MEAN puppy at Dog Park!

[MyGirlLayla]

Hi everyone. I took Layla to the dog park for the 3rd time and she had a blast. However, Im concerned about something. She LOVES to play with the other dogs, no matter what breed or what size. But there was this one dog there who was half her size but relaly mean.

See, Layla does this thing where she runs and plays and jumps with the other dogs and then will lay on her back once the dogs try to jump on her. This smaller dog and her were playing and it jumped on Layla and Layla laid on her back. This dog would then grab her by the neck and try to pull or drag her along the ground. She didnt seem bothered by it at all and would get right back up and play with the dog. However, I noticed she had blood all over her neck!!! This concerns me b/c I teach Layla to play nice and have fun, but absolutely no biting or beaing mean. She lets all of the other dogs dominate her when playing but this particular dog took it too far and hurt her in my eyes.

Is she normal to act like this (submissive) or do Boxers normally know how to hold their own? I dont want her to really bite the other dog back, but i do want her to be able to stick up for herself and not just lay on her back and allow it to happen.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Jill's boxer]

Gracie loves to get other dogs chasing after her and loves to be pinned and wrestle. She is a little bruiser sometimes, but really loves to be the one "on the bottom" and will antagonize other dogs until they chase her and as soon as they "catch", she flips over and starts kicking to try to get them to wrestle her!! I think if your dog kept going back for more, then she wasn't being hurt and obviously was having fun. Sometimes rough play looks worse than it is...was the blood from Layla or the other dog? it is possible if the other dog was a puppy that it was teething and that may be why you saw blood on Layla's neck. If Layla felt threatened or was getting annoyed by this dog, I am sure she would have reacted and let the dog know enough was enough! Certainly if you don't want her to play that rough, you can recall her and redirect her attention elsewhere or give her a time out to let things calm down. however, it sounds like she was having fun, and not bothered by the other dog's behavior.

 

[MyGirlLayla]

Thanks Jill's boxer for your post. Yes she didnt seem to be really annoyed as she was going back for more and playing with the puppy. But yes, the blood was from layla. I took a good look at her when we got into the car and she had a lot of scratches and dried blood on her neck. It looked a little worse as well due to her white fur on the neck so it showed up a little more than normal.

But yes, , she sounds a lot like your dog. She will run and get other dogs to play with her then she will lay on her back and kick (or box) at them.

Even though I had this situation today, she played great with all of the other dogs and she got to meet her first BOXER FRIEND!!! HE was a great looking one year old fawn boxer by the name of Titon. It was relaly cute seeing them smell each other and run around.

 

[txstyleboxer]

our first boxer Tyson did that all of the time! He would roll over on his back and almost beg them to fall on top and start wrestling. its not submissive at all, i just think that it is their way of playing with other breeds since most dogs dont understand the boxer style of play, you know with the flailing, punching arms.

 

[3dognight]

When we first got our boxer our lab did this to him every time they played. Our boxer would lay on his back and the lab would bite him about the neck, leaving bite marks. Cooper would scab up every time, you would swear we were abusing him with a prong collar or something! It was so nasty to pet him too! It went on for months. Eventually though it worked out and now even though our lab still bites about his ears and neck, there are no marks. Cooper didn't seem to mind it one bit!