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Dog treating other dogs like they are her puppies - help!


samanthaplease
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Hey there!

About two months ago my partner and I adopted a 3 year old female spoodle. She is settling in so well, and is responding really well to her new environment, routine and rules. She's honestly a dream come true.

Before we adopted her, she was a breeding dog, and had had 2 x litters before we adopted her. Her last litter was in May 2019. She is now desexed.

There is one small behavioural problem that I would love some advice on though - thanks in advance for reading and weighing in.

She is wonderful at the dog park, social, friendly, alerts other dogs when she's feeling overwhelmed or needs some space, but is never aggressive. The only issue (that has become more of a problem in the past 2-3 weeks) is her love of small dogs that look similar to the puppies she gave birth to. 

She bolts after them and often uses her nose to throw them over onto their backs. She barks and growls at them, and generally treats them like they are her puppies. This isn't too much of a problem with the dogs and owners we know at the park, who call her "Mumma dog" and know that she will never hurt them, but obviously can be really distressing for other dog owners who don't know what she is doing.

It's stressful for my partner and I, because we of course fear that she might hurt the small pups accidentally. It's also the only time where she won't respond to our calls for her to "heel" or "gentle" which work really well when she's too excited around us.

Recently, we have put her on her lead straight away when she displays this behaviour, make her sit and repeat "No, Gentle" but it doesn't seem to be working for her.

Any ideas about what we can do moving forward would be greatly appreciated! I don't want her to scare other pups and their owners again, but also understand that she might miss her role as a Mum a lot - poor thing.

Thanks in advance :)

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Most Mumma dogs are happy to see the back of the little sh!ts :rofl: I would advise not letting her off lead at all if you see dogs that may cause your dog to react in such a way. It is very rude behaviour and she will meet a dog who will not like it and react. She will also meet the dog that will get a big fright and be ruined by your dog. If she had a litter in May then they should have all been together for 6 - 8 weeks. Then it should  have been another 2 months before she was desexed. I'm guessing you have not actually had her very long at all, if so, then yes her recall would not be 100% reliable yet. I'd be working on her recall and her general manners and not be waiting for her to flip other dogs over. If it looks like "That" type of dog is about to enter then you need to be proactive and leash her first. And you can't let her do it to some dogs, because they owners are ok with it, but not others. That's only confusing for her

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12 minutes ago, Rebanne said:

Most Mumma dogs are happy to see the back of the little sh!ts :rofl: I would advise not letting her off lead at all if you see dogs that may cause your dog to react in such a way. It is very rude behaviour and she will meet a dog who will not like it and react. She will also meet the dog that will get a big fright and be ruined by your dog. If she had a litter in May then they should have all been together for 6 - 8 weeks. Then it should  have been another 2 months before she was desexed. I'm guessing you have not actually had her very long at all, if so, then yes her recall would not be 100% reliable yet. I'd be working on her recall and her general manners and not be waiting for her to flip other dogs over. If it looks like "That" type of dog is about to enter then you need to be proactive and leash her first. And you can't let her do it to some dogs, because they owners are ok with it, but not others. That's only confusing for her

This!!    General rule of dog training ,,,, try not to let the dog practise behaviours you don't want to see again …. so I would not be taking her places where she can do this behaviour .. which as @Rebanne pointed out could be damaging to other dogs, and is not good for her.    And definitely keep working on her recall.... on a long line is a good idea to make sure she will have a high success rate … and as with training anything .. low distractions first, then increasing as she gets better.   High value rewards.   And remember she is only relatively new in your household and getting used to having freedoms she probably did not have before.   Just take it slowly as you get to really know each other.

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Rebanne has explained it very well . 
Your poor dog is still  basically in 'puppy rearing mode ' ... her body doesn't yet realise her life has changed. Everything has been quick ..and she hasn't caught up :(

please do not let her free run for some time . ...she doesn't 'need' it , if she is on a long line , and  also gets plenty of nice long walks where she can sniff :) This way the bond between you can be strengthened , training is made easier , and she can adjust to her new situation more safely  and smoothly . 
She doesn't 'need' to play with every dog she sees, either. 
YOU should be her main playmates now ..and some dogs you know and trust ...in a safe environment for a while . It would be awful if a fight was started because of her confused behaviours :( It IS rude behaviour ..for dogs and other owners ..and is your responsibility  to control  in case she gets in trouble :)

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It’s rude behaviour and just because some owners are ok with it doesn’t mean you should let it happen . She will pick on the wrong dog and a fight will happen and in a dog park that’s a disaster as every dog in there will join in . 

What Pers said , put her on a long line and take her to open spaces and work on recall , she doesn’t need to go to dog parks to have fun . 

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Totally unacceptable behaviour, no matter what you think is causing it.  I disagree that she's acting like a mother dog personally and it's dangerous.  Not that i go to dog parks but if i did, i'd know enough to be telling you that you shouldn't be there until you have control of your dog's behaviour.  It's also a legal requirement and you could be fined and your dog declared menacing etc.    Stop going to the dog park and find a good dog trainer asap.

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