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Cleo has been friends with a golden retriever, a male, same age (8 months old) since they met in puppy class. They've been playing together regularly outside of class in our backyards for a couple of months.
They also play together briefly during a supervised playtime at the start of class each week--for maybe 5-10 minutes with short breaks. These are one-on-one play sessions in a class with 6-8 dogs, with dividers set up between play areas in a large training ring.
For the past couple weeks in class, we've had to interrupt their playtime quickly b/c the golden is mouthing Cleo too aggressively--he grabbed her ear too hard and also hung on to her topknot when she clearly wanted him to stop, and he was growling in a way that was not playful and frankly the whole thing was a bit alarming from an otherwise very friendly dog. We separated them and gave them a break on the assumption that the golden was just overstimulated by all the dogs in class (there are a lot of males in the class, though at least one is neutered, the golden is not, and of course Cleo is not yet spayed). I could see that Cleo was uncharacteristically reluctant to play with him again after they were separated. Who could blame her?
Nothing like this has ever happened at our home playdates, they play beautifully for hours! I wonder if it's the presence of other male dogs and all the smells in the training ring. After the first time this happened in class, we were very vigilant during the backyard playdate to make sure nothing like that was happening, and it didn't -- but the next time in class it seemed even worse. Should I worry that the behavior might spill over into our backyard playdates? Or is playing in the training ring just a really bad idea?
They also play together briefly during a supervised playtime at the start of class each week--for maybe 5-10 minutes with short breaks. These are one-on-one play sessions in a class with 6-8 dogs, with dividers set up between play areas in a large training ring.
For the past couple weeks in class, we've had to interrupt their playtime quickly b/c the golden is mouthing Cleo too aggressively--he grabbed her ear too hard and also hung on to her topknot when she clearly wanted him to stop, and he was growling in a way that was not playful and frankly the whole thing was a bit alarming from an otherwise very friendly dog. We separated them and gave them a break on the assumption that the golden was just overstimulated by all the dogs in class (there are a lot of males in the class, though at least one is neutered, the golden is not, and of course Cleo is not yet spayed). I could see that Cleo was uncharacteristically reluctant to play with him again after they were separated. Who could blame her?
Nothing like this has ever happened at our home playdates, they play beautifully for hours! I wonder if it's the presence of other male dogs and all the smells in the training ring. After the first time this happened in class, we were very vigilant during the backyard playdate to make sure nothing like that was happening, and it didn't -- but the next time in class it seemed even worse. Should I worry that the behavior might spill over into our backyard playdates? Or is playing in the training ring just a really bad idea?