Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I'm new to the forums, looking for some advice with a dog we brought home from a shelter nearly two months ago.

She's a mid-size lab mix (lab & hound?), one year old, just recently spayed. She has a lovely temperament but to all appearances not much training, and we are doing basic obedience with a trainer.

So Kira is very nice with children, cats (she nursed a kitten in her old home!) and our pet rats, but a maniac with other dogs. She's friendly, not aggressive, but has absolutely terrible dog manners. I thought at first she was being very dominant (because her idea of playing is running full speed at the other dog and jumping on his head) but when a friend with a Westie came to visit, little Daisy had Kira under her, uh, paw (in the house) in a matter of minutes -- Kira even stood by plaintive but unprotesting while Daisy ate her food. But out in the back yard she just made Daisy crazy with her leaping and barrelling around.

This is the kind of behaviour my last dog HATED and I"m afraid it's likely to get her beat up some day. I'm guessing she missed some key socializing as a puppy -- you know that experience with the nice older dog who tolerates your high-jinx but firmly puts you in your place when you cross the line? Now she's big and strong and putting her in her place is not so easy.

I really need her to be able to interact more sensitively with other dogs by summer because there are two or three dogs at the cottage next-door to ours and they all run loose, plus my brother's family has two little mini-schnauzers that they like to bring with them.

I don't have any clue how to accomplish this though. Our trainer is going to bring over her Australian shepherd for a couple of "play manners" sessions but I don't imagine that will do more than start the process.

Thanks for any insight/ideas/suggestions!

This is something I have not dealt with, but you are correct, manners training is in order for this over zealous dog.

In my opinion, maybe it's best that your dog not play with very small dogs at this point in time due to the risk of injury to the small dogs. Use this time with small dogs around to teach manners on leash next to you. ON leash my dogs are not allowed to play with other dogs. On leash it's "working time."

Teaching that not all times are dog play times might be a start to workign with your dog's manners.

Others may have soem great suggestions as well.
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PHReign
Email me: HReign@pethobbyist.com" target="_blank">PHReign@pethobbyist.com
Dear dog,
I can not buy anything larger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think that I will continue to sleep on the couch to ensure your comfort. Look at videos of dogs sleeping, they can actually curl up in a ball. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to your fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straigt out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space used is nothing more than doggy sarcasm.

It seems to me that the best training would be to let her play with other dogs her size, on neutral territory. If she's too rambunctious, the other dogs will put her in her place pretty quickly. That depends on the other dogs though. In my opinion she's just being a dog - many labs and other goofy, clumsy type breeds just do that. I'm probably biased - my dog (40lbs) plays with my dad's dogs that way (35lb mix and a 120 lb irish wolfhound) and they all love it. We just give them lots of space, train them that playing inside the house is unacceptable, and let them go..

I completely agree with not letting her play with small dogs though. Injuries are very common. And I definitely wouldn't be letting her run loose around the cottage with the neighbour's dogs.. There are lots of things they could get into and they teach each other things, so if they have any bad manners she'll learn them and quickly. Not to mention by summer you'll have only had her about six months or so. That's not long enough to train a reliable "come", particularly since she's an older dog just starting obedience, and you won't know her all that well yet..

Good luck! She sounds like a really great dog, good for you for adopting from a shelter..