Playing with other dogs

[stevekikijaz]

We have a 9 month fawn female (Jaz). We got her from my in-laws, who's fawn had puppies. Jaz plays real well with her brother, her mother, and the in-laws new puppy (XMAS present). Now, this is when Jaz is around 1 or 2 of the other dogs...and at our house, or the in-laws house. She played real nice with my wife's friends' golder retriever, but this was at our house. I took her to another friend's house who has 2 female boxers....and Jaz never met them. I didn't think it was a good idea to just unleash her in his back yard with the other 2, but he said they were real friendly. Well, Jaz was not. They were all "checking each other out" (sniffing you know where). Then one of them put her paws on Jaz's back...and she snapped. END OF PLAY TIME. I don't know if she has to be the dominant over every other dog, or if she's just a snot, or if she plays mean outside of her "environment"???? My wife seems to think we just have an agressive dog.

All of the other boxers in the family bow down to her.

Any suggestions???

P.S. I want another one (because Jaz is so much fun)...but I was thinking a male for #2. Does age difference between 2 of them matter....for them to get along...or just gender?

Thanks!

 

[Jade010103]

I don't think that age difference will matter as long as both dogs like other dogs. A really old dog might not tolerate a new puppy though. If you were to get another I'd suggest getting a male, opposite sexes typically get along better than 2 females will, but there's no guarantee. Jaz was probably nervous just being tossed in a strange yard with 2 strange dogs and was being defensive to protect herself. I'd make sure any time you bring your dog somewhere else just introduce them on leash first.

 

[mancin]

I agree w/ Jade. It's best to introduce on neutral ground (however that's not always possible) and start w/ all dogs being leashed. Has she been well socialized?

 

[carole]

Star went through a stage about 10 months were she fought with every dog that put its paws on her back :( although Star tried to do the same thing with other dogs too.

She did grow out of it. A behaviourist told me that its all part of learning to play and learning the boundaries. (although not sure how much of this is true). They also told me not to interfere unless there was blood lost as its a dogs way of sorting things out.

 

[buffym]

We had the same problem with our Daisy. We could bring Diesel and Daisy around other dogs and Diesel would have a ball playing but Daisy would get into defense mode everytime one came near her. Since she is small (at least in my opinion) I always say she has "little dog syndrome and she's trying to prove that she is not one"

However, now that she is older (1-1/2yrs) she plays very well with other dogs.

 

[stevekikijaz]

I do agree with the "leash" thing. The first two "new" boxers she encountered was when we were walking her on a leash. She seemed to be ok that way, but she was also younger (about 4 months).

I also wanted to let the dogs "sort it out" when she was in a yard with two others...but my wife was scared....and wanted me to grab her.

Thanks for the advice!!