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28 Posts
I want to start out by thanking all of you for the education you've given me about poodle behavior and health. I love reading the posts and am grateful that I found this wonderful group of people.
Charlie is 18 months and his "cousin," a spaniel is about the same age, and weighs 40 lbs to Charlie's 22. When they get together to play in the yard or in the house (2-3 times a week), Charlie is always the aggressor: Gunnar lets him chew on his ears, he'll roll on his back while Charlie stands over him, and they do a lot of wrestling, tails-up type of play. When they're first together they race around the yard, and Charlie growls the whole time as he tries to bite at Gunnar. After 5-10 minutes of racing around they become companions, checking out the smells and strolling around until they get their second wind and start it all over again.
Charlie is a calm sweet, obedient dog with people, and only play growls with people during tug of war. He allows me to take away any prize he's guarding without any aggression. But I've never owned a dog who wants to be the alpha with other dogs.
My question is, is this normal behavior? My daughter just got a 2nd dog, a puppy and she has a 16-year-old 12-lb Chihuahua mix. Charlie knows to leave the old girl alone because she won't put up with it, but will I have to discipline him if he wants to play rough? The puppy is a golden retriever, right now 12 lbs but will someday be much bigger. My daughter is thinking of coming home for Christmas and I want to be prepared!
Charlie is 18 months and his "cousin," a spaniel is about the same age, and weighs 40 lbs to Charlie's 22. When they get together to play in the yard or in the house (2-3 times a week), Charlie is always the aggressor: Gunnar lets him chew on his ears, he'll roll on his back while Charlie stands over him, and they do a lot of wrestling, tails-up type of play. When they're first together they race around the yard, and Charlie growls the whole time as he tries to bite at Gunnar. After 5-10 minutes of racing around they become companions, checking out the smells and strolling around until they get their second wind and start it all over again.
Charlie is a calm sweet, obedient dog with people, and only play growls with people during tug of war. He allows me to take away any prize he's guarding without any aggression. But I've never owned a dog who wants to be the alpha with other dogs.
My question is, is this normal behavior? My daughter just got a 2nd dog, a puppy and she has a 16-year-old 12-lb Chihuahua mix. Charlie knows to leave the old girl alone because she won't put up with it, but will I have to discipline him if he wants to play rough? The puppy is a golden retriever, right now 12 lbs but will someday be much bigger. My daughter is thinking of coming home for Christmas and I want to be prepared!