Puppy bites other dogs when playing

[Gail & Bogey]

My doodle is now 2.5 so I guess no longer considered a puppy but we are dog sitting my brothers 5 mo. old boxer mix puppy. The puppy is a very aggressive player and bites my dog on the ears, legs, lip, neck. She bites to the point my dog yelps and runs away or jumps in my lap for protection. The two dogs weigh about the same but the boxer pup is more powerful. Any idea how to get her to play nice?

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

I have the mindset that your dog is the best one to teach the puppy how to "play nice." And, it sounds like Bogey is doing a great job at communicating that by yelping and running away. Sooner or later the boxer puppy will realize that if he bites too hard while playing, he will lose his playmate. And, don't be surprised if Bogey has to let out a little growl to get his point across. :-)

[Becka]

I agree with Lori, but if Bogey is crawling into your lap for help then it's OK (and probably a good idea) to separate them for a little while to give your dog a break and allow the puppy some calm time.

[Laura and Angus]

You've gotten some great advice already here. I would also add, you may want to stop the boxer from going toward your doodle when you see your pup start to get overwhelmed. When our puppy was first doing "puppy play" classes, our trainer taught us how to gently stop him from going toward other dogs when we could see the other dog becoming overwhelmed - she showed us how to gently stop his forward movement by putting our hands around his back legs up by his body. Then we would give him a few moments to calm down before allowing him to continue playing. This is similarly described here:

https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-training/dog-socialization-training/d...

That's a pretty young puppy who sounds like they may be teething AND learning how to interact appropriately with other dogs. Some dogs will set the puppy straight, but if your dog does not, then you can separate them to allow cool-down time as you play. 

[Christy&Riley]

A friend brought over a new puppy and I was concerned our 2.5 year old goldendoodle, Riley, would squash her. Surprisingly Riley instinctively knew how to play softly. Anytime the puppy bit down on Riley's ear, Riley would stop and growl softly. The puppy would let go and they continued playing until it happened again. I would assume if they did that long enough the puppy would get the hint.

[Laura and Angus]

Unless they're a puppy like mine who is really persistent haha It took him a while before he started to understand that his behavior was not making him any friends lol