How can I stop my retriever puppy from initiating a play fight with my 1 year old doberman?
ByMy puppy retriever always initiates the play fight by biting my doberman. I know that her bite can hurt so my dobe would pin her down by biting on the neck, or just fighting back but i thought this would teach the puppy a lesson but no she always do it whenever both of them are in the same room. It is the puppy’s way of catching the older dog’s attention but unfortunately her way ends up irritating the older dog. The dobe has a lot of patience with her but sometimes i think she also have enough of her being too playful that is almost an attack.
Thanks for all the answers. It sure are very helpful to me. My doberman is not used to other dogs as well. We got the retriever so that she has a playmate and companion. We try not to stop them sometimes but when I see that they are starting to get serious, with the puppy’s tail in between her legs, with teeth showing i stop them worried that the puppy’s bone is not yet strong enough for the rough play.
6 Comments
July 12th, 2010 at 12:46 am
okay buy a whistle and every time it happens blow it and in there response say sit and if they do it, reward them. continue this and soon it wil stop. trust me they will eventually get the idea…..
July 12th, 2010 at 12:46 am
You should not stop the pup and older dog interacting this way.It sounds like the older doberman will keep the pup in place.As long as the doberman is not really hurting her it is fine.This will help them to establish who is alpha.If you do not let them figure out their pack order early you can have problems later.
July 12th, 2010 at 1:08 am
Don’t stop them. Socialization is very important for your pup. As long as your older dog isn’t hurting the pup then let them play. Your older dog will discipline the pup and let it know when enough is enough. If you stop them from playing your pup will learn that it’s NOT ok to play with other dogs and that’s not healthy for him. Your older dog can teach him things that you can’t.
July 12th, 2010 at 2:08 am
A spray bottle filled w/water. Everytime the puppy starts spray her! She’ll get the point, I promise.
July 12th, 2010 at 2:55 am
This is normal puppy behavior and the dobe knows it. Adult dogs teach puppies proper doggie behavior doing what you described—they tolerate it up to a point and then lay down the law. As your puppy gets bigger there will be less tolerance and the rules for rough play will be established.
This is important socialization for your puppy and as long as your adult dog is healthy there is no reason to stop it.
Think of it this way: puppies play very rough with their littermates and act in a way that isn’t acceptable for adult dogs—just like kids. After all, two little boys rough house and play in a way that would be unacceptable for two 20 year old men, right? Adult dogs help the pups learn how to play in a way that is acceptable for adult dogs by gradually changing the play rules and teaching limits.
No worries—your patient dobe knows what she is doing.
July 12th, 2010 at 3:48 am
My pug does this with my older pit, when my pug was really small it used to scare me, only because we had never had another dog living with us before, and he was so small. I wasn’t sure how much he would take, but I trusted him and I could tell that it was bonding/teaching, so I would just keep a close eye on them and take a deep breath. Whenever he would really have enough his bark was more harsh than usual and our puppy would stop. I would try to let them work it out for themselves, just keep a close eye on them.
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