Rough play

[Boo]

We are having a problem with Jasper and our 7 yo son Andrew. It all starts innocently (till someone loses an eye...j/k) Andrew tossing one of Jaspers chew toys in the hall and then Jasper comes back with it steps ALL over Andrew till he tosses it again.

Somehow it goes from there to Jasper nipping at Andrews ears, fingers, elbows, etc... When he starts this with me, hubby or Stephi (9), we just tell him to sit till he calms down, then tell him he's a good boy and go back to playing. This doesn't work with Andrew. Jasper completely ignores him. Our last dog ignored Andrew too, but she was not one for rough play, and was out of her puppy stage before we had the kids.

Jasper still has two of his booster shots to go until we can take him to puppy school. Any advice on how to "nip" this in the bud now would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Boo]

Hey, that search function is rather good isn't it. I should have checked it before I posted, huh?

 

[TClarke]

When I play any kind of game with Trixie, it's an expectation that she "contain" herself before she gets the reward (throwing, tugging, etc.). It's to the point now where I just hold the toy up and she sits, waiting for me to throw it.

Something you might want to try for listening is providing your son with treats and forcing the dog to obey SIT commands from him in order to get the treats. It sounds like the dog doesn't recognize him as someone higher in the pack, and so she's challenging the hierarchy. If you take the toy (what Jasper sees as JASPER'S TOY) out of the picture, maybe your son would have the chance to build up some more authority with Jasper.

Good luck!

 

[Boo]

You're right

TClarke,

We actually have this trouble with Andrew and other dogs too. (Our previous dog Cindy, was calm, but totally ignored any commands Andrew gave, and my sisters dog, once again, listens to our daughter who is only a year older than Andrew, but barks and growls at Andrew) It's not an issue with very laid back dogs, but any dog other than a couch potato seems to place themselves above Andrew in the pecking order. Either just ignoring any commands or challenging type behaviour.

Andrew hasn't ever mistreated any animal in his life. So we know that the dog(s) aren't retaliating in any way. He just wants to be able to play. That's what little boys and dogs do. Somehow Andrew must be giving off some kind of signals that we don't pick up. Because we can't see that he plays with the dog any differently than our daughter does (and Jaspers butt hits the floor almost instantly when she asks him to sit). It's probably as much an issue of training Andrew as much as training the dog!

Andrew has started that "sit" thing, and if the dog doesn't calm down, he just walks away. That seems to be settling things down a little. And of course, we never let them play unupervised.