Hey there!
About two months ago my partner and I adopted a 3 year old female spoodle. She is settling in so well, and is responding really well to her new environment, routine and rules. She's honestly a dream come true.
Before we adopted her, she was a breeding dog, and had had 2 x litters before we adopted her. Her last litter was in May 2019. She is now desexed.
There is one small behavioural problem that I would love some advice on though - thanks in advance for reading and weighing in.
She is wonderful at the dog park, social, friendly, alerts other dogs when she's feeling overwhelmed or needs some space, but is never aggressive. The only issue (that has become more of a problem in the past 2-3 weeks) is her love of small dogs that look similar to the puppies she gave birth to.
She bolts after them and often uses her nose to throw them over onto their backs. She barks and growls at them, and generally treats them like they are her puppies. This isn't too much of a problem with the dogs and owners we know at the park, who call her "Mumma dog" and know that she will never hurt them, but obviously can be really distressing for other dog owners who don't know what she is doing.
It's stressful for my partner and I, because we of course fear that she might hurt the small pups accidentally. It's also the only time where she won't respond to our calls for her to "heel" or "gentle" which work really well when she's too excited around us.
Recently, we have put her on her lead straight away when she displays this behaviour, make her sit and repeat "No, Gentle" but it doesn't seem to be working for her.
Any ideas about what we can do moving forward would be greatly appreciated! I don't want her to scare other pups and their owners again, but also understand that she might miss her role as a Mum a lot - poor thing.
Thanks in advance
