Playing with other dogs at the park

[chien]

Sorry if this has been asked before as I did try to research it a little before asking!

I take my 5 month(almost 6)  to the dog park to better socialize her with other dogs. She generally behaves quite well with other dogs and tends to get the idea when the other dog has had enough running around and will happily leave the dog alone or find another dog to play with. The problem is that the last couple of times an 8 month Alsatian puppy comes to play and is a little bit rough considering the size difference. The Alsatian will play bite more than i'm comfortable with  but there is no aggression from the Alsatian that I notice.

My dog will lay on her back and show her teeth and play back a little but i could tell she wasn't really confident because of the size difference and dominance of the other larger dog. At the end she got up and went to nip the Alsatian in a slight aggressive manner. I guess this was the transition from attempting to stop the play by being submissive to showing the Alsatian enough was enough.

Now my question is , is it ok to lift your dog up in such situation as the Alsatian simply refused to leave her alone..  I'd rather not avoid the park as she really enjoys the running and playing with other dogs which usually are more her size (king Charles, other cocker pups etc) but any suggestions on the best way to handle this in future as i'm sure it's likely to reoccur?

[MIN]

if it was me I would ask the Alsatians owner  to call their dog away . Gemma will snap at any wayward dog that over steps her mark

[Londongirl]

I'd agree with MIN. We had a young Alsatian in our park when Henry was little and it was very boisterous. The size difference was my main concern as Henry always (even now) lies down and rolls over to play. Big puppies can really squash smaller ones. I would put Henry back on his lead the minute I saw this Alsatian, and its owners soon got the message. Owners of large young dogs do have a responsibility to keep them under control. If they are already playing I see no harm in stepping in and getting your dog on the lead and taking them away. Then it's not up to your pup to give warning nips as you have taken control of the situation.

In general I'm always keeping a watchful eye on Henry and get him on the lead the minute I see a dog I don't want him to play with, for whatever reason. I'll then lead him the other way or distract him with a little training exercise that earns him a treat so he gets something positive. 

[chien]

Thanks for the replies

Yeah i think I will ask the Alsatian to take more control of her dog if and when this happens again!

[Joules]

Good idea to ask the Alsation owner to call her dog away if it gets a bit too OTT when playing.  The pup will soon learn that playing nicely means playtime lasts longer 

I would avoid picking up your pup though as it can make them more anxious by letting them know that there is something to worry about 

Better to let them play in a supervised and more controlled way if you can manage that. 

[its.sme]

I would agree with all the above, you are responsible for your Pup , the Alsation owner is responsible for there's.

It might also teach the Alsation's owners how to spot that there dog has gone too far!

The best place for a pup to learn is on the ground, preferably by your side as this way if something happens that they are not comfortable with they will return to you (Hopefully)

My Aunts dog would try to jump onto my lap at the sight of a cat, she was a Lab Cross so almost knocked me off my feet 

[hoover]

We have tended to walk away if Ollie is getting into bother with other dogs..we realised that by hanging around the area we were prolonging the interaction and by walking away and calling him we gave him the opportunity to escape without 'losing face'.  He would follow us as soon as we walked away and usually the other dog would not hang around for too long after that.  The longer we hung around trying to get him away from squabbles the longer these squabbles seemed to last.