Rottweiler With Pup

[furballs]

Hi, I posted a couple of weeks ago about my girl salivating around a couple of new foster pups I had. She has now fully stopped that and wants to play with the remaining pup, but she tries to play with her like she's an adult dog and sometimes seems like she will squish her with her paws. The pup hasn't yelped and actually runs around her in the play position and my girl is always wagging her tail, I'm just worried because she has a dominant nature and I don't know whether she is playing or being dominant. She has played with the pups before and been very gentle but when she's excited she jumps and wrestles (pup is 10 weeks old).

I would appreciate some advice

[Black Bronson]

Hi, I posted a couple of weeks ago about my girl salivating around a couple of new foster pups I had. She has now fully stopped that and wants to play with the remaining pup, but she tries to play with her like she's an adult dog and sometimes seems like she will squish her with her paws. The pup hasn't yelped and actually runs around her in the play position and my girl is always wagging her tail, I'm just worried because she has a dominant nature and I don't know whether she is playing or being dominant. She has played with the pups before and been very gentle but when she's excited she jumps and wrestles (pup is 10 weeks old).

I would appreciate some advice

Personally, I think a 10 week old is too small to play with a boisterious adult. I have a 12 week old GSD puppy, a 3 year old and an 8 year old. Our 8 year old is quite but plays hard with the 3 year old and the same thing, will try to play with the puppy in the same manner when excited. We only have them interact under supervision until the puppy is a bit bigger as it doesn't take much to hurt or scare a small puppy when playing with a large rough playing dog. Mine are purely in play mode, but the size difference at the moment is too great to be safe I think :p

[furballs]

Hi, I posted a couple of weeks ago about my girl salivating around a couple of new foster pups I had. She has now fully stopped that and wants to play with the remaining pup, but she tries to play with her like she's an adult dog and sometimes seems like she will squish her with her paws. The pup hasn't yelped and actually runs around her in the play position and my girl is always wagging her tail, I'm just worried because she has a dominant nature and I don't know whether she is playing or being dominant. She has played with the pups before and been very gentle but when she's excited she jumps and wrestles (pup is 10 weeks old).

I would appreciate some advice

Personally, I think a 10 week old is too small to play with a boisterious adult. I have a 12 week old GSD puppy, a 3 year old and an 8 year old. Our 8 year old is quite but plays hard with the 3 year old and the same thing, will try to play with the puppy in the same manner when excited. We only have them interact under supervision until the puppy is a bit bigger as it doesn't take much to hurt or scare a small puppy when playing with a large rough playing dog. Mine are purely in play mode, but the size difference at the moment is too great to be safe I think :p

Thank you for your response Black Bronson

I have been keeping the pup separate from my girl (they mostly kiss through playpen) I agree with you about the age of the pup and keeping it separate from adults.

My query is more about my Rottie's behaviour towards the pup because I will continue to foster pups in the future if she is happy with the situation, I would just like to know whether her behaviour is normal and healthy for

HER.

[tdierikx]

How old is your Rottie girl?

I foster pups too, and my older dogs have been taught "gentle", and "enough" - so that if play gets a little rough for my liking, I just say one of those words, and it either gets more gentle, or they stop...

I currently have 2 foster pups - one is a 7.5 month old Dane/Ridgey cross, and the other is a 14 week old tiny Terrier cross... to see them playing zoomies in the yard is totally hysterical. James, the larger pup, has been taught "gentle" and "enough" also - so when Flower (the tiny terrorist) starts to try to get James to play rough, I just say "gentle" and he slows down the harder play - he is such a good boy!

That said - I currently have James and Trouble (my adult Labrador) having a very noisy and boisterous wrestling match going on in the hallway... *grin*

T.

[furballs]

How old is your Rottie girl?

I foster pups too, and my older dogs have been taught "gentle", and "enough" - so that if play gets a little rough for my liking, I just say one of those words, and it either gets more gentle, or they stop...

I currently have 2 foster pups - one is a 7.5 month old Dane/Ridgey cross, and the other is a 14 week old tiny Terrier cross... to see them playing zoomies in the yard is totally hysterical. James, the larger pup, has been taught "gentle" and "enough" also - so when Flower (the tiny terrorist) starts to try to get James to play rough, I just say "gentle" and he slows down the harder play - he is such a good boy!

That said - I currently have James and Trouble (my adult Labrador) having a very noisy and boisterous wrestling match going on in the hallway... *grin*

T.

She's 12 months so she's a big puppy herself. Its ok when they are play biting each other, the pups little head disappears in her mouth . It's just when the Rottie starts jumping around that I cringe because she ways over 30kg.

[tdierikx]

You'd be amazed at how well a larger dog can avoid stomping on a smaller dog or puppy... *grin*

I'd supervise play, and see about teaching your Rottie girl "gentle" or "leave it" if you think she's getting a bit too boisterous...

T.

[Black Bronson]

Hi, I posted a couple of weeks ago about my girl salivating around a couple of new foster pups I had. She has now fully stopped that and wants to play with the remaining pup, but she tries to play with her like she's an adult dog and sometimes seems like she will squish her with her paws. The pup hasn't yelped and actually runs around her in the play position and my girl is always wagging her tail, I'm just worried because she has a dominant nature and I don't know whether she is playing or being dominant. She has played with the pups before and been very gentle but when she's excited she jumps and wrestles (pup is 10 weeks old).

I would appreciate some advice

Personally, I think a 10 week old is too small to play with a boisterious adult. I have a 12 week old GSD puppy, a 3 year old and an 8 year old. Our 8 year old is quite but plays hard with the 3 year old and the same thing, will try to play with the puppy in the same manner when excited. We only have them interact under supervision until the puppy is a bit bigger as it doesn't take much to hurt or scare a small puppy when playing with a large rough playing dog. Mine are purely in play mode, but the size difference at the moment is too great to be safe I think

Thank you for your response Black Bronson

I have been keeping the pup separate from my girl (they mostly kiss through playpen) I agree with you about the age of the pup and keeping it separate from adults.

My query is more about my Rottie's behaviour towards the pup because I will continue to foster pups in the future if she is happy with the situation, I would just like to know whether her behaviour is normal and healthy for

HER.

I thinks it's more about teaching the adult dog to behave with the puppy. Our 3 year old had never interacted with a puppy before and is reactive towards aggressive dogs.........so we had to play this one by ear a bit. What we did was have controlled interactions in the back yard intially with the 3 year old on leash. He did switch into prey drive and try and chase the puppy and barked and had to give him a couple of leash corrections during the "be gentle" phase. The puppy is fairly confident and whilst in his crate, they began to kiss each other through the mesh with wagging tails. We don't have aggression, but knowingly the 3 year old is a hard player we controlled him on leash to settle him down, "gentle" command and praise when he got it right. We had them all out in the back yard together today with us with only the puppy on leash so he didn't start biting the others legs and swinging off tails etc to fire them up......he's at the biting stage with needle sharp teeth Our 8 year old couldn't be bothered and layed down on the lawn, the 3 year old followed us around with the puppy for a while then layed with the old boy and watched. It's all working well, but I wouldn't let them all out together unsupervised just yet in case full play mode kicks in. It appears our 3 year old is liking the puppy and wants to play as he has been offering his ball to the puppy in his crate and are interacting well through the safety of the crate mesh.

The puppy is our dog and there to stay, so it's perhaps a bit different to a foster situation with different puppies if they interact and accept all puppies the same way or getting to know a permanent family member could have a different outcome. We haven't tested our boisterious boy with another puppy yet to see if his "gentle" approach works across the board or if it's working with acceptance of our new puppy being a permanent addition

Edited May 15, 2010 by Black Bronson

[furballs]

Hi, I posted a couple of weeks ago about my girl salivating around a couple of new foster pups I had. She has now fully stopped that and wants to play with the remaining pup, but she tries to play with her like she's an adult dog and sometimes seems like she will squish her with her paws. The pup hasn't yelped and actually runs around her in the play position and my girl is always wagging her tail, I'm just worried because she has a dominant nature and I don't know whether she is playing or being dominant. She has played with the pups before and been very gentle but when she's excited she jumps and wrestles (pup is 10 weeks old).

I would appreciate some advice

Personally, I think a 10 week old is too small to play with a boisterious adult. I have a 12 week old GSD puppy, a 3 year old and an 8 year old. Our 8 year old is quite but plays hard with the 3 year old and the same thing, will try to play with the puppy in the same manner when excited. We only have them interact under supervision until the puppy is a bit bigger as it doesn't take much to hurt or scare a small puppy when playing with a large rough playing dog. Mine are purely in play mode, but the size difference at the moment is too great to be safe I think :D

Thank you for your response Black Bronson

I have been keeping the pup separate from my girl (they mostly kiss through playpen) I agree with you about the age of the pup and keeping it separate from adults.

My query is more about my Rottie's behaviour towards the pup because I will continue to foster pups in the future if she is happy with the situation, I would just like to know whether her behaviour is normal and healthy for

HER.

I thinks it's more about teaching the adult dog to behave with the puppy. Our 3 year old had never interacted with a puppy before and is reactive towards aggressive dogs.........so we had to play this one by ear a bit. What we did was have controlled interactions in the back yard intially with the 3 year old on leash. He did switch into prey drive and try and chase the puppy and barked and had to give him a couple of leash corrections during the "be gentle" phase. The puppy is fairly confident and whilst in his crate, they began to kiss each other through the mesh with wagging tails. We don't have aggression, but knowingly the 3 year old is a hard player we controlled him on leash to settle him down, "gentle" command and praise when he got it right. We had them all out in the back yard together today with us with only the puppy on leash so he didn't start biting the others legs and swinging off tails etc to fire them up......he's at the biting stage with needle sharp teeth Our 8 year old couldn't be bothered and layed down on the lawn, the 3 year old followed us around with the puppy for a while then layed with the old boy and watched. It's all working well, but I wouldn't let them all out together unsupervised just yet in case full play mode kicks in. It appears our 3 year old is liking the puppy and wants to play as he has been offering his ball to the puppy in his crate and are interacting well through the safety of the crate mesh.

The puppy is our dog and there to stay, so it's perhaps a bit different to a foster situation with different puppies if they interact and accept all puppies the same way or getting to know a permanent family member could have a different outcome. We haven't tested our boisterious boy with another puppy yet to see if his "gentle" approach works across the board or if it's working with acceptance of our new puppy being a permanent addition

If the pups were mine and were going to live here with my dogs it would be completely different. My Rotti really does seem to like other dogs/puppies

Maybe I'm too protective of the pups. I just couldn't stand the thought of a little pup becoming dog aggressive down the track because I can't read my own dog's behaviour.

[Black Bronson]

Hi, I posted a couple of weeks ago about my girl salivating around a couple of new foster pups I had. She has now fully stopped that and wants to play with the remaining pup, but she tries to play with her like she's an adult dog and sometimes seems like she will squish her with her paws. The pup hasn't yelped and actually runs around her in the play position and my girl is always wagging her tail, I'm just worried because she has a dominant nature and I don't know whether she is playing or being dominant. She has played with the pups before and been very gentle but when she's excited she jumps and wrestles (pup is 10 weeks old).

I would appreciate some advice

Personally, I think a 10 week old is too small to play with a boisterious adult. I have a 12 week old GSD puppy, a 3 year old and an 8 year old. Our 8 year old is quite but plays hard with the 3 year old and the same thing, will try to play with the puppy in the same manner when excited. We only have them interact under supervision until the puppy is a bit bigger as it doesn't take much to hurt or scare a small puppy when playing with a large rough playing dog. Mine are purely in play mode, but the size difference at the moment is too great to be safe I think

Thank you for your response Black Bronson

I have been keeping the pup separate from my girl (they mostly kiss through playpen) I agree with you about the age of the pup and keeping it separate from adults.

My query is more about my Rottie's behaviour towards the pup because I will continue to foster pups in the future if she is happy with the situation, I would just like to know whether her behaviour is normal and healthy for

HER.

I thinks it's more about teaching the adult dog to behave with the puppy. Our 3 year old had never interacted with a puppy before and is reactive towards aggressive dogs.........so we had to play this one by ear a bit. What we did was have controlled interactions in the back yard intially with the 3 year old on leash. He did switch into prey drive and try and chase the puppy and barked and had to give him a couple of leash corrections during the "be gentle" phase. The puppy is fairly confident and whilst in his crate, they began to kiss each other through the mesh with wagging tails. We don't have aggression, but knowingly the 3 year old is a hard player we controlled him on leash to settle him down, "gentle" command and praise when he got it right. We had them all out in the back yard together today with us with only the puppy on leash so he didn't start biting the others legs and swinging off tails etc to fire them up......he's at the biting stage with needle sharp teeth Our 8 year old couldn't be bothered and layed down on the lawn, the 3 year old followed us around with the puppy for a while then layed with the old boy and watched. It's all working well, but I wouldn't let them all out together unsupervised just yet in case full play mode kicks in. It appears our 3 year old is liking the puppy and wants to play as he has been offering his ball to the puppy in his crate and are interacting well through the safety of the crate mesh.

The puppy is our dog and there to stay, so it's perhaps a bit different to a foster situation with different puppies if they interact and accept all puppies the same way or getting to know a permanent family member could have a different outcome. We haven't tested our boisterious boy with another puppy yet to see if his "gentle" approach works across the board or if it's working with acceptance of our new puppy being a permanent addition :D

If the pups were mine and were going to live here with my dogs it would be completely different. My Rotti really does seem to like other dogs/puppies

Maybe I'm too protective of the pups. I just couldn't stand the thought of a little pup becoming dog aggressive down the track because I can't read my own dog's behaviour.

We had the same thing in mind not wanting the puppy to be scared and cause an aggression issue down the track or the adults to rough play and hurt him.........it is delicate situation.