New Bullying/Dominance/Aggression toward other dogs

[jjjem]

It's been a while since I've needed help with anything, but since Jem has gotten older (he's at least 3), he's started to claim extreme dominance when meeting new dogs.

Luckily he has not bitten any dogs yet, but today my friend and I met in a neutral area at a park for a play date. The other dog was a silver lab puppy, no more than a year old, named Kobi. The two had never met before. Immediately we had to take away the toy my friend brought because Jem became possessive of it. Then after the dogs had been playing for a while and things seemed to be working out, a couple growls here and there from both dogs, Jem decided he'd had enough of Kobi putting his paws on his back. I know that this is dominant behavior, even though Kobi meant it in a playful way. Jem started to snarl and bare his teeth and he suddenly pinned Kobi on his back and held him there while continuing to growl and snarl at him. Kobi let out a few growls back and tried to get away, but Jem held him there. Kobi's tail was curled under in a scared way.
I told Jem sternly, "ENOUGH" and Jem released Kobi, but after a few moments of play he did it again. And again. And again.
Each time I would loudly say "ENOUGH" or "ALL DONE" which is our signal for things to end. Jem would listen to me and eventually the two continued to play with intermittent growling. But Jem would growl when Kobi displayed any kind of play that Jem didn't like or took an interest in something Jem was doing. When the two were just running around, everything was fine.

But I am worried about is what if Jem meets a dog that does want to fight for dominance? I don't want this behavior to continue! I am APPALLED and ashamed at this behavior.

The strange thing is that this behavior only happens with NEW dog acquaintances. He used to be super excited and very playful with new dogs and NEVER displayed any dominant behavior: he would be submissive.

So what is the deal now? I am a little lost.

But I do want to correct this. I am hoping there is a way to reward his good, playful behavior and eventually push out the bad stuff.

Sorry this was long. But that play date was literally an hour ago and the second I came home I wanted to do something about this. Thanks for any help or advice.

 

[srennie]

Is Jem neutered?

About 3y/o is when boxers reach their full maturity and can start to show more dominant behavior. A certain amount of jockying for position is normal but without seeing it, it is hard to say what was going on. It could be that Kobi was out of line and Jem was being a good teacher. Puppies often cross acceptable lines and it is up to older dogs to let them know it's not ok. Your best bet would be to have a behaviorist accompany you to the dog park one day so they can see exactly what is going on.

 

[jjjem]

Yes, Jem is neutered. But Kobi wasn't.

This has gotten me thinking. A few months ago Jem met another male dog puppy that was neutered and Jem dominated him too when he exhibited behavior Jem didn't like, but more in "a teaching this puppy to respect him" kind of way. After one big growl, they played without incident over several meetings.

Maybe it was just Kobi's "intactness" that made Jem so dominant, but then I guess a better question would be, Why? Why would my neutered dog take power over the intact male?

 

[srennie]

Some dogs just don't like intact males. My boston is fine with female dogs (most of the time...he's picky with his friends) but not intact males. I think it's because intact males put off a 'macho' dominant aire. When we do playgroups at the shelter we do allow intact females as long as they aren't in heat but NEVER allow intact males as they just change the dynamic too much...in a negative way.

 

[TwoDogs]

And some dogs just don't like rude adolescent play. I'm willing to bet that Jem tried to tell Kobi to knock off the shenaningans much earlier in the interaction, but Kobi in true adolescent fashion (especially lab adolescent) probably didn't take the hint. And then when Kobi did it again even after Jem had given him very obvious signals he had had enough. It is probable that Jem showed extreme restraint. After all, he got Kobi to stop by giving lip lifts, growls and posturing and didn't bite at all. If it were me, I'd have been giving Kobi the "enough" because his play was probably over the top and pushed social lines.

 

[LILYLARUE]

Next time, I would halt the other pups play time and give him a break and see how Jem reacts to it. I just would not allow Jem to continue to dominate/teach in that way over and over. Once or twice should be it. I wouldn't want to push his limits after all the warnings he gave. Next time "enough" may not be enough for him to release.

Any future oportunity, Puppy gets a break time and watch Jem and see what he does. Does he walk away and ignore the puppy? Does he stand back and watch the puppy awaiting another play session? Does he pace around close to the puppy? Or does he approach the puppy and try to instigate a reaction?

If he ignores, then he is absolutely DONE with that pups behaviors. If he stands a waits, then he is awaiting break to be over and trust that he's settled down enough to continue play in a better way. If he paces, then he is still in high energy mode and should be removed for a break time himself to calm. If he approaches and instigates, then I would think he is trying to dominate and a behaviorist would be a good way to thwart this behavior before it becomes his typical behavior and reactivity.

Without being there to watch the scenerio, there are so many reasons why he may be reacting this way. I do agree with the previous posters that this may just be a bad puppy behavior reaction. Sounds like you can call him off and he will retreat easily, so if aggression, that just is unlikely that a command can stop the agressing with an easy recovery.