Too Playful

[Zozo]

My Dog Zoey, is a schnauzer mix I got from the pound. I just Graduated from college and I'm back at home until I get a place of my own. She gets along well with my parent's small dogs. She loves to play but sometimes she can get too rough. She means well and doesn't bite or anything, she just tends to bat them around a bit. This worried me because I was thinking of getting a puppy once I move into my own place. I'm worried she will be too rough and possibly hurt it. Is there anything I can do to let her know it's ok to play with other dogs, she just needs to be more gentle? I've tried training her before but she has a short attention span and not even food will get her to do what I ask. Can anyone help?

[GretaJack]

You are going to have to teach her a command such as Enough, All done, Relax. It is more or less a time out from what ever currect activity she is doing. Put a leash on her when she is playing with your parents' dogs and when she gets a little overwhelming, give her whatever command you chose and grab the leash to pull her away. Tell her she is a good girl and praise her. There is nothing that she did right or wrong at this point, but she will learn that the command means to stop and come to you for some loving. Consistency is always the key in training any command.

[Dax]

You might want to find a friend with a dog as large or larger than her. Dogs have a keen sense when play gets too much. There is a real difference between "****** off" and "let's play". They don't need human intervention to know this. HOWEVER, that doesn't stop the dominance issue - you know the "I'm the boss" pushyness. That why a dog closer in size is sometimes a good thing.

It's quite amazing to see a little jack russell take after a rotti or other large dog because it's had enough.

Keep giving the dog lots of exposure to other animals and they will be more likely to get along.

Don't forget puppies need lots & lots of excerise to avoid being TOO anything.

[erdog3]

I think you will have role reversal by the time you get a puppy, that is your puppy now will have grown a bit, the new puppy will be small and able to get in and out of places the big one can't and the big puppy will be wanting somewhere to hide from the little puppy.
Although it won't hurt to try to calm this puppy down a bit now, it won't go away unless you TRAIN it to go away, (the boisterousness I mean).
I have a rule, if you want to play, go OUTSIDE, if you want to come in, then you lay down quietly. Yes I'm talking about the dogs, not kids. So when they all used to come inside, a while back now, when they started to muck around I used to stand up, yell, THAT'S IT out you go to play, and throw them all out.
Three Labradors playing tiggy around my kitchen table used to get a bit much, if you know what I mean. . Then Ellie had her first heat, and that was it, no more friendship between her and Sophie. So I had two adult Labs and one puppy, don't worry Ellie held her own with the best of them, it was quite funny to watch. But it used to get a bit noisy in the end.

[ July 12, 2004, 04:41 PM: Message edited by: ellierat ]