Need help with my 7 month old doodle playing too rough with our smaller dog.

[Deborah and Molly]

 

Hi,

I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought about asking here sooner!

Molly, my golden doodle, is 7 months old.  I have two other dogs that are much smaller and older than Molly; they are 7 years old.  When we brought Molly home she was smaller than our other two dogs (Jug and Puggle).  The puggle (Abby) was Molly’s playmate when she was small and still is.  Molly still plays, with Abby, as if she were small.  Molly is relentlessly “playing” with Abby by grabbing her neck and pulling or pouncing on her.  Molly will even stalk Abby when they are in the yard and run full force and run into her.  Abby will play with Molly in the house, especially if there is a ball or rope involved, but cowers from Molly when they are in the yard.

Molly has just completed her obedience 1 training and while I was taking her to the classes, I brought this to the attention of the trainers and asked their guidance.  They were of the opinion that my husband and I have to let Abby set boundaries with Molly and that if we interfere we will teach Molly that playing is bad. Dogs are pack animals and must establish their order.   I don’t have a problem with this except when Molly runs into and over Abby and sends her rolling.  I am afraid that ribs or legs will be broken.  I know that boundary setting does work since I witnessed Molly trying to romp with one of the trainer’s pugs.  The pug (Macho) did not allow it and nipped at Molly.  Molly immediately stopped and didn’t try again.  Molly also doesn’t bother our smallest dog (Dixie) who is a 20lb jug.  Dixie will bite Molly and Molly will stop and walk the other way.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.  My husband is a lot harder to sale on the idea that they will work it out.

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

I'm having the same issue with Stanlee only he won't leave our older BIG dog alone.  He is constantly jumping on top of Cooper, running full force into him like a linebacker, and grabbing and wanting to play rough at any given minute.  It wouldn't be a big problem except Cooper (our 8 year old 100 lb mutt) has bum CCL's (both hind knees are shot) and sometimes has difficulties getting around.  He can't run and when he does want to play he either sits or lays and allows Stan to jump, nip, woller, and wrestle with him.  It's when I know Coop doesn't want Stan all over him (you know that look they give you that screams "Really Mom?!?!???") Cooper has only twice gotten onto Stanlee about backing off; he usually just sits there lookin' all hang-dog and I have to take Stanlee either outside or into another room. 

 

Any ideas for leaving a grumpy old man alone?

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Marnie, in your case where your Cooper has physical problems it might help by teaching Stanlee the "leave it" command.  I've been in a similar situation in the past where a new pup just made the older dog's life a living hell basically. :( And he wasn't really feeling well enough to handle it himself.  Keeping Stanlee on a leash inside or out so you can control him while teaching the command should help too. When the play gets too rough for Cooper you can grab the leash and rescue him!  Here is the method I used to teach Tara to "leave it". I used a word marker instead of a clicker though.

I know how hard it is too see that "Really, Mom?" look! Good luck!

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

One of the easiest to follow training videos with great explanations.  Stan is doing better (he's only 17 weeks old) and I know it takes time and patience....like I gotta load of either of those.  Never clicker trained a dog before, wondering if this is a route I should consider with my overly-spastic puppy.  His manner's training classes don't start for another month, small town living doesn't give us as many training class options as I'd like.

 

Thanks Ricki, will start working on this Sunday - we are leaving tomorrow for Ohio  - hate, hate, hate leaving my dogs behind.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Sorry you have to leave the furkids behind! :( Hope you have a good trip!

I tried the clicker for a while and failed miserably at it. I know some people really like it though.The reason I like using a word for a marker instead of a clicker is that I always have the ability to say the word. So I can train on the spur of the moment. When I used a clicker I found that I either didn't have the clicker on me when I needed it or by the time I got it out the moment had passed. I had the same problem here finding quality trainers. I mostly trained Tara myself using books and videos.

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

I can't find my cell phone most days, where in heaven's name will i keep a clicker???? I

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

LOL! Exactly! Just another thing to lose!

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

where as you will always (well almost always) have your voice!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

This is so normal.  I really don't have advice except that they will sort it out. I have an 8 year old 7 pound chihuahua and Peri is my mini goldendoodle, who now weights about 25 pounds.  She will come charging at him from down the hall, lift him by the bottom and toss him.  He growls at her playfully and enjoys it (I think).  They go back and forth all the time - they basically put on a show for me.  Peri used to be rougher on him when she was younger, but she is pretty good with him now (even with the tossing - it's a gentle toss!).  I just don't worry about it too much.  Molly will mature and probably won't do this so much.

[Christine & Camus]

Camus plays well with dogs of all sizes unless he gets too wound up, at which time he can be a bit too rough.  What has worked with him is "time out".  I verbally correct him and then make him sit down for a few minutes.  He calms down and then I let him go play.  If he does it again, I repeat the time out.  It rarely happens anymore but he now knows and one time out is all that is needed.  As with all training I had to be diligent & consistent.

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

Oh bender does this too! He's almost 6 months and zoe is almost 1 year. She's a mini so she's smaller but although she too is still a puppy and plays well he is a little rough since he's so big. She will yelp if she doesn't like it but never has growled at him to put him in his place. She's to nice and ben takes total advantage of it. Sometimes he grabs her tail and tries to pull her around!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Is it possible to keep Molly on a leash (even a long one) when they are outside? If so, you could grab it when the play gets too rough and stop the play. Tara has learned the word "easy" and knows to tone down her play when she hears it. If Molly learns that playtime stops when she does certain behaviors like knocking Abby over she will learn to be calmer with her. It all takes time though and you need a way to step in quickly to make any training effective.

I know there are different schools of thought about whether to interfere or let the dogs work it out on their own. But it just seems like some dogs never understand that they need to set boundaries for themselves or they wait so long that they end up injured. If you think this is the case with Abby it may be worth getting involved.

Another thing you could try with a long line outside is just holding it and letting the dogs play. This would give you a great way to teach Molly plus Abby could move out of range it the play gets too rough for her. 

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

My first reaction was - what on earth is a jug? ive never heard of this.

Teach the leave it command. When we lived at my MILs her puppy who is the same size as Cooper would constantly chew Coopers back legs (an Akbash thing apparently) and Cooper didnt like it, though was too submissive to tell Abbey no. it worked really well. Cooper also learned to go into another room, eventually after walking away a few times Abbey would get bored and leave her alone. 

Cooper is 60lbs and plays with out 15lb cat (though he was 5lb when we got him). she is super gentle with him though it looks rougher than it is.