Play Biting Other Dogs

[Poodle wrangler]

Our nearly 12 month old standard poodle is over 20kg and still play bites when offleash and excited e.g. dog off leash beach.

Any suggestions, other than to leash him up?

He shows no sign of aggression, but also barks when excited. Loudly!

Although he's a poodle, 20kg of bounding, barking dog with large teeth can look scary.

Not scary when he's chasing waves, but little dogs.... not a good look.

If I were to get him to play bite my arm, he doesn't hurt me at all.

He goes to obedience training and socialised with other dogs at puppy school, but no other dogs in our house atm.

Friend's dogs are older and I'm not keen to inflict his crazy puppiness on them.

Thanks

[persephone]

I think, that if dog can't play appropriately with other dogs - he stays away from them it would be just horrific if he did that to the wrong dog - or a dog with the "wrong" owner! if he enjoys wave chasing and running - he can do that on a long line - while you have a stash of very yummy treats , and are practicing recall, ,and 'stop' ... that sort of thing :)

[Salukifan]

You could consider a muzzle....

[WreckitWhippet]

Your dog needs a recall and to be kept away from other people and their dogs.

[Poodle wrangler]

Thanks for the responses.Agree we need to work on recall and I'll try the long line w treats.

I'm wondering about the behaviour.He's wagging tail, playful and he certainly doesn't do it with all dogs.To me, it looks like puppy playing- exactly like he was with littermates.Should it be something he grows out of?

[VizslaMomma]

Only if you help him to re-learn when to play and how to play, imo.

I think perse hit the nail on the head.

It may not be your boy that has the issue. But his interaction with another dog might have consequences.

I think the problem will arise if he meets a reactive dog.

[Dogsfevr]

My Large breed puppies are taught playing with other dogs is a privelage .

I tend to find puppies that have been to free for all puppy school or offleash parks have the worst manners when it comes to play time .

My dogs weigh far more than yours but i guess the difference is they don't see another dog & expect to play with it or act silly ,my big dogs must lay down to say hello to little dogs & introduce themselves respectably ,if they can't then they don't get to play

[RiverStar-Aura]

It's fine to let your dog play bitey face with other dogs provided it's a welcome game with everyone involved. There is nothing worse than a dog come charging in then trying to instigate play by rough housing, especially when he other owners might not want their dog(s) interacting.

It can also be intimidating for some dogs to see a strange dog come pelting towards them -- they have no idea of its intention for play so might not react well. You need too focus on calming your dog and letting him know when it's okay to play -- by your say so, not when he wants to.

[Leah82]

I'm not sure what you can do to stop this from happening but can definitely attest to not being happy when it happened to us.

Not long after I got Sarah we were at an off lead dog park and a couple of standard poodles came bounding up wanting to play. By the time I got to Sarah one of them had it's mouth around her neck. Obviously if it wanted to do damage it would have but it was still very worrying and the situation wasn't helped by the dogs having almost no recall. The owner stayed about 20 meters away calling her dogs and ended up walking off so they would follow.