I've had Pippa for six weeks now and things are going really well!
She is crazy smart and crazy stubborn which makes for a very interesting, but fun, time.

I took her to the dog park twice last week and each time she acted very differently.

The first time she started vocalizing a lot more when playing and running around with the other dogs. She hasn't been extremely vocal yet, and it kind of surprised me. She would do a, as I interpreted it, high, excited kind of growl/bark when running around or trying to get dogs to start running with her. Most of her vocalizations sound like a weird mix of huky talk and just barking, so it was a weird noise.
The fact that she was doing it didn't really bother me. My dog I grew up with would growl and make awful noises as she ran around in the house, so it's just something I've gotten used to.
The other people at the park seemed bothered by it as it was pretty loud, but it didn't seem st all aggressive to me. Her teeth weren't bared, her tail was wagging. I don't know. I don't know how to handle the people at the park haha. I can't seem to make them understand she's just playing.

Then the second time we went, there was a gigantic lab that towered over her. He seemed very dominant, trying to stand tall over her and barking very loudly in her ear (it was honestly one of thr loudest dog barks I have ever heard). I'm pretty sure he just wanted her to play, but she didn't seem to want anything to do with him. In the time I've had her I haven't seen her be even slightly submissive even once, but her tail was between her legs and she even started snarling at him. Since I haven't had her long at all, I immediately tried to distract her, not being entirely confident in how that might continue. The lab's owners were like, "Oh no! It's ok! He just wants to play! Let her put him in his place!" I was at a loss. On one hand, I figured they would sort it out, but on the other, I didn't want it to escalate before I could do something about it.

I'm not really sure what I'm asking. I guess just asking what your opinions are on these behaviors and what I should do to correct them (more so the second one), should they need correcting.

When Onyx was a puppy my wife took him to my cousins house, who has a rescued Newfie mix, He was a monster compared to my little Onyx. Anyway Onyx was always really excitable around other dogs always wanting to play. Neeko, barked and nipped at Onyx in which caused him to go nuts and he might have hit his cheek on Neeko's teeth causing a small amount of blood to appear. Me and my wife both agreed that this sort of thing needed to happen to teach him limits and to learn to read other dogs, effective communication if you will.

I think if it bothers you about the situation I would agree with what you did, remove her from that situation through distraction. I wouldn't find it offensive if another dog owner removed their dog from my dog's presence because they were unsure of the situation, even if I do reassure them that there is no harm.

Small comment on the noise Pippa makes, my sister in law has a GSD puppy and he makes the most high pitched whine park when he plays with Onyx. You would think he was dying sometimes...lol

On the first issue, she's just being a husky and having a great time at the dog park. If the other owners have a problem with that, tell them to shove it. They're at a dog park. They need to expect that there's going to be some dog noises. Last week we went and there was a little boston terrier running around grunting like a pig all over and I would have never thought to complain about it! He's a dog!

On the second issue, you're the owner, and in the end, you need to decide what's best for your dog. You know her better than anyone else. It's very possible that the lab was just trying to play, but if Pippa didn't want to play with him, then that wouldn't have gone over well. I would have done the same thing as you and called her away. The dogs will sort it out themselves and normally I give it a bit before stepping in. Another example from me would be last week again, this lady brought a chihuahua to the dog park and Callie tried playing with her just like she plays with Pooka at home. Callie's pretty rough with Pooka but he stands his ground. This other chihuahua clearly wasn't having it and was annoyed by the puppy play. I kept calling Callie back. The chi's owner said it's fine but I wasn't risking it. Either that chi was going to turn on Callie, or Cal was going to accidentally hurt her. It wasn't worth it for me. I let the chi correct Cal about three times before I said that's enough and brought her to the other side of the park.

my puppy does exactly the same when playing, makes all sorts of noises.

I think it is completely down to the individual dog owner, at the end of the day it is what you feel comfortable with. I know that a lot of the research I read, dogs need to know their limits, and there will be a dominant dog in the pack. A lot of the research also said that providing the dog does not look to be in any danger, you should not come between dogs who are establishing a pecking order... however it sounds like you have made an appropriate decision at the time.

I know that some of my friends dogs have tried to tell off my pup when shes being too boisterous and I really do not mind, because it does teach them quite a lot but sometimes my friends think theres might hurt mine and quickly put them on the lead.

At the end of the day it is up to you

Thanks guys!

I think it really does come down to situation, and me deciding when enough is enough. I just feel silly pulling my dog away when the other dog owners are telling me to just let them sort if out. But I guess I know what's best! (I apparently come here for affirmation most of the time! )

We went again last night and everything went really well. (Aside from when we were about to leave and she ATE a torn up frisbee toy that someone had left on the ground. Last night was fun...)I think a lot of it has been that I don't think she was well socialized at all before I got her, so I think a lot of it is her just learning how to play well with other dogs.

Thanks for the reassurance!

Anyone have any clues on how to get other dogs to stop mounting yours? This seems silly and most of the time the owners are pretty quick to pull their dogs off but I can see Callie getting fed up quickly with it. Especially since the dogs go right back to mounting her once their owners let them go. I know it's nature and the dogs are going to be dogs but I was just wondering if anyone knew anything that seems to distract them long enough to leave the girls alone, or if there's something I can train Callie to do if someone's about to mount her. Right now, she's still a baby so she does sit or roll over and start baring teeth and fighting back basically saying get off me and I'm glad she does. I'm just worried that once she gets a little older and bigger, this fighting back is going to get nasty real quick.

I would say Callie knows the best way to put it to a stop. The whole knock it off fight will last maybe 3-5 seconds then the males will know she means business.

Okay, I think I'll just let her handle it then. I mean, she's spayed, it's not like anything can happen. Just thought I'd see if there's anyway to keep it from escalating. Thanks!

calliegirl08 wrote:

Anyone have any clues on how to get other dogs to stop mounting yours? This seems silly and most of the time the owners are pretty quick to pull their dogs off but I can see Callie getting fed up quickly with it. Especially since the dogs go right back to mounting her once their owners let them go. I know it's nature and the dogs are going to be dogs but I was just wondering if anyone knew anything that seems to distract them long enough to leave the girls alone, or if there's something I can train Callie to do if someone's about to mount her. Right now, she's still a baby so she does sit or roll over and start baring teeth and fighting back basically saying get off me and I'm glad she does. I'm just worried that once she gets a little older and bigger, this fighting back is going to get nasty real quick.

My female will mount other dogs it really is more of a alpha thing or domance thing. I wonder if she does it cause some of the maile does do it to her.

It has nothing to do with being spayed or anything. It has to do with dominance. Maggie mounts other dogs, she is a very dominate dog. I really don't think their is a trick to get other dogs not to mount her. When maggie humps I sprayed water at her. It seems to make it stop. Don't do this to other dogs just saying what I did to make maggie stop. Maggie is spayed by the way! lol

Not all mounting is out of dominance. Kale starts play by mounting; there's also mounting tense and insecure dogs to calm them down, that's what they would do in a natural pack setting.

Thanks for the input guys! Brooke, I didn't know about the insecurity thing. That's really interesting.

There is one female that goes to the park almost every day and mounts every dog that comes in so I'm pretty sure with her, it's a dominance thing. She was just rescued from the shelter a few weeks ago so she and the owner are still working things out. I figured her mounting Callie was a dominance thing but I wasn't sure about the other dogs since they didn't show any other signs of wanting to be top dog.

Good food for thought though.