too rough on smaller dog

[tuffystar]

My Labradoodle is younger than my border collie mix but much bigger. She is too rough on him and he is getting wounds. He wants to play but she tackles him and won't let go of his neck. He will cry but she won't let go until we chase her off of him. They like to play but she doesn't seem to know when to stop. She is faster than I am so I don't know how to teach her to let go. Tia (my Labradoodle) is 84 lbs. and Buddy ( the older dog) is 54 lbs. Can anyone help me?

[anny51]

I'm not sure if I can advise you, but I have much the same problem with Charlie. He's a 18wk old LD and I have 2x9yr old Cavaliers who are smaller than him. Sunny and Jack aren't really into playing...they reckon sleepng on laps is enough for them, but Charlie does everything he can think of to entice them into playing. Sunny is a real grumpy old man and tells him where to go, but occasionally Jack sort of plays...that means that when Jack decides to stop, Charlie drags him round by the ear, making him yelp, and he has been known to grab that lovely plumey tail and drag him out of his crate. I tell Charlie to 'leave' but he usually ignores me and I end up prising Charlie's jaws open. I even tried using bitter apple/hot chilli sauce on poor Jack's ears but Charlie developed a taste for them! Luckily it doesn't seem to be happening as often now...maybe Charlie is geting the message that his advances aren't welcome...but I'd love to hear how anyone else has dealt with this.

[pringle's mom]

I had a similar problem with Finn and my cat only the cat loves to play with him and would encourage his advances and also invite him to play. What I did, because Finn really was too rough, was keep him on a leash tethered to me anytime he had the opportunity to be rough with the cat. If he would go after the cat in a rough way I would pull him back and tell him to leave it and reward him for nice play and leaving the cat when told or on his own. After about a month there was major improvement. NOT PERFECT, but way better. I also found a dog in the neighborhood he could play rough with so he is very happy!

[SadieFern]

How old is Tia? If she's still in the puppy stage, it should get better soon. If she's older and still not "getting it", I'd put her in time outs when she gets too rough.
I put Sadie in her crate when she gets out of control with Jonas. Your other dog should be letting Tia know when enough is enough. What kind of wounds is she inflicting?
Sometimes I just say "That's enough!" to both dogs and then seperate them for atime.

[tuffystar]

Thank you all for your help. Tia is a little over a year and a half old. When do they start settling down? Buddy doesn't seem to get angry with Tia but I am tired of finding scabs on his neck and cheek. He scoots behind our bushes but this is injuring him more than Tia does. The one good thing is Buddy turns things around when Tia gets tired. He then is the top dog. He has much more stamina than Tia. It is just his safety until Tia gets tired that worries me. I will try the leash for a bit, maybe with treats for good behavior. We may break out her crate for time out too.


Thanks again Tuffystar

[blueteal]

Definately use the crate for time outs.
I have a 2.5 year old and a 13 week old...........When the play gets too rough I send both to their crate.
I know that my dogs are both tired when the real loud barking and growling starts so it is nap time..............

[lmtoth2]

Our 2 are the same age and approximately same size...however they also get too riled up sometimes. We'll just separate them and make them have quiet time (sometimes we put Dexter on a leash and tether him to us).

It's funny - for the longest time Dexter would do like Tia does (bother the other dog) and now Kirby does almost as much instigating. Ours are over 2 and still play/wrestle a ton so I don't know it settles down

[Lucee&Rusty]

We time our two out when it gets too rough. We use "Enough" as a command to stop rough play.
If they stop on their own they are praised, if not they are usually separated and Rusty is put on a lead and Lucee is put in a drop stay.
Lucee is nearly 14 mths and Rusty is 10mths. Rusty gets rough when he is tired and we have always used it as a sign that he needs a nap.
We usually find once separated they will both crash and have a nap.

[jodysh]

Well...here we are at 6 months old and Malcolm has this sort of issue. He plays with my mom and dad's mini doxi, he plays with a little jack russell mix and I'm not sure what sort of mix Carson is, but he's probably about 50 pounds.

The problem is he plays with the littles like they are as big as Carson. So when we are at the park on the "little dogs only" side and new dogs come in he wants to play, but he plays too rough usually because most of the dogs are more...delicate I guess? But he does latch on and just doesn't want to let go. I'm constantly having to make him let go of Piper. Nala (the JR mix) is pretty good at getting loose and Carson has no problems.

I pull him off and tell him "easy" or "gentle". But 10 min later same issue.

Tonight he kept after this dog that was about the same size as him, but she just wasn't one of the rough and tumble 'rasslin types and he would NOT leave her alone. I had to put his leash on him and put him in time out and he still went right back. I was a bit embarrassed.

I'm not sure what to do with this boy. Geez. He's just so excited and acts like he's never seen another dog in his life lol. I'm seriously thinking I may have to get a correction collar of some sort.

[Nikkiey]

I have the exact same problem with Juneau, it's not all dogs, it's just a select few. Most of the times it's the small dogs, but there is a mix that he 'plays' with that's the approximate same age and size that he's really rough with too.

He usually latches on to the back of the neck and won't let go until he's ready or I go over there and put my foot in his face. I don't enjoy this type of play (and neither do some other dog owners) but from what I've been told by trainers, it's a natural way for more dominant dogs to play. It's something that must be trained to stop and constantly worked on.

Juneau is 13, almost 14 months old now and it's gotten better, but it's still a work in progress. It's to the point where I will just start walking towards him when he has another dog in a head lock and he'll automatically let go and wait till the dog comes after him again. But the downfall is it still happens. This is one of the reasons I stopped going to off leash parks, I've tried everything that I can think of but nothing has worked 100% yet.

Juneau still gets to play in a group setting in doggy daycare, where they said they have never experience Juneau doing that sort of behavior or for our Friday play time with a smaller group of dogs of all sizes where it's easier to control and monitor him.

We have tried the correction collar for this behavior and it didn't work for us. Juneau would be so wrapped up in the heat of the moment that he wouldn't feel the vibration that would normally trigger a response so we would have to turn it up and that's when he would freak. It was either an off or on state for him, no in between.

Perhaps since Malcolm is still younger if you start the corrections now, he'll get it. Just be consistent with the word you use and hopefully it will become his automatic release word. Good Luck.

[jodysh]

Oy. I don't know if he's really a dominant personality though. I guess he might be. Figured he was just too excited and likes to play rough like his regular buds. He does latch on and won't let go, but that's anything he can get a hold of not just on the neck.

And he'll run away and get between my feet (or anyone else who might be closer) if a dog comes after him and he gets scared or what not.

He's been in daycare a few times and his report cards have been very good too. It's just at the park that he does this and with Piper at my mom and dad's house but to a lesser extent he's really getting better with Piper so I hope it's because he's realizing she's smaller and he can't get as rough.

I guess I'll find a good trainer soon. Hopefully from PetSmart which is where he'll be going to daycamp as I go back to work. I know they do one on one training sessions there.

[deepnite10]

you might say i used the *Key* method to stop Toby from rough housing..or just about anything else..

try this..when you use the command to stop whatever they re doing..rattle some keys and throw them at their feet..they ll relate the command followed by the keys..

eventually all you ll need to do is rattle the key s and they ll stop in their tracks..followed by the stopping of the unwanted behavior..

btw..i would nt reward them for stopping unwanted behavior..they get the idea that if the do misbehaive..then stop, they get a reward..

[jodysh]

I'll try that. We'll see. I found a place for training today and hopefully will be able to get him started in the next couple of weeks.