Snarling

Just got back from our morning walk and am a bit alarmed at Bacchus' behaviour.

We came across a young springer spaniel, not quite full grown, which was showing submissive behaviour towards Bacchus and he became quite excitable, nipping and quite aggressive sounding snarling. Later in the walk we met a full grown beagle bitch and although it was behaving normally he displayed the same behaviour.

I doubt it was aggression at his age ( 16 weeks ) but it did sound quite alarming to me ( first time staffie owner ) and also I would imagine to the other dog owners. No one said anything but I'm not sure how to handle this situation should it happen again. Should I reprimand him for this sort of behaviour and if so how?

BTW there were about five or six dogs, all off-lead including Bacchus, except for the springer and all but the springer and the beagle were much bigger than him. He played well with the others especially a collie called Megan who knocked him about quite a bit.
Any advice appreciated.

P.S.

He is gowing at a terrific rate and I will post some more pics when we get back to Aberdeen next Tuesday. ( we are in Glasgow at the moment ).

what was his body langauge like? did he do the play bow? Laska makes some horrid noises when she plays.
it sounds a bit like as the two other dogs were on lead and unable to play and not showing any intrest in playing he may have been simply goading them into it.

Staffords can be very vocal when they play. As Nathan says, what was the body language like?

The link below should help you recognise the body language. They can be very vocal in play too. I doubt at this age if it was aggression :

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

No he wasn't doing the bowing thing, he was lunging at them. Only the springer was on the lead. With the beagle he was grabbing her ears even although she " told him off" a couple of times.

I'm pretty sure it was only rough play but I would like to know how to handle it, as this is fine at the moment when he is small, but don't want people and their dogs avoiding him when he grows.

Have started attending staffie puppy classes so will be interested to see how he behaves at the next class.

When he was lunging, were his lips drawn right back from his teeth, with his ears flat back against his head? If not, then he was almost certainly playing.

But as you say, a lot of people won't see it that way, so if it seems like he's getting a bit rough, step in & get him to calm down a bit on lead before being allowed to play again.

Molly sounds like a little gremlin when shes playing with our other dog Watson sometimes.

We've tried to curb it primarily because it doesn't look too good having a snarling staffy pup lol but to be honest I'm not worried as hers is all play! When it gets a bit too much we just step in and make the pair of them sit, for a good treat of course!

I've owned lots of dogs previously and the noise Molly makes when playing is definately a party trick belonging to staffs!

Loki doesn't make any noises when playing, but he is a little beast he used to be so rude; he used to dive at the other dogs to play with them, literally not even a sniff first. After a few tellings off (nothing physical, just a couple of warning growls), and a few dogs being very annoyed at him, he learnt to actually show some manners. Not that I'd suggest you just let Bacchus get told off cos you don't know what the other dog will do, but if it looks like he's getting too rough or annoying the other dog, take him away, even for just a moment.

Thanks guys. I do think it was just rough play but he needs to learn some manners. will work on it.

Hi Reuben

Tash does this too but it is all playing, not so much the snarling noise but that has come out too, but the nipping and the going for dogs ears. she got a right telling off from a collie who was protecting his labrador friend, he growled at her and then when she went submissive he put his paw on her back till she calmed down and then appeared to kiss her face and they both went off playing. Very cute.

Its very scary but most dogs will put them in their place. I put her back on teh lead if she is getting too boisterous with other dogs.

jules