My puppy's a bully!!! Please help!

[Sophie45]

I have a five and a half month old boxer/german shepard mix, Sophie. She is AWESOME, and absolutely loves other dogs, but I am getting a bit concerned....
There is an open field/playground in my neighborhood where Sophie and I go to every day after work, along with 5-6 other people in the neighborhood so all of our dogs can run and play together. Sophie does really well with all the dogs, but there is one dog that she keeps trying to grab her collar/neck and get this dog to wrestle/play with her, and she is pushy, insistent and annoying! She doesn't hurt the other dog, who is a seven month old border collie who is much more interested in herding the group than wrestling with Sophie, but Sophie just won't give it up, and I am always prying her off of the other dog and giving her a "time out" and trying to redirect her to the other dogs that are better matches for her playing style. Sometimes it works, but other times she goes straight back to the border collie, and it is soooo annoying, frustrates me, and I am sure neither the border collie or her owner are overly fond of my dog. Any other suggestions to keep her from "picking" on this other dog?
Thanks for any suggestions!

[Kuchi]

I don't think time outs work well with some breeds. I don't think she understands "play with everyone but the border collie."
What happens if you just let them wrestle? Does the other dog just try and get away? Does he try and correct her in any way, snarl, growl, etc.? Kuchi goes to a daycare where personalities are similar within the rooms. When Kuchi can't play nicely he can't play at all, that's my motto, but he also plays with dogs that correct him and he listens.
Is she going to any classes on how to socialize with other dogs?

[IceyBlueSibes]

I would love to see some more pictures of your girl (I see the one in your avatar! She looks beautiful!)! I used to have a boxer/GSD... they are WONDERFUL dogs!

Anyhow. As Kuchi asked... how does the other dog react?

I have found a lot of dogs (especially at work) to "pick-on" the ones that don't really play much. Not necessarily mean, but they just INSIST that the dog has to play, even though there are other dogs around nagging for them to wrestle.

My suggestion would be to teach her the "leave it" command. When she goes to the dog, tell her "Ah-ah! Leave it!" and take her away, praising when she leaves with you, and not paying attention to the other dog. You'd have to be consistent though, and make sure that EVERY time she went to go over to her, you repeat the verbal cue, and making her leave the dog alone, and praising when she does.

Are there any toys that she will absolutely go crazy for? If so, maybe try bringing one for her, and if she goes over to the dog, call her name and distract her with the toy. Tell her "leave it" and hopefully she will get the idea that the word "leave it" means she gets to play with a really awesome toy. I'd designate it as a toy she only plays with when you guys go to the park.

Well, those are my thoughts. Someone else might have a suggestion. But I'd certainly teach her "leave it". This can come in handy in the long run, for nearly anything you want her to leave alone. AND, she might do it one day to the wrong dog (or the BC could finally have enough of it) to only end in a disaster.

[sammy]

This is one of those problems that arise when different breeds with very different play styles get together.

Herding breeds, are often very focused on the task at hand (frisbee or herding or whatever) and will ignore dogs at the park who try to entice them to play. They may have zero desire to wrestle with a dog they don't know intimately and are "too busy".

Some dogs take the hint, other dogs can't quite believe they are being ignored and can get increasingly obnoxious in an effort to be acknowledged and try to get a game going.
I think part of what's confusing is that the playful dog sees the herding dog running really fast which seems like playfulness and he just can't figure out why they won't play with HIM so he persists. Also rather than actually turning and snapping or growling at the pup and telling him to buzz off, many herding dogs will just completely ignore the pup so it's hard for the pup to understand. The pup is thining "umm hello? I'm trying to play with you! Don't you see me?"

I think you're handling it the right way taking him away from the border collie and redirecting him to other dogs to play with. You could also teach your pup a really solid "leave it" and "get it" cue. Teach it with a mutitude of things (toys, food in hand, food on the floor etc) in a multitude of places so he starts to generalise the concept and reward him for "leaving it" by letting him"get it". If it's something he can't have give him a treat instead.

At the park if you have asked him to leave the dog and have shown him some other dogs to play with but he still goes back for more just leash him up and head the opposite direction.You can make it a "two strikes and you're out" or three strikes type of thing. He'll get the idea.

It's hard to tell without seeing it but it doesn't sound like he is truly trying to be a bully at this point, but you are right not to let him get the idea that bullying is fun.

There are lots of dogs at off leash parks that aren't a good match to be playmates. Hopefully your park is big enough that you can get far enough away and still find some appropriate playmates for your pup.

Good for you for being responsible about this, so many people aren't.

[keekers]

lucy was a bully too but she has gotten so much better over the last few months (she 5 1/2 also) with weekly daycare playdates to socialize. they just need the right mix of dogs. is sophie hurting the the other dog? because even with play they will rough house & growl but not hurt each other. it doesnt sound like sophie is too bad though if she can get along with most of the dogs. the one she is bullying is just probably submissive by nature. just keep redirecting her when she gets naughty. there's a book "fiesty fido" that teaches the watch command when they get in the zone towards one dog to teach the pup to have all eyes on you & of course reward for that. we use the clicker (click & treat) which we learned in puppy class way back and its a great tool. dont use it all the time but when teaching new stuff it helps a lot speeds up the learning process.

[Sophie45]

Sorry it took me a few days to respond, and thank you for all of the advice.
When Sophie goes after the border collie to play, sometimes she does nip and jump back at Sophie to let her know that Sophie is annoying her, other times she just wiggles around and waits for us to pry Sophie off of her (with Sophie's mouth clenched on the scruff of her neck/collar). She definitely does NOT hurt the other dog, but the border collie really does not like it, and her owner definitely gets mad.
Sophie does know "leave it" when it comes to garbage on the street, etc. and I will try it at the park.
We have gone to puppy classes, puppy social hour and various parks around so she is very well socialized with other dogs, but she just doesn't seem to understand when to leave certain dogs alone-there are plenty of dogs that she plays with that do love to rough house and wrestle, but she just doesn't seem to understand how to leave the ones who don't like to wrestle and play rough alone! And the border collie is definitely on the submissive side, which doesn't help.

[Sophie45]

Here are some extra pics, Icey!

[rottielover]

I would not allow her to bully. That can and will escalate into major issues later....

[Rivsky]

She is so cute - I love those big floppy ears!

[Cassiepeia]

Originally Posted by rottielover

I would not allow her to bully. That can and will escalate into major issues later....

I think the original poster is aware of this...hence the thread being created in the first place.

Cass.

[Kris]

My IW Darby plays rough, and as he's huge it's sometimes seen as threatening when it's not. The way I've handled it in off-lead situations is to get his attention, say "Let's go" and walk away (as a puppy I would run to get him to follow). He will almost always respond by getting into heal position and coming with me. This works well when other dogs are being agressive also. Luckily for me Darby tends to back away from situations he doesn't understand and (yeah yeah humanizing here) analyze or watch for a bit before re-entering.

Teaching your pup that a command like "Let's go" means you are leaving an area and not just calling him to stop his behavior seemed like a good thing to me. I've reinforced it while we are walking and stopping to say hi to neighbors etc.

Kris

[IceyBlueSibes]

UGH She is SO cute! What a sweetie! Look'it those ears! LOL They're huge!

[Sophie45]

Thanks for all the compliments on my Sophie...her ears crack me up, they are very expressive!
I definitely do not allow her to bully, Cass, I watch her every second and as soon as she starts to gets too wound up, I remove her from the situation, give her a minute to calm down and try to redirect her, but I just wanted input from others. Also, I think that maybe I used the wrong word by saying "bully" because she does the same thing to the border collie with every other dog there, but the other dogs respond by playing with her or snapping at her with enough force that she "gets it" and backs off, but unfortunately that does not happen with the border collie. She never corners or hurts the dog or gets nasty at all, but just can't seem to understand that this particular dog would rather herd than wrestle and is quite insistent and annoying!!!

[Sophie45]

I meant to respond to Rottie, not Cass, sorry! But I definitely agree Rottie, I do not want a bully, I want a dog that backs off on command, or better yet learns to read cues/body language herself and displays some self control.