I took Cam to his first training class yesterday. I have to say that generally I was very impressed with the trainer - it's all intelligent, reward based training (he even supplies his own homemade liver cake as a treat) with the emphasis on fun. He keeps dobes too (often the sign of a discerning individual. :D).

One thing he did however I wasn't sure about and wondered whether anyone else had come across it. This is what happened.

Cam and another male lab pup of a similar age started playing with each other as soon as they were introduced. Cam as usual was being quite dominant - nothing nasty but making a big point of standing astride the lab etc. My understanding was that as a rule, this is nothing to be unduly concerned about and that pups should be allowed to play together without interruption, to let them establish the natural pecking order etc. However, when it became clear that Cam was being very dominant, the trainer took out a jar filled with pebbles and shook it at him. Cam immediately backed off from the lab (he wasn't at all scared, just puzzled by the noise) and the trainer gave him a treat. They started playing again, but Cam was much less dominant and alot more reserved. Presumably, because of this the Lab pup suddenly became more dominant. The trainer immediately shook the bottle at the lab, and the intervention was repeated. After this, both pups played much less dominantly.

In a number of ways this seems like a useful exercise - Cam will not be castrated and is a confident dobe who inevitably likes to try to assert his superiority on other dogs - not a problem now but likely to present the usual situations in the future. On the other hand, I'd always understood that puppies should just be left to play - and that they should only be interfered with to avert a potentially harmful confrontation.

What do other people think?

Hi Jo

Even young males fight and sometimes they have to be separated before they leave the breeders as the "play" gets too rough - normally from 10 weeks onwards as even puppy teeth can tear holes in ears. Have you ever seen or heard puppies play fighting - you would think they were really trying to kill each other so I would be happy with the fact he was able to tone down the dominant behaviour before it really got started.

Many "trainers" don't even notice what is going on between various puppies in their class let alone let them know what manners humans expect from them - full marks to yours. As with children play between puppies often needs a referee

Chrisitne

Don't think you should interfere too much with puppy play, but like with children you watch and step in if things get out of hand. The stones in a tin method is often used but it is good that your trainer is aware and helping to establish good relations between the pups.

We used to use an old Coke can filled with pebbles to stop our dog barking when the doorbell rings - it was very effective and now we just have to say 'where is that tin' and he stops. Some dogs don't respond to it tho' and just want to play with the tin :)

Daisy

Mine thought it was a toy and tried to eat it! He loved it, so we couldn't use it.

Hi everyone ,do you think this would help with a puppy trying to be very dominant with a cat ? i shall try tomorrow, the puppy and cat are getting along a lot better now ,its just that the pup will not stop chasing and stands right over the cat !!she is only playing and never hurts him ( the cat ),its just she is relentless, and often quite rough .Bye, Sue T.

It may well hell with your pup, so might a jet of water. But the easy way is to make sure the cat can get out of the way if it so wishes. Don't want to give the dog the impression that the cat is attacting it in some way.