Hi everyone,
Just like to say i am new to this forum and could do with some advice well here goes.
I have a 18 month old rottweiler female she is a very friendly dog who just wants to say hello to every dog she meets the problem is she gets very excited when dogs are running or moving fast not in a nasty way but playfull i take her to places where i know dogs will be off lead playing and let her watch them but also keeping a check in with mum.she goes to training everyweek and is clicker trained and is also booked in to take her Bronze award.
If i can keep her attention on me she is ok she is 38kg and a very big dog so it is not really acceptable for her to be bounding over and mugging other dogs.
Any advice would be appreciated,
Many thanks.Beverley
 

We do have a CD member with a particularly large, strong dog that has worked very hard on this sort of problem.  Hopefully she will be along to give you help from her own experiences.  Good Luck!  :-)

I understand where you are coming from. I have a now 3 year old gsd who has been the same and weighs about 38kg too
It has taken me all that time to get him to behave generally in an acceptable manner around other dogs. he is not agressive but goes for the heavy bouncing and mugging thing.
Only tips I can give are work on the watch me command and good recall
Loads of positive socilisation and rewards every time he does things right.
I also found thatthe socialistion need to be in a real situation we managed fine in training in a hall and his obedience in those situations and indoors is great it was out in the park or the fileds that we had to work hard.
If mine is ott I keep him by my side and on lead for a while he soon got to realise that he had done wrong and calms down
I found i couldnt manage a long line he was too powerful but once I discovered his love of ball salways took 2 or 3 with me and used that to keep his attention making sure when we were near others we played good games with the ball.
I avoid allowing him to get excited when other dogs are about or to chase
I cant pretend it has been easy and walks were rarely relaxing but certainly he is 100 % better now
It is so difficult when you know they are playing but given there size and breeds  I think we have to be extra careful about their behaviour.
I know my chihuahua gets away with things in the eyes of others that my gsd would be in trouble for but then she is only 3kg and people view anything she does as funny or cute ( personally I think she knows it too lol) 

Hopefully your  rottie will calm down as she gets older and.maybe others with more experience will be here with ideas for you good luck its a long road but feels so good when you see their sucess

> i take her to places where i know dogs will be off lead playing and let her watch them but also keeping a check in with mum.

Do you keep her on-lead?

Buster (English Mastiff) got very excited when meeting/passing dogs, didn't matter if they were interested in him or not! However, due to his size & play-style (very clumsy!!) I don't let him off-lead to play with  other dogs but I will let him go on his long-line (allthough this is rare as we don't tend to meet many dogs that are allwoed to play with him :( ).

He is so much beter greeting other dogs now. I think the best thing for me was learning how to get his attention when he's excited so I can interupt any OTT behaviour & then reward calm/gentle behaviour.

Funnily enough, the 1 dog that is guaranteed to make Buster behave like he's never been trained is a Rottie :-D

We met a young male Rottie (9mnts old) a little while ago and Buster got so excited playing with him that he kept humping it We met the same Rottie yesterday (he's a year old now) and sure enough, Buster got so OTT he wanted to hump him again... However, the rottie is sooooo full of energy and keeps jumping all over Buster & licking his face like a long-lost lover!!!! It's no wonder Buster gets excited! They absolutely LOVE each other. Apparently, allthough the rottie enjoys playing with other dogs he meets, he looses interest after a couple of minutes, but not with Buster, he has to be taken away from him - they played together for 30 mins yesterday. They will also each spend the next few days sniffing around the field looking for each other.

I'm not that good at advice for this sort of thing (have taken plenty advice myself for this issue!), but exposing her in a controlled manner to dogs that excite her will help. Ie. take her to places with runnig, loose dogs but keep a distance so that she is still able to listen to you and reward her for calmness. As she gets used to this, go a little closer etc... Eventually the reward for her calmness will be to meet, greet & play with the dogs.

I'm sure somebody will be along with better practical advice, but I do know how you feel. It's hard work trying to keep calm, patient & focused on training, when your large, friendly dog bursts into uncrontrollable, playfull, stupidity!

I have a mental year old rottie male, we rescued him 3 months ago :)

I have just been persistent in what he is and isn't allowed to get away with. I have already managed to calm him near people and horses (he is so stupidly friendly and excitable he just wants to say hello and play with everything) and he is brilliant at walking past dogs if they are on the other side of the road.

BUT on our walks, down a small path the only way at the moment I can get him not to get over excited and lung is if I put him into a sit and watch me, usually with a whiff of something smelly like tripe or fish skins - this he can do perfectly. If he manages to lunge before he is in a sit then a very quick tug and release and walk away in another direction, praising the minute his focus is on me, or off of the other dog.

I know it's going to take a long time though, but the fact he doesn't do it with people or horses anymore is a good sign to me! We will be starting classes with him soon, which I am sure will help as he will have to behave around the other dogs.

Rotties are pretty intelligent from what I have experienced so far, I am also trying to challenge some of that excitement into retrieving a ball, which he absolutely loves offline walking through the crop fields - I am hoping the more obsessed he becomes with this, the more I can use it when other dogs are present but for now he isn't given the chance to go off lead with other dogs he meets.

Sadly a lot of owners though will shuffle off rather quickly when they see him so I haven't found any playmates I can train around with him yet.

Good luck!

Many Thanks for your replys,
she is allowed of lead and is very obsessed with her ball ( which she is only allowed when off lead on walks ) so i can keep her attention with the ball it is also when passing other dogs she just wants to greet them all and will pull me.
In training class she is fine i guess she must be used to the dogs there i take her to parks etc and do a lot of attentive heel work with her
around people etc i have also started agility hoping this might calm her down may i add she is very good and fast for a rotti.