Teaching Gentle

[ParkerJames]

My boy Parker is now 17 months old. My brother just got a 3 month old beagle mix. I believe he may be mixed with pit, or maybe more then two mixes. Parker isn't aggressive with him but he plays sorta rough. Just like how a big brother rough house with a little sibling. Anyways Parker grabs Liam's neck but without clamping down. I think he is establishing dominance. He isn't hurting Liam or else Liam would squeal since he squealed scared just when Parker run up to him. I want to teach Parker to play gentle with Liam. Especially since Liam is a smaller breed dog then Parker.

[Snowshoe]

Parker sounds like he is being a good big brother and I don't see a need to teach him Gentle, he appears to already know it. You say he doesn't clamp down, he IS being gentle. If Liam goes back for more he isn't hurt or traumatized and is learning some good lessons. I'd let them both be, but supervise.

A little bit of dominance in this situation is ok, I think. The older, bigger, first dog in the household is entitled to be the boss. If Liam rebels a bit when he gets older then you might have a problem, now I don't think you do.

I like your analogy with human brothers, I use it too. Human brothers can hurt each other but it's a mistake, they didn't mean to. Dogs will do that as well. The odd squeal isn't a big concern. Mean sounding growling and a cowering puppy is a concern. I think you can judge the difference between play and mean, you sound pretty good at observation.

[SunDance]

It sounds to me, too, like he knows how to be gentle.

I'll post this pic that people here have seen a gazillion times but it says it all. In the pic on the right, look at the face on the big dog....fierce, huh?....and the obvious glee reflected by the position of the small one. Brutus was about 10 years old and Hershey somewhere north of 9 weeks, but not by much. Best buds. We got Bru when he was about three and in the seven years we'd had him, I don't think he was ever around a puppy....at least not to play with. Instinct.

[barry581]

If you ever saw Bruce and Sophie playing bitey face you'd think they were killing each other. They seem to take turns being the Alpha, and both instigate play pretty even. When I've had enough, I give them both a touch and tell them firmly "that's enough". That will usually stop it for a while. Now that Bruce is about the same size as Sophie I don't worry as much about him getting hurt, so I'll let them play pretty hard when they are outside. It's something they both really have fun with, and it bleeds off a lot of energy!