I have placed a puppy with a young couple who are head over heals in love with their pup but are nervous new parents with lots of concerns and questions.

Their puppy is around 14 weeks old now and they emailed today with worries that their puppy is aggressive. They say take the pup to a dog beach at least 4 or 5 times a week, that she gets along really well with other dogs, and that she's very socialized. They also say that some of the smaller dogs (especially Jack Russels) bark and nip at her because they don't want to play. Through further discussion I have learned that their puppy has been picked on a couple of times at this beach and was attacked on the street the other day by another dog.

Apparently yesterday they noticed a behaviour change in their puppy. She was playing with a Pug at the beach and she was grabbing at his harness and nipping his ears and she was growling. The owner of the Pug was upset and took his dog away. And then about half an hour later there was a quiet female dog and their puppy went nuts on her. At first they were both just chasing each other but then the puppy started growling, showed her teeth and bit her. Later the puppy was playing with another lab pup and they are concerned because there was lots of teeth and growling.

It sounds like a puppy learning the ways of the world to me but they are worried that it is a temperament problem and true aggression. I think they are jumping the gun a little but suggested they put their foot down and not allow any bad behaviour from their puppy. Would you say that this pup has just learned some bad behaviour from the dogs that have been attacking it or could it be more serious? Would appreciate some advice on what to tell these folks.

sounds like normal puppy behaviour to me. pup is exploring and finding out their own boundaries and how dominant they can be with other pups. perhaps a park would be a better place- they really need to find a slightly older, bigger and more dominant pup so they can rough play but also learn to keep their place. they need to avoid playing with small, nervous puppies--owners behavour and picking up the pup to protect it makes the situation worse.

Hummm - showing teeth may indicate a higher level of arousal than 'just' puppy play - especially if she's learnt to increase her level of attack through playing with older dogs :(

This is an old, old story and it goes like this:

People get dog.  People have a vague idea that 'socialisation is important' but they believe this means just sticking their puppy in at the deep end and letting it do whatever it wants with lots of other dogs.

Dog gets picked on by other dogs and this 'teaches' it to bite or growl itself.  Puppy starts to do this - just putting into practice what its learned.  People believe puppy is aggressive.  But it is their own behaviour which has meant the puppy is 'aggressive'.

So, yes, I think there is cause for concern here.

Personally I hate dog parks, especially for young puppies.  So much 'bad' socialisation gets taught from one badly socialised dog to the young pup.

What I would say is:  They should carefully monitor any interaction between their pup and another pup.  They should ideally only let him meet one or two pups at a time, not a whole hoard.  The pups he meets should be well socialised and friendly in general.  They should remove him if 1. any other pup shows the SLIGHTEST SIGNS of being aggressive.  or 2. if their pup shows the slightest signs. 

It is actually better to remove him before he becomes aggressive, rather than waiting even for the 'slightest signs', so perhaps they should let him run about for a few minutes, then hold him for a few minutes, then put him down again for a few minutes, pick him up again etc.

It is possible that he wanted to get away from the other dogs and they might have thought they were playing, but in a small space like a dog run, there was no where for him to escape to, so he did what he had learned from other dogs and showed aggression.  So perhaps he needs more time outs when playing. 

It is really important for every single doggy encounter for a young pup to be positive.