when another dog plays aggressively?

1

1stSheltie

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Tonight was our last night of puppy school - Julip passed all the tests tonight, yay!!! Even though she's been a bugger the last 2 weeks or so, definitely in the Brat Stage now! Ignoring commands she proudly did previously (trying time indeed!) :rolleyes2:

Glad we did puppy school, but also glad its over, the other pups were older & bigger then her & 2 especially were quite mean & always bit her & hard (you could tell & she would cry at times too!) They'd hold on to her tail etc. This would happen during the 10 min or so of play time before class. She mastered running to everyone's feet or under chairs etc. to try & escape these 2 bad dogs. The other 5-6 dogs played well with her (if she ever got the chance to!) But these 2 grrrrr :( - let's just say I'm happy to never see them again.

In the beginning of puppy school we'd also bring her to the extra puppy play hour at another time during the week, as we thought it would be good for her - but the 1 bad dog would always go too.

When she had all her shots we started bringing her to the dog park. It was like night & day! She has an opportunity to actually play there (small dog area) We haven't encountered 1 bad (small) dog yet & we go A LOT! So it annoys me that there were 2 annoying (biting, attacking) ones in her class - that were fixated on HER.

I guess I'm just writing, because I'm glad its over! I feel relieved! And that's not right - wish we all could have enjoyed puppy school more!

Wondering what you guys do when a dog is NOT playing nicely with your dog? A few times the trainer would even have to pull one of the bad dogs off, from biting her (so it wasn't just me being a protective mom).

Yet, she NEVER laid down (the submissive pose) she'd just keep trying to run away or hide (in feet, under chair) I guess because she was the smallest in class, these 2 (boys) wanted to bully her. The owner of one kept saying "oh Charlie has such a crush on her". That never amused me! Crush?! He's biting / hurting MY baby!
 
What you have described is totally unacceptable. I would have pulled her out and found another school with a better educated instructor. Unfortunately anyone can open a school for dogs, just like anyone can hang their shingle for grooming. Glad that she has had a better opportunity to learn to play with dogs at the dog park.
 
First thing that came to my mind was why didn't the trainer stop that from happening. That is just not right. Poor puppy. Glad that class is over.
 
Tagg said:
What you have described is totally unacceptable. I would have pulled her out and found another school with a better educated instructor. Unfortunately anyone can open a school for dogs, just like anyone can hang their shingle for grooming. Glad that she has had a better opportunity to learn to play with dogs at the dog park.
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I agree with you. Last year Rachel and I took Diva's boys Bock and Porter to a local training school in a town near Rachel's house(since the puppies lived with her) as an atempt to get them into a new place. Rachel teaches puppy classes and beginners classes so they had experience but it was in the same training building they grew up in. The boys were I think about 14 weeks.

We went twice and really don't know why we went back the second time. The class was poorly organized, playtime started at the beginning of class and went like 20 mins or longer while the instructors asked if anyone had any questions or talked about the wheather or whatever. No structure was given for the play, noone paid attention, a large aussie and other large dog(I think a shepherd were allowed to plow over all the other dogs. It was horrible. Bock was a bold outgoing guy, it didn't bother him at all(he actually wanted to be one of the bullies which I won't let him). But Porter was really stressed and would hide under the chairs(so not Porter).

We ended up taking them to where I trained 1hr away but it was worth the drive.
 
I totally agree
what you describe is part of what turned Toffee into a dog reactive dog... Because I didn't know better, and was previously taught by horrible Instructors (hindsight is 20/20) Glad you found your way here and hope this helps get a better instructor for any kind of other training with Julep!
It was NEVER okay for the bullies to make your dog be scared under the chair, your dog needs GOOD experiences at this age.
BE careful in dog parks, tough to control the crowd there... be prepared to pick your dog up and leave so your pup doesn't experience more negative encounters with other dogs. and don't listen to advice about people telling you are over protective... at this point in your dog's life it's important she gets the best protection and learns she can trust you to manage the situation
Tagg and Justicemom are 100% correct
 
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I am glad it is over for you too!

Thank goodness that your pup still can play with other dogs and doesn't have any lasting effects from that experience.
 
Remember the fear imprint stages of a dog's early life. Usually between 8 - 12wks, 8- 10 months and often between 14 and 16 months. These are critical stages that, if mismanaged, can result in a dog that fears a negative exposure for life. GOOD EXPOSURE is important - not my favourite time for dog parks as the group leader changes every time you go which is confusing and owners tend to stand around and chat instead of monitoring their own dogs. If you have a friend with an older, gentle, confident dog - yeah! If not, then ask your breeder if you can bring Julep back for a positive play date. Explain what happened. If she can't accomodate you than look for a positive reinforcement puppy class.
 
Reading this makes me angry. If this happened to Amber I would have picked up those two dogs by the scruff of there neck (just like the mother dog does with there pups) and carried them back to there owners. Then next time I would be armed with a squirt water bottle. :yes:
 
What a terrible experience! Luckily with my trainer, I expressed concern about Missy being shy (come to find out, she's not). The first class we did was just the regular puppy class and this welsh terrier decided she was it's victim. The second class, her brother was there along with 2 labs. 2 shelties and 2 labs, it was hilarious. This one lab was 3 times her size despite being the same age, and they played fine at first, but then he got a little too agressive and the trainer pulled him off her. This third class, the trainer had us come earlier to the "tiny puppy" class, which ended up being us and 2 other shelties (including her brother), so it was a sheltie puppy class! That was great, and despite Missy being a wild child, there was no agression, just regular sheltie puppy play! I'm so grateful the trainer decided to split up the class! We stayed for the puppy social and that agressive lab was there, so we didn't stay for too long.
 
Pip has his first class on friday hopefully there won't be any bullies there! Sorry Julip had to put up with that it isn't on those bullies were meant to be there learning to behave and not having anyone there to show them the rules means they probably didn't learn much either.

I've always been an advocate of dogs teaching dogs the right behaviour and in that case I know my instructor would have brought out Nana who is her matriarch, she is used to teach rescue dogs and puppies who don't know how to behave around dogs the correct manners. Those bullies would have been properly put in their places during the socialisation class, it's amazing watching Nana work it's all through her own actions and posture amazing really.
 
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