I am not really sure what to make of this. Our black lab puppy is almost 7 months old, he has been around other dogs, small, big, puppies, older since he was 8 weeks old. We actually have an 11 yr old lab as well. Today a friend of ours brought over their black lab puppy who is just over 4 months. They have played together a few other times. Today they were running around the yard chasing each other and then our puppy would kind growl, show teeth and bark a little, I wasn't sure if this was ok or not but our friend seemed to think it was ok as our puppies tail was still wagging. Then as we were throwing the ball our puppy would run retrieve it and his puppy would run along side and not try to take the ball but would just run and be playful with our puppy. After awhile our puppy seemed to get annoyed with it and kind of growled and turned on his puppy, he didn't snap but it made his puppy stop at that moment.I don't know if it was becuase our puppy had his ball in his mouth which is his favorite thing or if he just didn't want to be bothered by the puppy while he was playing ball. But either way it made me uncomfortable, I don't want our puppy to develop any type of aggression. He isn't like that with our older dog however our older dog can't run much so he never runs along side the puppy. But we've taken our puppy many times to the dog park and he's never done that but we don't ever have his ball when we go there. It actually has been about a month since we've been to the dog park. So anyways is this something to be concerned about and what do we do to stop it?
Hi @mom2labs it is very difficult to assess what is going on from just a description. I would like to see a video of the entire interaction. With the large proviso in mind, it sounds as if your dog got tired?/overexcited? and then he acted a bit aggressively. You indicate that initially they ran alongside each other and there was no reactive behaviour. It was only as the game proceeded that you became concerned. Accordingly, what I would be inclined to do is let the dogs interact, if you wish, but let them interact through you, the two owners. You act as the conduit, ensuring the two don't become over-aroused. You might ask what would you two do with your dogs? I would be inclined to just walk with them. Pet one and then pet the other. Offer treats for spontaneous checking-in. Or find a kid's play pool fill it with balls, and let them search one at a time for treats in the pool. Or each gets his/her own snuggle mat and gets to look for treats you bury in between the weaves/snuggles(?). The two mats could be say 2 metres apart. Have the dogs on loose leads, so that you can prevent a potential reaction over treats.The idea is for you to teach them that dog-to-dog interaction can and should be calm rather than boisterous. The ball chasing may come later when they fully trust each other. You'll notice that the interaction I put to the fore here is not what you find in a dog parks. Dog parks encourage the dogs to think that they should be over-stimulated in the presence of other dogs. But that's not what we want. Over-stimulation can result in fights, and the dogs learn that other dogs are more interesting than their handlers, resulting in a failure to follow cues when around other dogs. For those reasons, I wouldn't take my dog to a dog park. Much, much better for you two friends to train your dogs with each other. I have a friend with a Lab, and her dog and my dog play retrieve bringing the ball back to us. They still do obedience classes together. In the class last week, the instructor for a laugh (and to proof against distractions) had us do a Figure 8 at the same time. I took a right turn while my friend took her Lab to the left and we managed without crashing into each other. We taught them scent detection, using the other dog as a distraction for the proofing stage. The two dogs are the best of friends. But we taught them that calm interaction was the way to forward.
Great thank you for the advise. This guy I call a friend, we don't really know him that well haha, he is just someone that lives a few blocks away that we met through someone else and he will "stop by" to get his dog to play and around other dogs. Next time he comes I will tell im this, he doesn't stay usually very long maybe 15 min or so, so just during the 15 min we are in the back yard what would you suggest them do to interact, just hang with us? They tend to want to run and play. It's so weird because we were playing ball with our puppy a week ago when he showed up and we continued and same interaction with his puppy and that didn't happen
Hi @mom2labs I would ask the person whether you two should try snuggle mats. They are a bit expensive but good for training young dogs to be calm around each other.
Like Michael says, it is really hard to interpret this behaviour because it depends on a lot of other physical signals your puppy would be giving out at the same time. Like, whether the puppy froze still or used a hard stare along with this growl and showing teeth. You would need to interpret the entire package of behaviour, not isolate small parts of it. Barking can happen during play. Growling can happen during play. Showing teeth? Not so much. The tail wagging means nothing except that the puppy was aroused in some way. Tails can wag before a dog is aggressive. It just means that emotions are running high. It doesn't tell you what those emotions are. It does not mean that a dog is necessarily 'friendly'. If the ball is your puppy's favourite thing and he values it a lot, it is high risk to have it out in the presence of a strange dog he doesn't live with. That goes for any object or item. It might seem to you that the other puppy was not trying to take the ball, but dogs can put subtle pressure on each other to give up objects in all kinds of small ways which most owners don't even notice. There is an entire dialogue going on between them, which I'd guess you were unaware of. And yes, it is very annoying to be running and playing with your favourite thing and then to find this other dog constantly with you all the time. Is this regular encounter really a useful and productive thing for both dogs? Owners (in my eyes, generally) seem to be obsessed with bringing their dog to play with another dog or dogs, whether in a dog park or meeting up like this - and I really just don't get it. Half the time, the dogs are not enjoying themselves, another half the time they are learning to be bullies (if they are enjoying themselves) or bullied, and the other half of the time (I know we have reached 3 halves now...) unproductive behaviour is being learnt and the owner is completely irrelevant to the dog. Really think hard about what a dog is learning in an encounter and whether you want them to learn that. I'd suggest that maybe your dog is just tolerating the presence of this other pup. This can even look like play superficially, but in moments here and there, he will be trying to escape or turn away, or disengage - only for the other pup to launch himself back again. He responds with a bit of play (because it's a knee jerk reaction) and so on... But this is not really enjoyable for him. Really look at the behaviour closely....
