Older dog & new puppy

Ainedear

We have a 3 yr old Springer Spaniel, and have recently got a 11 week old puppy. The older dog is quite a settled dog, well behaved, quite submissive, and seems to be reacting ok to the new arrival.
Only thing is that they seem to play fight constantly, the pup will drag the ears of the older dog and she will put the pup on her back, this seems constant, they play fight over everything and nothing ! The older dog is constantly noisy and grumbling at the pup !
Just wondered is this just a stage the older dog is going through to figure their places or should I be doing something to alleviate the processs. To be fair it seems the pup instigates just as much of the 'play fights' as the older dog, so it is not that one is being terrorised and the other not, and they do seem to enjoy it, plus the benefit is they both get tired and sleep after. They seem fairly relaxed with each other now, the pup has been with us a week and a half now.
Any advice ?

star-pants

Sounds fine to me
Our dog was 2&half when we got our pup, similar things happened.
The pup will want to play nearly all the time anyway, your older dog may not, so make sure she can retreat somewhere like a couch or somewhere the pup can't get.
Regarding your older dog putting the pup on her back - that's dominance - she's showing her who's boss, putting her in her place per say.
My pups now a year old and they still do it! Biting ears is a sign of trying to dominate too, and my older dog makes all the noises when they're play fighting. Once they're both just play fighting, tails wagging etc, not vicious, then it's all grand

As you said both will benefit from being tired out!

TooManyDogs

That sounds about right to me! I foster pups all the time and my dogs have a varied set of reactions to them, 2 love the pups and play all the time, 2 can't really be bothered and ignore them, one doesn't like them and the other is afraid of them when there's more than 2!!! So between playing with the pups and correcting the pups all my dogs teach them canine communication - when playing is over, what happens if you approach a dog that is giving you clear 'go away' signals, how to see a dog wants to start playing etc.

I only get involved if I feel it's getting out of hand and the pups are going to get hurt, but it can sound really snarly and everythings still ok. Mainly I stop play if my little deaf dog gets too rough playing cos she doesn't hear the pups asking her to stop. She's only just over a year herself so still learning canine language (she's a bit slow cos of the deafness!)

Cinnomen

All sounds normal to me too! The pup wants to play 24-7 which is understandable, older dog is doing great, it will take time for them to adjust and learn who stands where in the pack order of canines and humans but you will get there! Congrats on the new baby! xxx

ahaaha

i find them so funny to watch!! dont worry at all by it - when the older dog wants to rest, they give a serious snap or two and that seems to settle our pup down when he got too much. i will say though that remember the pup will grow quickly and soon it could be two fully grown ones at it - trouble if they are indoors a lot!! but if you train them to stop when you say, then its no problem