Jumping on other dogs while playing.

I was just thinking if I should stop that. When we in the park and Debo plays with other dogs,he most of the time jumps on their back lik his trying to dominate them,they never let him to do it for long always corect him. Should day step in and stop the play or let them deal with it? What I do in the moment ,when he does it to much I just pull him down,saying "down" "no". But I always make sure that they don't do it him either.

I have to say , not as an expert , but from personal experience , I think you have to judge the situation on its merits. Fact is staffys can play very rough and if the other dog is happy to play rough I really can't see a problem. The crux of it is whether we are talking about existing buddies or new introductions. These days if I see other dogs they both go on the lead straight away so Tommy doesn't get too excited and do a runner with the other dog so never get the channce apart from when I am out with Tilly on her own. When me and Tilly are out new dogs are generally introduced on the lead and I take a measure of the owner. If we are talking other staffys and bigger I don't have a problem as they can generally handle Tilly play it's the smaller ones to look out for as I also think littler dogs can sometimes have that little man syndrome and tend to be a l;ittle more unpredictable, and I think it's a fact that a lot (and I don't mean all by no means) of little dogs don't get good solid training because they are generally much more easy to handle

We are talking playing and when I see that the other dog has enough,I remove Debo from the play,when meeting new dogs Debo first sniff and then jump( both always on lead) I always correct him. So if they playing and their body saying "yep,it's game" ,then just leave them?

I think so , when people having seen Staffy play before it can be quite daunting but like I said if everyone's happy and you and the other owner are in control of the play then there is no wrong in it, should see our 2 when they get started but they both keep coming back to each other for more and if there is any serious gruumps going on it's stopped immediately

As long as both handlers are comfortable with the level of play it's not an issue unless you are talking about humping which is a sign of dominance and should be discouraged. They tend to play very rough and play can often be mistaken for aggression. Here is a link that will help explain what to look for.

http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/dogbodylanguage.html

We went to the park yesterday,there were german sheperd adult, a puppy and husky adult. Debo started to play with the adult sheperd,then the rest joyed in. Debo quickly noticed that the puppy is not confident so he started jumping,pulling his tail. I took Debo on the side to calm him down for 10sec and it worked! He just played with the adult dogs and everytime he tryed to jump on the puppy,I said "no" ,he left the puppy alone.

Glad to hear Debo did so well

jola139 wrote:I was just thinking if I should stop that. When we in the park and Debo plays with other dogs,he most of the time jumps on their back lik his trying to dominate them,they never let him to do it for long always corect him. Should day step in and stop the play or let them deal with it? What I do in the moment ,when he does it to much I just pull him down,saying "down" "no". But I always make sure that they don't do it him either.

Every pup or young dog I have had has done this, Cyril and Dolly still will if they can get away with it, like the other dogs mine correct them, they rarely do this now. Your dog is not being dominant, he is just being a dog.

Depending on the dog I would continue to let them correct him, he will learn a lot quicker from other dogs than us, the problem comes if you don't know how the dog will behave, there are a few who will really object to it so don't let him near strange dogs if you think he will do this untill he stops.

The puppy didn't correct him,he was really scared and run away from him

I've no objection to an adult telling a pup off (as long as that's all it is, and not aggression) but it's a little different with pups, especially one that's smaller, less confident than yours.

I think you did the right thing by taking him to the side & letting him calm down a bit.

jola139 wrote:The puppy didn't correct him,he was really scared and run away from him

Sorry, as you didn't say it was a pup I assumed it was an adult dog, it is always dangerous to assume.

With pups you have to step in and stop him, another pup can't teach him how to be a dog because they are learning themselves, this is one of the reasons I don't like puppy classes, the confident pups learn how to be bullies and the nervous one learn that there is something to be frightened of. A well run class that doesn't allow this is very good but there are not many of these.

Loki does this with his best friend Buster a lot, but I think he's just playing, climbing onto the dog's back and everything. If he gets out of line, he'll growl at Loki, Loki will take a few steps back, and then they'll get back to playing again. He's never done it will a puppy or small dog, but I've never let him play properly with a small dog because I doubt the owner would like his playfulness lol but I agree with what everyone said in that if it's a puppy and he's getting too boisterous or annoying the other one, just take him away or at least make him sit and wait a few moments to calm down.

Happy to that did the right thing and it worked. With adult dogs I don't correct him,but with pupps,when they do stressed I do. Don'twant Debo to think that he can do anything,that he's in charge.