Harley playing with entire male

So we are at the park and a friend turns up with an entire cocker spaniel pup named Percy,approx 6 months old.

Harley and Percy start playing as usual, nothing unusual. After approx 10 mins, I notice Harley acting more aggressive than usual. He was not letting Percy up and growling at him, and then started biting Percy aggressively making him yelp. He then started trying to hump him.

First time Harley has acted this way but I also think this is the first entire male he has played with. Does this have anything to do with his Behaviour??????

I'm sure Harley would have been aware that Percy was a younger dog and probably just got a bit carried away in his play with him. Maybe Harley wanted Percy to play a bit rougher than he was I dont really know. Try keeping Harley on his lead for initial introductions in future and see how things go like that. Hope it all works out for you.

I would agree with Kathy, in that Harley recognised the spaniel as a pup and was saying "stay in place in the pecking order, sonny boy". There would probably have been messages in the play between the two (un-noticed by humans unless you are sharply looking for them) whereby Harley thought that the spaniel (as a younger dog) was getting just a bit too big for his boots.

The humping thing would be a sign that Harley is demonstrating his dominance - another thing dominant dogs will do is "stand over" the other dog and put a paw/leg over the other dog's shoulders or back.

I'm not convinced myself whether either dog being entire or not has anything to do with it, but it's more about where each dog perceives himself (or herself!) to be in the "pack".

In the old days when we could all let our dogs romp together, whether young or old, the pecking order in the pack would be sorted out between them without too much aggro. And the younger dogs would learn some manners from the older dogs.

As things are nowadays, I would do as Kathy says and be just a bit careful the next time these two dogs meet.

Good luck

I agree with Kathy as well. Here is a link that will help in understanding body language

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

Thanks for that, that article is quite interesting. One thing Harley does is roll on his back when he plays with his friends, I thought he was a big chicken LOL. It all makes sense now as he is quite dominant and plays rough and as the article states this may be a way of coaxing the other dogs to play with him. I will def keep an eye on him for the behaviours mentioned in the article.

On another note we may be getting Harley a friend. We think he will benefit from having another dog with him. Do you think 7 months is a good age to introduce another dog into the family? I dare say Harley will be the boss.

I have to say I personally don't think it is a good idea.. 2 years of age is what most will recomend to introduce a new pup.. It is another one of those personal choice things I guess, that a lot of thought needs to go into.. Many have done it with success, but many more have tried and failed or at the least regretted doing it while 1st dog is still so young.. There are quite of few on here who have been successful and they will be able to give advice but I'm sure one thing they all agree on is it's a whole lot of work..

I think I would wait until he is at least two. We want a second as well but Suki still has some behaviour issues we are working through before she is ready to be a good big sister.

I would wait a while longer too before introducing another dog to the family. Two years is a good recommended gap I would go along with this too.

Cool. Thanks for the advice guys, we are gonna sit back and enjoy our boy and revisit when he is a little older and wiser.... We hope. Lol.