Considering a muzzle for playtime...

get a third dog:lol:
seriously, you can not teach one dog to stand up for himself, it is possible that he will eventually but not by learning it from humans. In your own terms you need to demonstrate you are the alpha b!@#$ in the family and all games are done by your rules. If you see one dog hanging on the tail of another way too long, stop the behavior. Recall. Initiate another game, play ball, hide and seek, release for another round of play. There is no science here, just common sense.
 
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When I saw that video I was like that is Summer (sheltie) and Emily (GSD) :lol: THey are both young 1 y/o and 8 months. That is exactly how they play. At first Summer would just let her do it, now she is starting to fight back a little. If it gets to bad I will call Emily to me, but for the most part I let them work it out on their own. I have noticed that all of my dogs had that tail pulling phase when they were younger, but they do seem to grow out of it. Dusty used to do it all the time, but at 3 y/o he no longer bothers to pull anyones fur.

Maybe for now just keep Little Bear on a long leash that way you can grab him if he gets too rough, or keep his mouth busy with a ball or frisbee. I honestly wouldnt muzzle him. Some dogs become more aggressive if you take away their ability to defend themselves.
 
Yes we play all sorts of games together, and he's got great recall during bad behavior-stops instantly. But I will never get this possession issue out if him. He won't play tug of war with me-nothing along those lines it's weird because Claussen loves tug of war. And I've noticed weird dominating behavior from Claussen especially with my friends Aussie. He doesn't hurt him but shouts at him-I caught some on film one day for analyzation..,wondering if it's BC he's making up for feeling so low at home? Little Bear is the exact opposite in this siuation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEmOY-ThwrA&feature=plcp
 
DanteBella85 said:
So, Little Bear is so incredibly fast and agile that when Claussen tries to run around doing his zoomies, he's overtaken and having fur ripped out of his tail and sides-anywhere really-by Little Bear...He won't ever let Claussen retrieve a ball I throw. To fix that, I've trained him to stay when I say "this is for Claussen" and he will sit there while I throw the ball for Claussen to retrieve.

Bottom line, Little Bear is obviously the alpha. Claussen is alpha at the dog park with other dogs, but not at home.
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DanteBella85 said:
Little Bear is very well behaved on leash, and he does get time outs for being too aggressive. But it's just like with his barking...he feels the need to control Claussen-regardless of what I say or do.
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Little Bear has a bossy personality, plain and simple. He may even be a little insecure, which leads him to try and control everything. Its just like bully's in the playground. The kid who's bullying other kids is usually doing so because he's insecure in some way and needs to feel big by putting other's down.

I started this thread about Dominant personalities not too long ago. You may find it an interesting read if you didn't see it. It was very enlightening to me.

http://www.sheltieforums.com/showthread.php?t=14043

My Ginny does the exact same thing to Sadie that Little Bear does. Ginny will harass Sadie to death whenever she runs or is playing ball. She doesn't usually pull fur out but she incessantly barks and bites at her legs if I let her. Ginny also tries to control all interactions with and between my other two shelties and all resources. Ginny super sensitive and insecure and just can't seem to stand not being the center of attention all the time.

Since this is a huge part of Ginny's general personality, management is key.

I try to make sure that Sadie and Toby have running time without Ginny. I keep an eye on Ginny at all times to make sure she's not bullying the other dogs, Sadie especially. I bring a gentle leader with me to the park and put it on Ginny when she's being particularly annoying and not listening because she becomes so completely obsessed with bossing the other dogs. I don't like punishing her but some times its all that works.
 
PS - Toby isn't as tollerant as Sadie, who just takes what Ginny dishes out. When Ginny tries to bite Toby's legs during fetch, he'll often swerve away at the last second as she tries to bite, then jump on her head and roll her. Funniest thing I've ever seen! And just picture the indignant, insulted look on Ginny's face. :yuckyuck
 
OntarioSheltie said:
Little Bear has a bossy personality, plain and simple. He may even be a little insecure, which leads him to try and control everything. Its just like bully's in the playground. The kid who's bullying other kids is usually doing so because he's insecure in some way and needs to feel big by putting other's down.

I started this thread about Dominant personalities not too long ago. You may find it an interesting read if you didn't see it. It was very enlightening to me.

http://www.sheltieforums.com/showthread.php?t=14043

My Ginny does the exact same thing to Sadie that Little Bear does. Ginny will harass Sadie to death whenever she runs or is playing ball. She doesn't usually pull fur out but she incessantly barks and bites at her legs if I let her. Ginny also tries to control all interactions with and between my other two shelties and all resources. Ginny super sensitive and insecure and just can't seem to stand not being the center of attention all the time.

Since this is a huge part of Ginny's general personality, management is key.

I try to make sure that Sadie and Toby have running time without Ginny. I keep an eye on Ginny at all times to make sure she's not bullying the other dogs, Sadie especially. I bring a gentle leader with me to the park and put it on Ginny when she's being particularly annoying and not listening because she becomes so completely obsessed with bossing the other dogs. I don't like punishing her but some times its all that works.
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Well, fortunately I don't have this problem with ANY other dogs. Little Bear won't even try to take another dogs toy or boss them around. Just Claussen. Did you watch the video I posted with the Aussie? They completely reversed roles there lol!
 
DanteBella85 said:
Well, fortunately I don't have this problem with ANY other dogs. Little Bear won't even try to take another dogs toy or boss them around. Just Claussen. Did you watch the video I posted with the Aussie? They completely reversed roles there lol!
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That confirms my suspicions about Little Bear's insecurity. Ginny's the same way. She only bosses my shelties, Sadie especially. Ginny is very nervous of other dogs and wouldn't dare attempt to boss them.

Btw - VERY bad behavior on Claussen's part, with regard to the Aussie. Very inappropriate play. I would definitely step in there, before the Aussie gets tired of been flattened by Claussen. Its times like that that dog attacks can occur, if it keeps happening over and over.
 
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Also in the Aussie video, see when the Aussie watches Little Bear and Little Bear repeatedly looks away? That tells me that Little Bear isn't entirely sure of the Aussie and he doesn't look completely sure that he likes being jumped on.

That looks like insecurity to me. It also looks to me like Claussen may have stepped in to protect is friend. That he wasn't necessarily just being playful.

My three play fight but it never looks like that. I'd personally be more cautious when these three are together.
 
When my dogs "play" it is often difficult to tell that it is actually play.

The two of them wrastle all the time. They flip each other over, grab each other's ruffs and tails and shake and pull;7 turn each other but I never hear snarling, though they certainly both make aggressive sounding noises from time to time. Because no dog is the constant instigator and no dog is the constant "winner", Ive chosen to mostly to ignore this "play" and let them work it out.

However, if one of your dogs is constantly on top and winning the scrabbles, then, yes, you might need to step in.

This is a short video of my dogs "playing"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip5uPzUp2-s&feature=youtu.be
 
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