>>Kathy, I've read most of your posts and articles online but I needed clarification on something. Situation - We already had a 3yr old male mix dog (no clue of the mix was a rescue pup at around 3 weeks but resembles great dane, american bulldog). He is a good dog and likes to play and at 85 lbs thinks he's about 30 lbs. In december I got the Female Weim that I always wanted. She is great!. THE PROBLEM - When the Weim was a small puppy learning to play she would bite at the male and he would let her. They are both fixed but now that the Weim is around 9 months old she constantly bites at the older male around his cheeks and neck and he just lets her do it. I thought this was part of dog adolescence and the older dog would start to tell the younger dog to stop. The Weim does this a lot and it is starting to show on the older dog (bald spot and a few cuts on his neck). She is clearly just trying to play with him because she loves to have him chase her outside. Did I do the wrong thing in letting them play like this outside? Is there any chance I can get the Weim to stop biting him all the time? Do I need to explain the situation better? Looking for any help.
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>>Thanks.
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>>Oh yeah, when the older male looks like he has had enough, instead of biting at her or showing teeth and growling he comes to me or my g/f and gives a look like please get this off me.
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The body language sounds like he is very inhibited against harming a female dog, which of course is a very good thing. I'd suggest you do what we do when a pup is too rough with an older dog who is too frail to take due to size or infirmity. Call the dog out of the interaction, to you, for rewards. If both dogs come, reward them both. Redirect the boisterous one into a different game.
Don't handle this by yelling or grabbing or forcefully breaking them up, because you could get nailed by flying teeth or you could accidentally trigger a dog fight by messing up their timing. Handle it by calling the dog out of it. You might opt to have the rowdy one drag a leash sometimes so you can use it to make sure you can get the dog to come to you, until the command is stable.
I had a dog who was so bad about this, and the older dog distressed by not correcting her, that I wound up teaching the youngster "Let her go" as a command. She's 12 and still does it to now a different female dog. This female loves it, and the 12-year-old grips collar and mane without causing damage. So I just have her "Let her go" when I need the other dog pristine for working in public or she's wearing her harness--I don't want the other dog gripping that.
You can handle this with training and management until the female is older and things settle down more naturally. Because of the physical injury and the older dog asking you for help, you do not need to this training. It's not as critical a situation as if they were same sex. Those are the cases where it can explode on you.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com
