Hi everyone,

Little update on the dogwalking situation. I've started taking them both out and letting them off the lead (6 year old neutered male lab and 6 month old unspayed female doberman) so that the pup is slightly more manageable and can let off some steam (I need to take them both out as the pup will not return on her own but if I take the lab out with her and call him she follows him- not my dogs so I can't change that). The pup still has no manners and harrasses the lab. She jumps on him, runs underneath him, bites his face and ears, knocks him over and pins him and she tends to nip him in private areas (ahem). He will bark and growl at her and not much more if she does it in the house but when they are outside he bares his teeth and snaps and turns to face her. He has the weight advantage but she is taller and faster than him. They both get very foamy at the mouth when they fight and they tend to leave trails of slobber over each other... which is lovely to wipe off.

What I'd really like to know is what are the general stages of a dog fight and when does it stop being playing and start being a proper challenge? I've noticed the pup doing fewer submissive positions than she used to whenever they fought before. She will turn her body so that he can't bite her face but she doesn't lie down and stop like she used to. Is she just being a little madam who's pushing her luck or is she actually trying to become top dog?

Thanks.

To me it sounds like very normal puppy play and my 9 months old pup plays exactly the same. The bitches will tell her off, the dogs will not! At 6 months she won't have any plans to try to take over. :) She's still a baby.

I agree, totally, totally normal behaviour :-) I would be surprised if they ever have a real fight, your lab will automatically take the back seat, although he may find her irritating with her play he will accept it, they may well have the odd snarly play fight for a few seconds over the first 2 years, but that is just dog on dog behaviour and all to do with their pecking orders which your Dobe bitch will just automatically slide into (but not yet) and may be more frequent when their energies are high, you can always distract them! But as Goldmali has said it is nothing to worry about.

Again just to echo the other posts this is perfectly normal play behaviour :)  From your various posts about these dogs it sounds like you don't really like the dobe much, but to me she just sounds like a typical puppy who needs to run and play. Chill out and enjoy their playing, my lot are 6,6,4 and 18 months and they make me laugh every single day playing like this :)

I was just browsing websites and came upon this fantastic pic - hope it sets your mind at rest, these savage looking dogs are having a whale of a time :D

Hey folks,

Just to say it's not that I don't like the pup. I love them each for their own thing. The lab is my cuddle boy and the pup just makes me happy as I watch her be over the top doggy. I find myself laughing even when they are fighting- there's a joy to life they have that we as humans could never have. I think she is great fun even though she is a handful- I love to watch her do her thing it's just that I was always worried that the pup was being mean to the lab. I felt sorry for him because he was a middle aged gent and I thought she was bullying him but now that I see it's normal, I'll just leave them to do their thing.

I do feel bad that it might be interpretted that I don't like the pup. I'm just not used to pups so I was worried it might be a real fight scenario. The only problem I have with the pup is that she's not mine so I can't train her to my ideas and so on. But there is no malice I assure you.

My dogs are 2 1 and 6 months old i find that they love playing but sometimes the pup gets abit too much for my 2 year old so i keep a squirty bottle handy and when she gets abit much i give her a little squirt and tell her no and its just enough to distract her and then she goes off to chew a bone or lie in her basket, i tried everything i could before and nothing would stop her and i was the same as you i was worried it was going to become nasty so some one mentioned to try a squirty bottle and it works wonders it does not hurt her and shes not scared of it but it does distract her.

I meant to say earlier that the lab will try to hump her after they've been having a tiff... is this normal too? The reason I ask is that I've been told to tell him off if he starts humping. He never humps people or objects just other dogs. I've only ever seen him hump the pup after they've been having some heated play and I've heard about him humping another dog but not seen what happened. The owner said he didn't do it until he met another dog that did it to him and then whenever those dogs meet they start humping each other... so generally there's some humping going on. Is it a dominance thing?

Unless she is due in season it will be him trying to assert himself over her, bitches do this too, often after meals for some strange reason :D

loving that pic chaumsong

Hiya,

It didn't come across to me that you didn't like the pup at all, just that you were a bit out of your depth and tearing your hair out :-) Just one point - you can work on her recall, on your own if you wanted, it will make a difference if you are doing it several times a week.  Maybe let her have some looney free running for 15/20 mins with her buddy and then introduce her to a harness and long line so that you can reinforce to her that when you call it means come, try running away from her making silly noises, lying down on the grass, hiding behind a tree and lots of praise when she does come back.  Every little bit helps, especially at 6 months old.

Karen