their mother LOL. If she is inclined that way, a mother dog will regurgitate her food for the pup when they lick her muzzle.My last litter had a mother who WAS inclined to regurgitate for them, and they, in turn, tried it on every adult they were in contact with until the adult put them in their place and then it ended.

Let the older dog discipline him for it and he will likely quit. Your disciplining and time outs may not be effective, because he won't connect it with what he is doing unless the older dog lets him know it's not acceptable.

Discipline

Comment 3: It's pretty unusual for an old dog to be actually NASTY when disciplining a pup,. although it does happen rarely. The thing is, beagles are also VERY determined, and until the old dog lets him know on no uncertain terms, it is likely to continue. Puppies have something called puppy licence with adult dogs, and that means that they will put up with quite a bit from a young pup if they have been around other dogs for most of their life. Then, suddenly, one day, the licence expires, and they give them HELL. This means the adult dog could actually begin to harass the young one. My adult male growls the minute they get within his personal space... NO, you are NOT going to lick
my mouth...! , and he actually had to ROAR several times before they took him seriously. I don't discipline him for it, because if I do, they will persist and keep on trying to bully him. (Comical...he's a good solid 160 lbs and I am worried about them bullying HIM)

You COULD try calling the pup to you when he is doing this and offering a small treat to him instead...in that way he will begin to look to you as the food source instead of trying to solicit a regurge from the adult dogs. Any beagles I have dealt with have been VERY food oriented, virtually guts with little legs, so you may be able to divert the behaviour by showing him a different way to earn food.

More information

Comment 4: It will only stop if every dog disciplines him. My latest puppies know not to bug most of the adults, but Gretel refuses to tell them off, so they bug
her relentlessly. She doesn't like it, but won't tell them no, so I only let them bug her so much, then separate them from her. As for the breeder. Did they have a contract with these people? I know I would be pretty mad if a puppy buyer just passed one of my puppies off to a new home as that is a violation of my contract. Chances are, if they sold him at 6 weeks they don't want him back, but you really ought to contact them.

Comments

Comment 5: Thanks. We are trying that now. It is a bit scary to see a 125 lb and a 75 lb dog barking and snarling at a 5 lb pest when they finally get to much. Unfortunatly the little pest seems to return within a few minutes to try again. He is relentless and seems to take great joy in playing. He does give a nice submissive crouch when ever they bark at him. If this goes on to long we wait until he wanders away from them, then we give them a break by putting him in a different area, or take him on a potty walk. We have been distracting him with kibble to let him see that we have a food source that is tastier than dog drool.