As always, I'm a little unsure where this fits the best, so feel free to move it.

I've been taking Pippa to the dog park pretty much since I adopted her in August, but recently I've noticed some unfavorable behavior and am unsure about how to handle it.

I really don't know much about how she spent the first 6 months of her life. The shelter told me she was surrendered and was an outside dog and that's all they told me. I'm pretty sure she was probably taken from her litter too soon as it's taken her a while to pick up on any cues from other dogs at all. She also had very little bite inhibition and was terribly mouthy with me.

Up until these last few weeks she's been very well behaved at the park and seemed to get along with everyone. She definitely gravitates more towards the younger, smaller dogs, but did really well with most of them. (As a side note, there is a TINY dog that a family brings regularly and Pippa does wonderfully with him. He's a miniature Chihuahua that is blind in one eye and deaf. He scurries around like crazy, but Pippa doesn't chase him and is very careful around him.)

However, lately she's been extra mouthy. It started out with just a few dogs. One of which was a pitbull mix puppy that was equally mouthy with her and the other is a hound mix of some kind that humps her constantly. When I say mouthy though, I mean she's grabbing on to their scruff and holding on for longer than a few seconds. She does this with one of the smaller dogs and it really worries me.

The only dog that has ever yelped at her during play was a small puppy and it had had enough play. The other dogs never yelp or have their tail lowered or attempt to run off, so I'm not sure how to deal with this. Her demeanor seems relaxed and her tail is wagging, so it doesn't seem like aggression, but I'm also aware that if she does some of this with a drastically smaller dog, she could seriously injure it.

She also doesn't seem to pick up on when another dog has had enough. It's always a puppy or a smaller dog that runs to its owner for shelter and I have to go other and physically remove Pippa from the situation. She's never aggressive, but gets very excited and it's hard to redirect her.

I've tried removing her from play with a dog when it seems to get rougher and I can tell the owner of the other dog is uneasy. I make her sit and hold her there until she isn't pulling to get back to playing, but half the time the dog is still trying to play with her, so it makes it difficult.

This is long winded and unorganized, but I'd love some insight if anyone has any!

Honestly, that's how all my Huskies play with each other. Especially Zoey, she grabs Ares by the scruff and throws him down on the ground and they just wrestle. I've only had one person complain about the way Zoey was playing, and this lady kicked Zoey right in the chest, and Zoey was only 4 months old. I was livid, Zoey wasn't do anything wrong at all.

I would have had words for that woman. Nothing makes me angrier than people reprimanding other people's dogs. Some man pulled Pippa off of his dog by her collar and slung her on the ground. I was not happy.

It makes me feel better to know that she's not the only one! I know "huskies play rough", but wasn't sure if that was TOO rough.

I'm certain that is not okay for her to play with puppies like that, but I don't know how to teach her that? I think she really needs one of them to really snap at her to tell her no, honestly.

I just stumbled on one of Kristina's videos on YouTube of her dogs playing and it looks exactly how Pippa plays. Makes me feel better. Just need to monitor who's at the park when we are I guess.

Yeah if there's smaller dogs and Zoey starts playing too rough, I just leave. When she was a puppy I would always bring small training treats with me and keep them in my pocket. I made sure that she knew I had them so if she started playing too rough, I'd call her over and she'd come running right away. If Pippa is very food motivated you could definitely try that approach.

Now that I have three dogs, they're just too cool to play with other dogs. They only play with each other and don't let other dogs play with them. It's kinda of embarrassing lol

Haha that's hilarious! Definitely annoying, but still funny.

She is definitely food motivated, so I'll try that when we go. Thanks!

I felt like you were describing Nicky and Hayden at the park! They do exactly everything you said. If they get too rough I put them on leahes and make them sit out for like 5-10 minutes or until the person leaves (depending how rough they were being).

I recently started Hayden on e-collar training and have had unbelievable success with it! I don't suggest it unless you properly know how to use it with positive reinforcement. It has made the dog park so much easier to go to now that we use it! Any time I want him to stop I only have to say "OFF" once or "come" once and he does it exactly when I tell him to.

Jennet&Embry wrote:

Yeah if there's smaller dogs and Zoey starts playing too rough, I just leave. When she was a puppy I would always bring small training treats with me and keep them in my pocket. I made sure that she knew I had them so if she started playing too rough, I'd call her over and she'd come running right away. If Pippa is very food motivated you could definitely try that approach.

Now that I have three dogs, they're just too cool to play with other dogs. They only play with each other and don't let other dogs play with them. It's kinda of embarrassing lol

I think this is halrious.. Its sound like a mother saying "hey kids let the other kids play with you aswell.. Dont leave them out lol!!"

This is why Maya isnt allowed to go to the dog park anymore. I've tried to get her to stop but she wont, Sophie does whimper when she wont let go. Maya wont let go if another dog whimpers i have to make her.

Totally normal. Rogue and Koda will just latch onto eachother's cheeks or neck all the time when playing and tug.

katiesham wrote:

She also doesn't seem to pick up on when another dog has had enough. It's always a puppy or a smaller dog that runs to its owner for shelter and I have to go other and physically remove Pippa from the situation. She's never aggressive, but gets very excited and it's hard to redirect her.

I've tried removing her from play with a dog when it seems to get rougher and I can tell the owner of the other dog is uneasy. I make her sit and hold her there until she isn't pulling to get back to playing, but half the time the dog is still trying to play with her, so it makes it difficult.

While it's normal for them to play like this- I encourage my dogs to play like this with each other and with dogs I "know." Rodeo is my biggest culprit. If he's being too rough (what I deem is too rough) with another dog I will tell him enough and if he doesn't listen I remove him from the other dog. If the other dog still wants to play- that's fine. But if he does it again he gets removed again. It feels like it's futile but he's gotten much better and will more willingly respond to "enough" now because he knows i'm going to come drag him off if he doesn't listen anyway.

If the other dog is showing signs he's had enough I will remove him and not let him back to play until a few minutes has gone by. With smaller dogs I really try to squash it totally. I am not comfortable with that because I know my dogs are larger and could cause harm easily if something happened. Doesn't matter how socalized they are I don't let them roughhouse with smaller dogs that aren't mine.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll continue to separate her when it gets too rough and hope that she'll eventually pick up on it. Maybe. Hopefully.

How do you deal with the dog's owners? Like if they're unhappy with the play, but their dog won't leave mine alone? It's frustrating to go and then feel like mine's the bad guy when their dog seems to be enjoying it too.

Frosti plays super rough and the big dogs love it. People really don't understand. Honestly, the people at dog parks here are dicks. Especially the small dog owners bringing tiny 5 lb small dogs into the 25 lb and over only area. I love dogs but hate dog owners. In the past, we've just left if an owner didn't understand. Now we just go to the one park 30 min away during "husky hour" and she does play dates with big dogs at day care - all the parents coordinate to bring their dogs on the same day.

Tonight there was a great dane and a german shepherd and it was FANTASTIC!

She's almost always the biggest dog there, the biggest dog that plays anyway, and that shepherd really showed her up! It was hilarious. That almost never happens.

I really appreciate the help everyone! It's nice to know she's just being a husky!

I'm always happy when there's pointy eared big dogs for her to play with! It's quite entertaining!

I wish I could find a group for big dogs, but I can't find anything really. And while there are at least 3 great dane groups in the city, there's nothing to be found for huskies!