angus behavior at 15 months - is it normal? - Page 1

hi, my dog (neutered) is 15 mo now and his play behavior w/our mal mix has gotten rougher than before. he grabs our female across the shoulders and sometimes the legs and has bitten hard enough to make her yelp. she weighs 55 lbs and he weighs ~90. if he does hurt her, she doesn't hesitate to nail him and sometimes won't play for awhile. he never "pursues" her after this and he has never bared his teeth or growled or anything like that. is this just normal and should i let our female, claire, take care of it on her own? she is spayed, and is the dominant of our dogs. thanks for any input. i don't want to discipline for normal stuff, but i don't want to let it go if its wrong. i'd ask my breeder, but her office help took some days off and she wont get to her email for awhile. (i think the office help will be getting a raise  when she gets back!) so, any and all advice is welcome.

Well, certainly a 15 month old is going to show the puppy playing and teasing games. But, he is getting too old to keep that up.

I don't know either dog to know if one is being just dominant or playing.

He probally is just playing and her being a girl, he is going to show off. He probally is happy to be with the female, but is having a hard time knowing how to behave.

And if he is hurting her, then it is time to step in and give him a ball. Or maybe take him for a long walk without her company. Maybe he has way too much time on his hands.  The best thing to do is properly teach him how to behave and that can be very easy.

If the play gets too hard, just make a loud noise with your hands/or object. Then, when he stops the unwanting behavior, praise him right away. Pet his head or side and say goood booyyyy.  Repeat this til he stops. Innocent rough housing could lead to other fights more severe.

Good luck

thanks, i sometimes do pretty much what you recommended. he has just recently started this behavior. i will really watch this and correct it w/distractions. it has been pretty warm here and today was around the 100's, so i have to wait to take him for a walk and play, plus we're doing some relandscaping in our front yard and he is getting less attention, so maybe thats a part of it too. he has always been a very sweet boy; i'm trying to get him into therapy dog training, and this has me a bit concerned. thanks.