Hershey's Puppy Friend

[Erin]

I've been persusing the past discussions but haven't found anything comparable yet - just wanted some folks to weigh in with more experienced opinions....

 

My best friend and her husband recently adopted a chocolate lab puppy.  The pup is now almost 4 mos old, and they are really doing well with her training.  I'm pretty impressed with the pup generally, but she plays with Hershey very very rough.  I'm all about letting dogs do their thing and chasing each other around, but when do I or my friend step in to correct them? 

 

Hershey is pretty chill - wags her tail enough and play bows with the puppy, but it seems as if the puppy is starting to work on her last nerve.  She growls and kind of walk away, and the puppy chases her and the puppy (not spayed yet) tries to jump on top of her puts her paws around Hershey's neck and hold her down.  That seems like very dominant behavior to me, and neither my friends or I think its a good idea to reinforce such dominant behavior with such a little pup.  It seems like that may get her into trouble with a less tolerant older dog.

 

Currently my friend is pulling the puppy off and giving her a little time out when she gets too amped up.  That way Hershey gets a little break and generally just finds a comfy place to lay down till the puppy comes back out again.  Any other suggestions?  How long is too long to annoy my doodle with this pup?   They eventually just walk around and lay down for a bit and then the puppy starts up again....

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's great news! That "yelp" and subsuquent behavior is exactly what you were going for! Hershey is doing a good job training the puppy, too!