[CJay]

How do you teach a puppy to great other dogs properly?

Benji gets all excited and just runs up in other dogs faces! It scared me. He met an American Mastiff and jumped all in its face paws in the dogs face and everything. The dog was cool with it and the owner was like "oh its fine he's still a puppy too" but I was like no its not fine he can't act like that.

He did the same thing with a Corgi and my friends poodle mix and another 2 puppies yesterday. I'm glad he's not afraid of other dogs but I don't want him to continue to just run in dogs faces. It doesn't seem safe. He's already scared two dogs away like this.

Also he doesn't know how to really play... The one dog wanted to be chased and Benji just sat there... I'm hoping after some training classes, puppy playtime at Petco and the puppy socialization classes at the vet he will learn some manners, in the meantime is there anything I can do?

 

[Amaryllis]

Well, how old is your puppy? Adult dogs give puppies under 5 or 6 months a pass on bad behavior. It's called a puppy pass. Adult dogs understand that puppies aren't responsible for being annoying*, just as adult humans understand the same about babies. After that, adult dogs will correct bad behavior, usually with a snarl and a snap, maybe a nip. It's not intended to harm the puppy, it's just teaching manners.

If your puppy is under 5 or 6 months, puppy classes will be great and allow your dog to interact with other puppies in a controlled environment. If your puppy is older than that, if you have a friend with a well mannered adult, you could get them together to play. The important part there is to allow the dog to correct the youngster without interfering unless it goes too far.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it too much if you have a really young puppy. Just keep her on a leash and make sure she doesn't run up to dogs you don't know.

*Assuming the dog is dog friendly and well mannered. Some dog aggressive dogs will go after puppies, too.

 

[Bordermom]

Ditto! Kilt got away with MURDER when she was a baby. She would hang off Storee's face, growling and tugging, with only one back foot still on the ground. She'd grab food out of the other dog's bowls if I didn't feed her in her crate first.

Now, Storee will tell her off if she's had enough, sometimes there's a lot of noise, but there's much less pestering on Kilt's end. When there is, Ticket will step in, before he'd just go between the two but now he will at times put Kilt in the corner and stand over her for 20 seconds or so. I've seen him just snap his jaws and Kilt will stop being a brat. She's also no longer diving into their food bowls if I feed them first, there's no noise or growling but I'm sure some body language.

As for play, they all play differently, a herding or sighthound type breed would be more of a chaser. That's a pretty bold game so not always a puppy thing and not all dogs like the chase game either. Just like as humans we don't all like jello wrestling. I'm sure there are some who do somewhere but not my idea of fun!

 

[Aussie27]

Cali still sometimes does that to dogs, and she's 15 months old now. She's getting better, and now she usually limits herself to licking their face, and now she actually stays still long enough for the dog to sniff her. When she was 5 months old, at 3.5lbs (give or take some), she ran full speed up to a Great Dane at a horse clinic and continually jumped up at his face. Lucky for her, he was friendly and he gave her a bath.. one lick and her stomach was soaked.

I'd just be careful when you see dogs approaching.. especially if you're hiking and the dog is off leash. Cali will likely always be on a 6ft leash on hikes, as the last hike we went on, a super hyper 60lb dog came running and repeatedly jumped on me trying to get to Cali. Despite Cali normally responding with "omg I love you so much!", she was petrified. The owners (a nice, retired couple) caught up with him and apologized, but it just goes to show how careful you have to be with a small dog.

Back on subject though, he'll catch on eventually, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

ETA: And about the playing, I think it's just a matter of when the dog feels comfortable. Sadly, Cali never really gets a chance to play with other dogs (which is why I'm really hoping my aunt gets a Pap puppy this summer) but by judging her interactions with dogs on walks, she would happily play with them if there was time to. She also likes chasing and being chased by the lab/gsd mix at the barn.

 

[hanksimon]

The best method is socializing with as many dogs that have the same energy level, then slowly introducing dogs with less energy, then other dogs...Then just like any other adolescents, they learn the rules...

 

[CJay]

Thank you!! Hopefully he will get better at greeting!

He's 12 weeks! He has puppy classes tomorrow morning and a socialization group at his vets office as well s petco. I hope he is able to make some friends and learn manners!

 

[ManyRoses]

If you can, you can put him into a sit when another dog approaches, and then wait for you to say "ok" to go greet the dog. The idea behind this is three-fold:
1. It gives you a chance to ask the owner if you can say hi - while most dogs will be incredibly tolerant of puppies, you don't want him leaping all over a fearful dog - that could be dangerous. It also gives you a chance to ask the age of other puppies - you don't want him socializing with other dogs that are not fully vaccinated until he has all his shots.
2. It should let him know that he has to be relatively calm before meeting another dog - then the greeting tends to be a little more relaxed!
3. It is good practice for when he is bigger!! Puppies of any breed are controllable because of size, but even small dogs can yank your shoulder out trying to get to another dog if they think that this is ok....or rush out into the road to say hi to the dog on the other side.

And most of all - PRAISE!! Praise any calmer interactions, praise gentle play, praise every tiny behavior that you want to encourage.

 

[CJay]

I haveb't mastered sit yet... We are working on doggy zen because he acts nuts over food!

When we take all of your other advice into consideration! Thank you!

 

[CJay]

Benji is getting better with greeting and has even told a few dogs when they were being to pushy!! Making progress!!!

 

[xxxxdogdragoness]

That's omething josefina never learned & I don't know why, she will still pester other dogs, even buddy gets tired of her crap lol & will snark at her. She does this thing where she runs against other dogs & stands over them wagging her stump of a tail with her ears raised. She will do this even of thr other dog is throwing 'I'm not cool with what you are doing' signals. Also our friend's puppy plays very exuberantly & I can tell that josefina is uncomfortable with it but she won't tell thr dog off (the other dog is around 9 mos & josefina is two years old) she was an orphan at 4 weeks if that affects anything.

 

[hanksimon]

It's called Texas-friendly, what can I say If she's not herding, then I think she just needs to be snarked at a bit more.

My 11 yo neutered male humps anything - male or female. He was well-mannered until he was 8 yo, when he got a good whiff of female in heat at the dog park (Bad owner, bad owner). Now he humps and gets snarked at (if we're lucky). He'll back off, playbow, and bark. Some dogs will then play with him and some dogs will try to ignore him... With enough snarking, he'll eventually go away... or I have to drag him.