She-Ra the bully

[torchsong]

Lately my parent-in-laws have been joining my wife and I on our nightly walk with She-Ra at our favorite park that's equidistant to all of us. My brother-in-law and his wife join us as well, bringing along their miniature Schnauzzer, who's still a puppy. Six people walking two dogs…fun, eh? :) Still, it's great fun and we all get exercise and the dogs get a loooong walk in the process.

Problem is, She-Ra often mistakes Abigail, the Schnauzzer, for something fun to chase, so you get the She-Ra/Abigail 500. To her credit, Abigail knows to go submissive and lay down when She-Ra gets right up to her. NOT to her credit, Abigail waits until She-Ra walks off and takes a pot-shot at her almost every time. It's play, I know, and Abigail seems to want She-Ra to chase her half the time, but I worry about her getting too aggressive, and so do the in-laws.

We've done all kinds of things like letting She-Ra take point and walk ahead, in wide open areas of the park I take her for an out-and-out run while the rest of the group walks the little dog. However, at some point both dogs have to be together, so I'm wondering if anyone knows some tricks outside of what we already do (keeping her on a short leash, separating the two, etc.).

It's not a horrible thing, but I don't want our in-laws afraid to bring their dog around our dog. At the same time, to be perfectly honest, it's also made me appreciate the walks where its just me and the wife. Hee hee :)

[tanza]

IMO, pretty typical… and as long as the puppy is not worried about it... I wouldn't be.... What exactly do you mean by pot shot?

[sharronhurlbut]

I think once this pup grows up, your b will be in for the chase of her life!
It does sound like the doggie signals for stop are working.
Is there any type of biting or wound?

[Janneke]

Mirtillo did this at puppytraining… scared some of the other owners.. One with a Yorkie didn't like us at ALL.. (so we didn't like her ;))

Now we're with the BIG dogs :D

[wizard]

I'm guessing this is not a dog park so you can't just loose them to play.
Let them work it out between themselves at the park, which is neutral territory. Sounds like they are becoming buddies and not aggressive. Some dog owners don't understand dog play vs. dog aggrsssion.

[torchsong]

Yeah, there's been no wounding, but the in-laws are just worried about the bullying. I'll let them know what you've said here.

The pot shots are funny…the schnauzzer waits until She-Ra walks off and then does an "Air Jordan" type jump at her back, which of course starts the chase all over again...

[tanza]

@torchsong:

Yeah, there's been no wounding, but the in-laws are just worried about the bullying. I'll let them know what you've said here.

The pot shots are funny…the schnauzzer waits until She-Ra walks off and then does an "Air Jordan" type jump at her back, which of course starts the chase all over again...

Sounds perfectly normal to me