Is my puppy rude?
Hello NK members,
I've been reading various topics in this forum, and has been very helpful since I got my puppy(his name is Kai (海)) last October. He is 5 month old. He has been on raw diet since I got him from day 1, half-crate trained(I don't lock the door. He is willing to stay inside with command), and on his boomerang tag. He is quite friendly with dogs and strangers, sometime makes me think that he may not be a good guard dog. He just started taking his first obedience training.
I started taking him to dog parks from last week so that he can play with other dogs freely. I notice that he chooses his favorite, and walks side by side for a while, then tries to mount or puts his front paws on the dog. He seems to choose old medium size dogs to do this behavior. He doesn't care if the dog burks/growls at him. My question is, is my puppy rude? Should I stop him, let's say after trying three or four times? How can I redirect his behavior? Couple of dog owners were irritant with his behavior(following and mounting, I think). He doesn't do this to every dog, though.
I've been reading various topics in this forum, and has been very helpful since I got my puppy(his name is Kai (海)) last October. He is 5 month old. He has been on raw diet since I got him from day 1, half-crate trained(I don't lock the door. He is willing to stay inside with command), and on his boomerang tag. He is quite friendly with dogs and strangers, sometime makes me think that he may not be a good guard dog. He just started taking his first obedience training.
I started taking him to dog parks from last week so that he can play with other dogs freely. I notice that he chooses his favorite, and walks side by side for a while, then tries to mount or puts his front paws on the dog. He seems to choose old medium size dogs to do this behavior. He doesn't care if the dog burks/growls at him. My question is, is my puppy rude? Should I stop him, let's say after trying three or four times? How can I redirect his behavior? Couple of dog owners were irritant with his behavior(following and mounting, I think). He doesn't do this to every dog, though.
Comments
I would redirect the behavior and work on "off." If your puppy is nice, the other dog may not be, especially if he growls at him. How old is he? He may just need socialization in a less stress free environment before dog parks.
So, if puppy ignores the other dogs' warning repeatedly, be prepared to see puppy get bitten and the humans get nasty. I like Joe's idea of re-directing the behavior to do "off" better.
Not all older dogs know their manner either. We started our JA pup w/ an off leash puppy 2 class last November, she was almost 5-month-old at that time and have been going to daycare for a month. There was a 9-month-old JRT that kept coming at our JA's face during play, ours didn't like it and barked/growled for him to back off, but he kept coming back for more. It was kind of scary sounding to hear my pup growl but the instructor said our pup has all the rights to tell off another dog, and told the JRT's owner to give her dog a time out when he ignores other dog's cues to back off.
@cdenney and @hondru Yes, that's why I started taking my puppy to dog parks for him to learn manners. Sniffing each other during regular walk was just not enough for my puppy to interact with other dogs. I saw other dogs are off leash, but I am afraid to do same in our neighborhood, too many wild animals and narrow streets.
I do see the point what @rikumom said, though. "Off" command! Thank you for good suggestion @Zinja. Mine is Kurotora, Kai Ken.
I tried two dog parks, one with fenced and the other without(surrounded with town lake instead of fence). I really like the one near lake because it's spacious and very beautiful.... but I think I had better choose fenced dog park because it's small, and there is usually only a few dogs are around, so I can keep close eye on my puppy, and owners were all friendly.
I hate it when my dog jumps other dogs because he gets so intense and I can see that he is stressed and not doing it for the funsies.. besides, I wouldn't like other dogs raping my dog, so I try to keep it the other way as well.
The $$ dog botiques like wylie wag or what may be near you sometimes do regular little dog socials on Sundays after hours. Even though Sachi outweighs the largest by several pounds (6-8) I made sure she could come and that way you can do a controlled setting meet (plus its facilitated for free by their trainer). So try seeing what your local dog shops offer in the way of free events as another option.
Another option is talk to the other owners in the obedience class, see if they would be interested in meeting up at the dog park, so at least Kurotora has a core set of dogs he see regularly for obedience and social/play. 5-month-old is right around the time they start teething, so I found it was helpful to have other puppy of similar age to wrestle play and gnaw. Older dogs don't necessarily want to be gnawed on by puppy.
Some suggested readings on dog park (I think @poeticdragon posted these at one time)
http://www.badrap.org/dog-parks
http://leerburg.com/dogparks.htm
http://www.blogpaws.com/2011/01/the-dog-park-craze-the-good-the-bad-and-the-sometimes-ugly.html
www.apdt.com/petowners/park/docs/DogParks_King.pdf
Yoshiko, your pup sounds normal for its age and breed.