Newman Was A Bad Boy At The Dog Park

[Spyglass Sally]

Buddy loves to box too, but I don't think other dogs can relate to it. So often they'll just play a bit of a chase you around game.

We don't really have any boxers here that he plays with so I don't know how it would go with another boxer. But when he plays with us he'll often move into this box & growl routine which we think is really funny but also realize we can't let it go on very long or we'll end up getting hurt. Not intentionally, he's just getting rough and the next thing you know we'll get a paw in the face.

[Ruby Red]

Mine sound like they are half killing each other when they play - the noise is sometimes very loud and growly. That said the 2 of them don't tend to play much where one is lying down......it's mostly running games and bitey face games. Ruby rolls around on the grass with her other doggy mates, her on top the other dog on top - all play, but the 2 of them rarely play together that way at all. I don't know whether Newman is doing what Roddy does - sometimes if another dog doesn't want to play with him and the other dog tells Roddy to go away, Roddy gets upset [he doesn't understand why the dog doesn't want to play with him!] that he will lie down over it as a way of trying to "calm" or dominate? the situation. If the other dog tries to move, it inflames the situation although Roddy doesn't get growly or bite - he pushes with his body and paws.

I am dealing with it this way - I have Roddy on an extendable lead when it's really busy at the park, if dogs come over and I see all this about to kick off - eg the other dog is saying go away - lip curling, tense body, fixed eye contact etc., I shout NO in a really loud voice and jerk the lead to get Roddy's attention off the other dog [as Newman is quite toy fixed you could use a toy too], I then walk Roddy away from the other dog as fast as I can. It's a tough one though, all Roddy wants to do is play but most times dogs just tell him to get lost, poor lad, we are lucky if we find 1 dog in 10 that will play with him.

I have no idea whether this is right or not, but I'm hoping that Roddy will learn that if a dog tells him to get lost, that I will back the other dog up by removing him from the situation too. All this said Ron, you really need to watch both dogs body language as it may be that none of this is relevant to Newman at all.

[Erin251]

my bull terrier used to play like that but if she did it to a dog that didnt like it and they growled it was over, english bull terriers will rarely start a fight but if another dog growls or anything like that they fight back, and will always win. im hoping this will not be a problem with bo