# Puppy plays too rough with small dogs



## kristax (Jan 4, 2011)

We have a good natured 6 month old standard poodle puppy. He has been going to training class twice a week since he was 3 months. There we worked on obedience and socialization. He also goes to doggy day care a couple times a week. He gets lots on exercise (one long or two short on leash walks and one off leash walk) He is medium energy and more on the submissive side.

He is very happy go lucky and likes to play chase and wrestle with other dogs. He will play bow, and take turns chasing and being chased, wrestle with mouth and paws. He plays like a poodle, paws in the air and showing teeth/snapping in the air, but he doesn't bite hard, just play wrestling.
But now he is 45lbs and he wants to wrestle/chase small dogs at the off leash park. When he was smaller this wasn't a problem but now he big and clumsy and playfull he just bowls them over. He has been told by a few small dogs to back off and he will try an intiliate play with a play bow instead of contact, and a few small dogs have enjoyed the rough play. But some don't even see it coming, and he has run them over. I am concerned that he will injure a small dog. It looks like mostly play but I suppose it could be a bit prey drive as well. He has good recall but if I don't notice he is going after a small dog fast enough, he has already rolled it over.

We don't know anyone with small dogs to practice gentle play with so we would like some advice on obedience skills that may help. Or a way of teaching to avoid this behavior? or correcting the behavior when off leash?


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## Tofu_pup (Dec 8, 2008)

He should be playing with well-adjusted adult dogs that can keep him in check. If your dog park does not have separate small dog and big dog areas, I suggest you find a new one or stop going all together. You can easily find dog play meet up groups in local magazines or on meetup.com.

While continued, controlled exposure to small dogs is a good idea(group classes), rambunctious youngsters rarely listen to them in play. Working at a daycare, this is when I "graduate" a youngster to the big dog group.
Continued training is, in my book, a must. The rest of the pieces should fall into place.


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