How do I get my puppy to play nice with other puppies?
Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at
12:58 am
I have a 9 week old APBT and he is very sweet but our next door neighbors have one too (same age) and they play very rough together. At first we just thought it was puppy play when we first introduced them but, it is starting to get out of hand. They are playing TOO rough. To the point that they are badly getting hurt and they just keep going and won’t stop. They cross paths everyday since we are good friends with the owners but, I don’t want my dog to become aggressive. Any suggestions?
The two dogs are just trying to establish who is the alpha dog and who is going to be the omega. If I were you I would let them continue on as long as neither one of them is getting seriously injured and it will get to the point where who’s first and who’s second in command , so to speak.
It’s no different than it is if two small children get too rough with each other – it’s up to YOU to stop the play before it reaches this level. At 9 weeks, it’s all about training, and yes, even the playing. These are terriers, and especially the males can get rough. But it doesn’t necessarily mean what he’s doing is going to lead to him being too aggressive, provided you dictate what’s going on. Always.
To be honest, there is no reason for a puppy to play with other puppies. Dogs don’t “yearn” for play time with others of their kind. Dog packs in the wild do not mingle with other dog packs, so why should they in the domesticated world?
Some lines of the APBT have bred-in dog aggression… so it may not just be the attempt to assert dominance. Truth is, NO person, not even an excellent trainer, can tell you what exactly is going on between these two puppies. Puppies play rough with each other in the litterbox as well. A 9-week old puppy probably isn’t displaying actually aggression, though.
To answer your question.
Keep your puppy on the leash and when the playing starts getting to rough, “correct” the dog lightly by a slight pop on the leash or a short, quick, firm “ah-ah!” If he doesn’t listen, escalate the correction. Also, get the owners of the other puppy to do the same thing, and supervise their play directly for the first few times. Don’t let the roughness escalate.