My friend has a 1 year old neutered male retriever and I have a 10 month old bitch. The male dog seems to take every opportunity to bite my bitch, it often starts as play and then he chases her and either tries to bite the back of her neck, her throat or her legs. He has tried this behaviour with my 6 year old bitch who just tells him off, he has recently shown this behaviour with other  bitches. My friend sees the behaviour as playful and puppyish, however I don't.  I value the friendship but find I'm avoiding times when the dogs will meet up. I would value objective thoughts about the behaviour and what I can do.

Chasing and biting are part of normal play behaviour. However, if both dogs aren't enjoying the play or the play fighting is becoming too intense then it's normal to call the dogs out of play and distract them or put them on lead for a little while until they calm down.

Does your girl seem frightened or unhappy with the level of play or is she running back in to re engage with him during the play sessions? Does he bite too hard and cause her to yelp?

If he's frightening her or causing her any pain then he should be called out of play immediately as he's being a bully and needs to learn that play stops when he is bullying. However, sometimes play can look very brutal with lots of play biting, but both dogs are perfectly happy.

Your friend will probably react defensively if you are making out the problem is all about her dog (even if it is!). However if you ask her to look for signs of your girl becoming unhappy and suggest that when play has become too intense both dogs should be popped on the lead for a little while she's likely to react more favourably.

>My friend sees the behaviour as playful and puppyish, however I don't

This breed does not grow up as early as the toy breeds.  I would suggest that being neutered too young may well have turned him into a Peter Pan.  He may never grow up properly, as he hasn't had any time to let his testosterone kick in.

My friends early spayed golden bitch was like this her whole life, each of my girls outgrew her in this behaviour by the time they were two, and she then became  best play buddy with the next puppy we kept.

Sadly when she was 11 rough playing with a springer youngster she turned sharply and tore her cruciate and for her own sake I no longer allowed her to play with any youngsters I had, as she didn't have an off/moderation switch.

I have to say that her playmates were more than happy with her play style.

My current nearly 14 month old plays like this too, and I expect her to tone this down over the next year or so, but not much before 3.

JeanSW,

You beat me to it. Late developing breed, neutered too early, now kept in state of permanent late puppyhood/early adolescence. I too would mark this down as inappropriate puppy behaviour- but with great big adult teeth :( He'll have to be taught not to do this or he'll do it to the wrong dog.

Have to agree that this dog has had some of his hormones switched off before he has had a chance to mature into a normal gentle adult, one of the reasons why you should not neuter before maturity or you can finish up with a permanent teenager.

Also agree that the bitch is probably happy with the play and although it may sound OTT it probably isn't, suggest to your friend that it is not good for either animal to continue for to long because their bones are still maturing and try to instigate some calm time so the dogs are able to catch their breath. The dog in particular may cause itself joint damage (another problem with early castration) and should be treated as one would a puppy because this period will continue for longer than would normally be the case.

Late developing breed, neutered too early, now kept in state of permanent late puppyhood/early adolescence.

Early neutering CAN have this effect, but it's not a foregone conclusion that it will. This dog is only a year old so it remains to be seen whether he'll tone down and mature over the next year or two.

At the moment his behaviour sounds like normal play for an adolescent - if not always desirable. He needs other dogs to tell him off (as the OPs older dog has done) when he goes to far. And where a dog can't tell him off the owner can step in.  He's likely to tone down the behaviour in time if this happens.