I brought home a new puppy named Hunter last weekend and had a hard time introducing him to Bandit my older husky who is 1 year 7 months. To be honest I'm not sure what Bandit's behavior is an exhibit of. I assume what he exhibits is dominance or aggression, because once a dog challenges him he won't back down and it becomes a full out war, but if the dog wants to play then he is completely fine.

Anyhow, I got a lot of great advice here and was feeling so much relief, because when Bandit and Hunter are tied together for a couple of hours a day they play beautifully. Bandit will play gently and he was the one to actually get injured when the puppy bit his lip too hard. Since they had been getting along so well I thought about letting them run free together today after Bandit went for a bike ride with me and played fetch. Bandit immediately tried to start playing, but Hunter the puppy, got extremely mad or what looked like anger to me. Bandit ignored Hunter's growls and snaps and kept trying to play the third time Hunter snapped at Bandit he growled back. The growl to me seemed not so friendly, but I am never sure. I separated them just to avoid anyone getting hurt. I'm not sure what to do.

Bandit always wants to play and the puppy who is 8 weeks is well a puppy, he doesn't have the same energy and is tiny. Is his age and size the issue? I'm thinking maybe when Bandit is tied he can't jump all over the puppy as much, but when he is free maybe he's too intense? I would love some thoughts and advice.

I appreciate you all so much by the way. I . know my posts probably seem endless.

Hunter was just telling Bandit he'd had enough for a while ... puppy has to listen to Bandit, but Bandit has to listen to Hunter as well.

When Hunter was growling then snapping, I'd bet he was saying he wanted some space (a breather) and Bandit just wanted to play - as you said, energy levels. Your separating them for a while was probably a good idea. Just like putting two people into the same place (a new project where people who haven't worked together now have to, for example) it takes a while for them to learn how to work (or play) together.

It's only been a week and no major blood - they (and you) are doing okay.

I think you're doing ok as well. Kohdi pulls that with Mishka, and sometimes in a blue moon, Mishka just wants to chill. First it's a "no, go away", second time it's a bit more direct, third time (hopefully by then, haha) Mishka gets very direct, "I told you no, this is the last time" and Kohdi lays back down (but conceding didn't happen overnight, it was through testing each other's boundaries over a period of time that it got to this point) , and tries again later. It sounds aggressive because it has too, but it's not actually aggression. As time goes on, you will be able to watch all that and just be in awe of how they communicate, trust me, I've been there, now I sit back and watch Kohdi get put in place by a little girl, LOL, sometimes, it's really cute and I'll even take pics!

Bandit, I still think, is doing really well. It takes a little time of challenging each other back and forth for each to know when one has, or is, crossing the line. They work it out themselves though.