[dt7624]

I was wondering what some of your thoughts were on rough play in puppy class. I have a 4 month standard, Lucy, and we just started our 2nd series of puppy classes. The class was recommended by the vet and we've been very happy up to now. In the last of the first series of Puppy 1 classes, there was a lab which was a little bigger than Lucy that was playing very rough, knocking her over backwards, etc. and eventually knocked my grandson over so hard that you could hear his head hit the floor. One of the instructers was watching the puppies play and said that Lucy got up and still played so it was okay. The classes were over for that session, so I figured we wouldn't see the rougher dog again. Lucy played very well with the other dogs and especially liked playing with a Bernice Mountain dog. Well, we started the 2nd series of Puppy 2 class and during free play the dogs were divided into 2 groups - Lucy being 1 of 3 of the bigger dogs. There was a much rougher dog in the group of 3 that prevented Lucy and the other dog from playing and kept jumping on top and trapping Lucy and the other dog. The instructor kept saying to take a break when this happened and then to let the dogs play. The dogs couldn't play but a few seconds without this dog playing very rough and jumping on top & trapping Lucy and the other and having to take a break. Finally, I pulled Lucy out from under this dog and said that she'd had enough. The instructor acted like this was okay for this behavior and said that Lucy still played so she was fine. To me, it seems like this will make Lucy either aggresive or become scared of some dogs and shouldn't be dominated until she won't be around the dogs. I remember a vet once tell me that you can make a dog mean. If this happens again next week, I'm going to talk to the instructor. I was just wondering what other's have experienced and what your thoughts were. Thanks and sorry this is so long!

 

[dt7624]

Thanks for everyone's input! I agree that the puppies should play and learn through the other puppies yelping and set boundaries. There was a little of this during the first Puppy 1 class. This play was more than the normal jumping and tumbling and putting each other in line. The instructor did keep calling a break so the rough puppy could settle down. I'll wait and see what happens in the next few weeks and if I'm not comfortable I guess I'll talk with the instructor. Lucy seems to love dogs so much, I just don't want that to change!