playing w/ other dogs

[rugrl3lif]

my cairn, Annie, is a year old. she loves meeting new dogs and people but most dogs do not like her. when she meets them and is trying to play with them, she nips at their faces and ears. most of the time the other dog just walks away and ignores her. but sometimes the other dog snaps back. i dont really care if they snap back at her, since i think that's what she needs because it gets her to stop. but on a couple of occasions the other dog has almost started a fight w/ her. she also nips people's hands when she first sees them. it's no where near as bad as what it was when we first got her but there seems to be no way of getting her to stop stop completely. are there any suggestions?

[shellj2323]

My Angus is just slightly younger than Annie. He went through the same thing. Wanted to play with every dog, some would want to play back but most didn't. It took getting growled at and even attacked for him to realize that sometimes they "just weren't that into him" and to learn not to just after them like a puppy.

I think it's a very common puppy thing that they just have learn about. The hand nipping too. Hang in there!

[JerryLv]

When I take Zen to the dog park we have to go to the small dog portion because he is less than 35 lbs. He loves to go there (or anywhere for that matter) but he doesn't like to play with the small dogs.

My wife takes him every morning to a very large school yard for excersise (now going on close to 4 years). At this school yard he met two dogs that come every morning 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Their owner is a runner. Both are large dogs. One in particular is around 32" high. For some strange reason he and Zen hit it off completely and they love to run as fast as they can and romp and play togeather. At the beginning Zen would concentrate on the bigger dogs face. Nipping and growling. You could see that the larger dog was getting irritated. Finally one morning the larger dog had had enough of his nonsense and snapped at him enough to make him yelp and then put him down ala Caesar Milan style. Since that morning Zen knows exactly when he is about to step over the line and they continue to be the best of buddies.

I don't know if it's a Cairn trait or not but he loves people .....any and all people. He does'nt snap at them but so far I have not been able to train him

NOT to jump up on them.

Sorry there is no advice here, just a story that may be helpful.

[Hagar]

Renny likes all people, but for some reason he especially loves women. I'd guess that's partly because there aren't any women at home.

As far as other dogs go, he is rather unpredictable. When we meet another dog on a walk, he is usually friendly and there is the usual face licking and butt sniffing. BUT, sometimes we will encounter another dog and he will start growling and snarling when the other dog is still quite a ways away. Other times, the other dog will get aggressive at a distance. When we are going to pass close by, I keep him tightly leashed close to me and move over so the other owner and dog can pass until I see how they are going to react to each other.

[cairnsby3]

Dogs seem to learn appropriate dog behavior from being around other well socialized dogs. I'm lucky in that the dogs mine are around belong to a training club and are usually being shown in obedience or agility, or if they are agressive, their owners know it and keep them back. Both Spring and Shiner as youngsters wanted to jump right into the other dogs face, after both were snapped at, by the same border collie I think, they learned that the best way to get another dog to play was to immediately roll over, let the other dog sniff them and then ask to play. Shiner still does this. Spring who is six doesn't really want to play and if a strange dog touchs her she growls, she has never done any more, but the dogs must know she is serious because they leave her alone after that. I would be scared to let them off leash in a dog park, because I would be afraid that the other dogs there weren't as well socialized and wouldn't read my dogs appropriately. By the way Spring loves men most, I think it's because her breeder was a man, so if a man and woman she doesn't know come up, she will always go to the man first.

[pkcrossley]

at a year old her manners will still break down when she gets excited. my dog was very unpredictable with other dogs at that age. to avoid any unpleasantness, i taught him to sit down when we saw another dog. it is reassuring to the other dog, and it let my dog get his thoughts together. when he was a bit older we would approach dogs and owners who seemed to want to socialize, but my dog's personality is such that he is kind of afraid of other dogs and gets over-defensive if the other dog isn't effusive. once your dog learns basic self-restraint you will be able to see how her personality is with new dogs and people. in the meantime you might keep her away from dogs you don't want to take a chance on.

[Jetti]

My dog is also very friendly with people and other dogs. With other dogs, he rolls over and let them sniff him and

then starts playing. I am not very happy about the rolling over because it seems submissive but then again.....I am not sure. What does Cairnsby3 think??

[cairnsby3]

Jetti,

Unless you have a conformation show dog that is expected to spar when meeting a strange dog, I don't have a problem with the submissive behavior. As I have said before, Cairns especially, do what works for them. If they have better results in getting the other dog to play by being submissive first, that's what they will continue to do. My young boy is just a very happy fellow and he figured out this works for him. I would not call him overly submissive. If he has a chewy or bone, he will warn any other dog away, he is serious and they are not going to take it. My girl will still roll over for a dog that she really want's to play with, but usually she doesn't want to play with other dogs, so if they touch her she growls. She would rather play with me, playing fetch or tug.

[Sandi16]

A submissive pup usually means a good pup from a humans POV. My sister has a very submissive little Japanese Chin, and I swear that dog lives to please his mommy and daddy. He is the most intelligient dog I have ever met. His life is to please people.

Louie is a nipper when excited. He doesn't do it to me, but when we visited my parents over Christmas break, he nipped both my dad and my sister.

[Jetti]

Hi Cairnsby3,

Just read your comment and what you discribe is exactly what Paco does. Paco is now 18 months old and I can see clearly that he is becoming more adult and just a few days ago he told a very big dog off. That dog, 9 months old was clearly too rough with him and his toys are clearly his and does not let them take than from him.

What a marvellous dog we have . don