Start away from home, side by side
Your elderly dog has a lifetime of claim on his home, his bed, and his favourite resting spots, so the fairest first meeting happens somewhere that belongs to neither dog. A quiet street or park edge works well, with one handler per dog, loose leads, and enough distance that both dogs notice each other without pulling toward contact. Walk in the same direction, parallel, and let the distance shrink only as both stay relaxed, sniffing the ground and glancing rather than staring.
Keep this first meeting short, ten minutes or so, and resist the urge to let them greet nose to nose on day one. An older dog with stiff joints cannot step away quickly from a puppy who launches at his face, and one frightened snap at this stage can colour the whole relationship. A calm walk where nothing much happens is a genuine success, and it gives the older dog the information he actually wants, which is the puppy's scent and general manner, at a pace he controls.
Protecting the older dog's rest and resources
Fairness at home means the puppy is the one whose access is limited, never the resident dog whose world shrinks. His bed, his feeding spot, and his usual resting room stay his, behind a baby gate the puppy cannot cross, and he should be able to leave any shared session freely and find that quiet space waiting. Feed them separately from the start, with the older dog fed first in his usual place, and pick up high-value chews and favourite toys before shared time until you know how each dog feels about the other near prized items.
Watch the older dog's signals honestly. Lip licking, turning his head away, moving off repeatedly, or a low growl when the puppy climbs on him are requests for space, and the right response is to remove the puppy, not to correct the older dog for communicating. A growl that gets punished does not disappear; the warning does, and that leaves you with a dog who may eventually snap without one.
Short supervised sessions, always ending well
Build shared time in small doses, a few minutes of calm coexistence in one room with the puppy on a light house lead so you can redirect pestering before it starts. Reward the puppy heavily for choosing to settle, chew her own toy, or look away from the older dog, because those choices are the foundation of a peaceful household. End each session while both dogs are still relaxed, separating them for a nap or a meal, rather than waiting until the puppy is overtired and frantic or the older dog is fed up.
Increase the length and freedom of sessions over days and weeks based on what you actually see, not on a schedule. Some elderly dogs warm to a respectful puppy within a fortnight; others prefer a lifetime of polite coexistence with plenty of separate rest, and that outcome is fair too, provided neither dog is stressed by it.
Routines that keep both dogs' needs visible
The puppy will consume most of the household's attention by default, so deliberately schedule the older dog's walks, grooming, medication if he has any, and one-to-one time as protected appointments rather than leftovers. Short, gentle separate walks often suit him better than being dragged along on puppy-paced outings, and they preserve the part of the day that was always his.
When every walk, feed, rest period, and shared session is assigned and ticked off on KinsLe through Care Teams, with completed tasks marked by their timestamps, nobody in the house has to rely on assumption to know the elderly dog got his quiet morning and the puppy got her supervised play.