Celeste Issue

**Animalhouse26** · 12-16-2007, 09:48 PM

Ok, well as most of you know, I took in a Sharpei/Boxer maybe Pit Mix. She will be 2 on Valentines day. So, she is still quite young. Well, She is overall a good dog so far.. LOL! But, one thing I have never worked with before is.. She is good with the other dogs.. Not aggressive.. She just seems to play.. REALLY Rough.. and Doesn't know Signals.. has no Play Manners. Falise has done Several Warning growls, and Snapped at her Several times. Celeste gets these bursts of energy, and she just wants to play. I can tell it isn't anything aggressive. I Just think she was never taught the Manners she needs from another dog. And Possibly was taken away from her mom too young and didn't learn these. Or, it could very well be that she hasn't had a lot of other dog interaction. BUT, Don and I talked about it, and we are Both willing to do whatever it takes to make it work out. We love her VERY much! She is a total Sweetie.. and Has a Puppy attitude.. She likes to eat Dons Little Couch Pillow thing, She pulled my Blanket thing off the sofa and was dragging it around. She started trying to pick up my shoe.. LOL But, I just say "Uh huh " and she usually stops. She has picked up on her name Rather Fast. So, I know she is Smart, and can learn Very fast. But, I don't know how to handle the playing situation. I Watch Carefully, and when Falise gives her a warning growl or Snap she usually looks at me after.. so I Then Step in. I am trying to see if maybe Celeste will see her signal.. and then See me step in.. And maybe she will catch on that it isn't a good signal. I dunno. LOL! tyson tolerates all of her puppyness. He has only mumbled at her once. But Falise just isn't taking to her like I had Hoped. So, if anyone else has encountered this, that can give me some advice as to how to work with her on this.. Let me know. :-)

Also, we are talking about after the beginning of the year taking her to my friends Boarding Facility she works at. They do Doggy Daycare there.. and maybe she can grp up with another dog that will help her learn these manners. As I am worried Falise will end up hating her! And we don't want this!

**Animalhouse26** · 12-17-2007, 08:44 AM

No one?

**Varga** · 12-17-2007, 01:19 PM

I don't have any real advice since I've never really experienced this before.. But I think it sounds like you are on the right track. The only thing I can compare it to is how my dog Taggart sometimes wants to play with my cat Leo and because they don't "speak the same language" Leo can have a hard time telling him that he doesn't want to play.. So obviously that's when I step in and tell Taggart to stop it.
They get along pretty well though and most of the time they can play quite nicely with each other and Taggart is getting better and better at understanding "cat"

So yeah..
I would definitely continue to interfere every time Celeste tries to play with Falise and Falise doesn't want to. Hopefully Celeste will learn in time that a growl from Falise means no and she'll find something/someone else to play with.

**Giselle** · 12-17-2007, 03:47 PM

Actually, I would interfere less

Dogs are soooo good at communicating with each other; human interference is usually more burdensome than it is helpful. If you've ever watched certain puppies play, it can get VERY rough (dragging at the scruff, biting legs, pushing, 'punching', etc.). However, as soon as one puppy yelps, the playing will stop immediately - always. If not, then you need to step in. However, it sounds like Celeste knows this since you mentioned that she'll stop when the other dog yelps so I really wouldn't worry about it.

If there is a large age difference, like a 2 year old vs. an 8 year old, and your 8-year-old is starting to feel a little harassed, just separate them. Some elder dogs won't tolerate puppies and it's just best to physically separate them rather than put them together and hope Puppy "learns".

Good luck!

ETA: Some dogs will never like each other. Lucky doesn't like Giselle or Ivy, but it doesn't bother me. Ivy and Giselle love each other, so all is not lost. It's okay if Falise doesn't like Celeste. Dogs just have individual personalities and likes and dislikes

**Crikit** · 12-17-2007, 04:21 PM

I acutally work in a doggy daycare here in Calgary. Ours however is a different setup then most as well choose to leave the dogs alone. What we do is seperate them into play groups based on age, size, and play style and let them have a good time with minimal human interference. We've found that if the humans step in to the room to much (which yes we do have to do every now and then just to calm them down if they get to rowdy or to take the odd dog or two out) that they start looking to the people for cues how to behave.

For the most part we've found that when we leave the dogs alone they start to pick up the k9 body languge, at my work we've even had dogs who were under socialized who didn't know the proper languge. What we did with them was to put them in a seperate room with one or two really good dogs that have excellent communications skills (usually the ones that have grown up at the daycare) and let them have some solo time with them while we watch outside the door then gradually increase the number of dogs until they can be in with the main packs.

In other words the only time I would interfere would be if they were on the verge of bodily harm, k9 communication is the type of thing that the dogs have to pick up on their own, but it wouldn't hurt for her to go to doggy daycare where should would have a chance to get to meet different dogs maybe even some who have the same type of play style as her.

**Animalhouse26** · 12-17-2007, 06:27 PM

Thanks for the Advice. I got Celeste for the MAIN Reason to give someone for Falise to Play with. If she isn't going to play with her.. I will be sad!

haha She never yelps at her.. just growls, and snaps. There is No Playing with those two .. at all. :-/ tyson does a little bit, but that is it. Kay and I took her and Tyson to the Doggy park tonight, and there was a HUGE German shepard playing with Ty, and there was this Mix Blk dog playing with Celeste.. Growling*playful* from the other dog, and Lots of Play bows.. Celeste LOVED IT! Kiara,kays dog corrected her pretty Nicely when we were there, and she just kinda stayed clear. So, I guess I will just let things happen. I just don't want falise to hate her. Falise loves to play.. But for some reason Dogs that are OVER playful, annoy her.. :-(