Pinning down small dogs......help!

[athomas520]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this site and im hoping to gain some knowledge and help while raising my dog. I have a 10 month old GSD import and also an 8 month old Doberman.....both males.........these two are best friends and love playing with each other all day everyday.

My problem is Noah, my GSD, has developed some dominance over small dogs and it always seems to be a problem with the other dog owners. Noah loves to chase balls or small dogs that run. The problem is when Noah catches them, even after a long chase he will flip the dog and pin him/her on its back and what looks to be him biting the dog but ive noticed by looking closely many times he's just grabbing their scruff.....Its scary to me because it looks like he's shaking the dog.....but he has never drawn blood or hurt a dog. Normally the small dog squeals or yelps but i think its out of fear. Is this the nature of having a GSD? He only does it with small dogs and it seems to me he LOVES the chase and catching the reward.

What can i do to correct this situation. The small dog owners definitely aren't happy and yell and escalate the situation. Other than that my two dogs play great with other big dogs.

Any help would be awesome!

[wolfy dog]

This is my advice. You need to keep your dogs under voice control and brush up their obedience. As soon as they or you see a small dog you need to call them back to you, work them to get their attention off the small dogs. It is irresponsible to allow or give them the opportunity to traumatize small dogs and their owners. This gives the GSD and Dobie a bad reputation. You can end up with stiff fines from dog control as well.

[athomas520]

so i should avoid dog parks all together then??

[MaggieRoseLee]

Originally Posted by athomas520

so i should avoid dog parks all together then??

You should avoid dog parks until you know you can call your dog off chasing other smaller dogs. Too exciting and overstimulating and a small dog can easily get hurt even just from too much playing.

MANNERS and polite behavior needs to be expected from our dogs. And managing them so they know what is acceptable (and not) is key. Early intervention before it gets out of control. And if you haven't been able to start up classes yet to teach the reliable 'come' and working thru distractions then it's a good time to start.

So yes, no dog parks UNTIL you can control your dog. Just not fair to the others. May mean when the little dogs show up you have to leave, or figuring out a time when there are few (no?) dogs there.

[mebully21]

definitely no dog parks .. and since you have 2 males, just be prepared for when they mature that they decide they dont like each other. dobermans are known for same sex aggression especially with male/male..

[athomas520]

Ok thank you folks .......i was already leaning towards that decision as we have been avoiding dog parks anyways due to a bulldog the tearing open my dobies shoulder about a month ago.....we will definitely be working on training and obedience....... they really are great dogs...... its only the chase that stimulates my GSD ....thanks again