Puppy is pawing / punching other dog to get attention - how to stop?

[Kelsey T]

We have a 15 pound male goldendoodle who is just about 6 months old now - so still a puppy. Whenever we get together with my mom's 6 pound female poodle who is 2 years old...our dog is constantly pawing her forcefully, almost like he is punching her to get her to play with him. She growls/barks/bites back to make it clear she doesn't like it and doesn't want to play, but since she is so much smaller I don't think he is affected by that at all.

It looks just like he is a kid on a playground teasing someone by hitting them and then moving away before they can hit him back. Then he'll do it again a few minutes later.

Has anyone else experienced this and/or know how to stop it from happening?

[SoSa]

LOL!!!! Our puppy does that too, but it's reciprocated when he's playing with puppies his size and age. My sister in law has a really small and older dog who did not like to play. My puppy was constanty chasing the little guy who wanted nothing to do with him. Ace didn't mean any harm, he just wanted to play. I had to tether Ace to keep him away from the little dog, but I felt bad because he was in his own home. I just feel he's young and doesn't know better. I'm assuming it'll get better with maturity and training.

[KrisBam]

I'm experiencing  the same thing at my house!  Darby is 10 weeks old and is constantly trying to play with our 7 year old yorkie.  Darby gets rough and the little dog just doesn't want to play.  I feel so bad for our little dog, she's spending all of her time in her crate or on the back of our couch so that Darby can't reach her. 

We're intervening and stopping Darby because LuLu's barking and snapping has NO effect.  She does stop when we firmly tell her no, but it hasn't stopped her from attacking each and every time LuLu is on the ground.  Hoping this gets better as Darby gets older. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Make sure the smaller dog has safe places to go to be 'bratty dog' free.