As the title says- how do you do it? Daisy is 14.5 weeks old. She goes to dog day care once a week where she has brief periods with the big dogs because she is super confident and fully vaccinated. She spends time with friends adult dogs who are frankly not interested in playing with her but are very tolerant of her. When she meets a dog on a walk or at the park she is so boisterous and puppy like I'm starting to get worried and avoid the park. She jumps all over them biting their ears etc. some dogs love this - others don't. Is this just a wait for maturity issue or is there something we can do to assist her interactions with other dogs? (Please note we ALWAYS ask owner of other dog before interaction. She has been growled at and snapped at once despite other owner saying his dog loved puppies - this has not put her off!) We have pulled her away when she has gone totally manic over another puppy, but that owner was of the view that tails were wagging so was all just fun. We are not sure what is right thing to do?
We are in the same boat. Jessie is 15 weeks. We have neighbours with 6 dogs between them who we saw whilst out walking just now and she got so hyper excited she slipped her harness, much to my horror! I asked for advice on here and the answer seems to encourage better behaviour with treats, which is working to a degree (until she goes hyper out of control!). I think try and stick with it. Don't avoid dogs, they have to learn, however shameful it is at the time!! My neighbours with dogs seemed to think it best for her to get on with it and learn how to behave and I bow to their judgement as experienced dog owners with nicely behaved dogs ( the daughter works in an animal shelter, hence all the dogs, so I trust her judgement)! To be honest I don't mind her getting growled at as hopefully this puts her in her place and will teach her better manners! We are starting going to puppy socialisation next week, which I am hoping will help! We did get a harness which massively helped me control the jumping up until she slipped it today! Clearly it is too big, so off to the pet shop for a smaller one later, as it did help! Anyway, hopefully someone with more experience than me will come along with some more help. I shall be watching eagerly. Just know you are not alone! Sally and Jessie
thanks jessieboo good to know we are not alone! We have the same issue re treats. Once she is in dog play mode and hyped up the tastiest treats have no interest for her. We did puppy school where the dogs got a couple of plays but now we've moved onto obedience where the dogs don't get playtime. She seems to get this after 5 mins. It's the dogs on the path or at the park that worry me. She goes straight into jumping on them and biting. I don't mind her being growled at either, just don't want a nasty interaction!
This is why socialization never ends. You will read the optimum time for socialization is 12 to 16 weeks but dogs can learn all their lives, just like us, and this is one important lesson most cannot learn till they are older. This is because most well rounded dogs are overly tolerant of puppies and it's not till they lose their "puppy license" that another dog will tell them off. I have read as well that male dogs are generally more tolerant than females and that a female who has had pups is the best for teaching manners to young dogs. Not a strange dog neither of you ever met in your lives before of course, it's only a generality and you don't want to expose your puppy to the exception that makes the rule. You can try to impose calm greetings but I've read, and personally experienced, that another dog (or more, not at once) is the best teacher of polite greetings. My own intact male is very good with such pups. When my sister's puppy was about 12 weeks, MY dog was the one who got hurt and needed rescuing. Later, around 6 months old, when she ran full tilt into his face, jumped up, bit and scratched his face he grabbed her by the neck, threw her to the ground and held her there for some seconds ( she lay quietly, seemingly recognizing what the lesson was) then he let her up and they continued to play. No small feat for my dog, Bonnie was nearly his size. Such an interaction has not hurt any puppies we've met and, amazingly, most owners were not disturbed either, at observing this. Some dogs will merely growl and snap at your puppy, as the OP encountered. This is what they need to learn this lesson. You don't want a dog that will actually bite your puppy and hurt it. Some puppies don't learn at the first lesson, as the OP's puppy did not. I would not expose my young puppy to dogs I did not know and I would not trust what another owner I don't know says, too many are not knowledgeable.
I think what you can directly do is pretty limited - you can discourage some behaviours, eg dashing up, and you can remove your pup from play if s/he is being inappropriate, and you can make sure your puppy is well socialised, goes to the right groups and classes etc. But it really is the case that doggie to doggie manners are learned by interacting with other dogs - so seek out sensible, well socialised, well mannered dogs for your puppy to interact with. Do step in if your puppy is being a pest though, I always appreciate that - my own male dog will put up with a puppy pestering him long after it's reasonable to ask him to do so. I'm afraid I wouldn't agree that's an appropriate response from a dog.
pest is an excellent word for Jessie! Most of the dogs we know tolerate her far more than she deserves, which makes her think she can get away with it! I think all we can do is keep plodding on!!
Then you would be one of the owners who should be very careful of the dog you let your puppy meet. This IS the reaction of my dog. The owner of the rude puppy has no control over what the other dog will do. For my part I do warn the owners of rude puppies that my dog will do this.
For sure, any future puppy of mine won't be coming near your dog. Since we live several thousand miles apart, that's a pretty safe bet.
LOL, you noted though that I said Oban does this when a dog runs full tilt into his face, bites and scratches him. If your dog doesn't do this then he's safe with Oban. If he does do this, well a lot of people and dogs won't want to meet your dog either.
Lots of 6 month old Labrador are horrors around other dogs jumping and biting at faces. Actually, lots of 6 month old dogs of a few breeds are horrors. A proportionate reaction is for an adult dog to avoid, growl, snap and escalate through warnings - not turn a dog on its back by its neck. I don't want to seem to be overly critical of your dog, I'm sure Oban is a generally lovely dog that would never hurt another, I just mentioned it because people have to form their own views on what seems like appropriate behaviour, so it was just a flag, really.
Mine (14weeks) has been spending a lot of time lately meeting new dogs (friends coming over) and their reactions have varied from amazingly tolerant of the little crocodile to a growl and baring if teeth warning which actually stops him and he then will lick them instead of biting. It actually seems to help if they do growl a bit as otherwise he goes on and on pestering them! Luckily none have snapped back at him at all and we have supervised carefully. Now meeting up with his sister today was another thing altogether!!! They spent the whole time rolling around chewing each other! Too funny. He's now exhausted home in his bed!!
Thanks for everyone's advice. I do wonder whether the adult dogs we socialise with are too tolerant of her- they never growl- so she isn't getting a warning that she is too much. It sounds like we just keep up the attempts at socialization and intervene if it's too much. It's hard to imagine how annoying she will be at 6 months when she is twice the size and behaving like this
When your puppy is 14 weeks, I don't think you need worry about her not being growled at - let her have pleasant experiences with friendly adult dogs, and just take her away if she is really being to much of a pest. When she gets older, she'll get growled at soon enough...don't worry.
The other thing, @First timer, is make sure you also do other things around other dogs - she should also play with you, you should be able to interrupt her in play etc. So she gets used to concentrating on you too around other dogs. She shouldn't think she always has to play. She can be asked to chill out as well. This kind of thing stops them being too mad to play ALL the time....
Impulse control around other dogs is your best defence against a future mad teenager.....then at least you can recall them and put them on a lead!
My girl is often used by my dog walker with puppies they either walk, have in day care or have their own litter. Harley us very tolerant of puppies but will tell them off if they get too much - she will give a short shrift growl and this usually stops them. It's a really good idea to get her to play with you with other dogs around. I use a ball or a dummy as she loves retrieving, but when she was younger we would call her from one person to the next and reward as soon as she came. I would also run away from her waving my arms and making high pitched noises (I know.....I expect I looked silly, but don't care really ). I found within a few weeks she was always looking to see what I would be doing when she was playing with other dogs
