Why is my dog the fun police?
 

I recently decided to foster a dog. Him and my male aren't getting along, but that's actually not really relevant to my dog's problem. The female I'm taking care of was trying very, very hard to initiate play with the foster. Whenever the foster would respond and they would begin play, Chrono would intervene and break them up by either putting his body in between them and physically separating them, or barking in the face of one of them. He would also hover around them waiting to intervene, and mostly his presence alone prevented them from playing.

He does this at the dog park too, which isn't usually a problem because our dog parks are more like hiking trails so the dogs usually sniff and continue on and there actually isn't much playing. If a dog tries to play with him he tends to ignore them and it takes quite a bit of coercion before he'll play with them. If they try to play with my female he usually objects to it and immediately stops the play, or he hovers around waiting to intervene.

Sometimes he does this with other dogs that are playing with each other that he doesn't even know. Normal play he's okay with but if they are vocalizing like growling or barking, or if it's extremely physical and sort of resembles fighting, he'll make them stop playing with each other.

What kind of behavior is this?

German.

I know it's not helpful for me to say this.... but I find this very funny. Sorry.

I don't know.

I do know that the young dogs that will bark and carry on in class when a dog gets too excited, are doing it out of insecurity. What your dog is doing may be out of insecurity, but it can also be resource guarding. He may see the new foster as not a pack member and is denying access to pack members.

One of my dogs does this exact same thing, nobody can have any fun with him around. He is not a GSD though he is a spitz dog.

Still German. :rofl:

LOL touche

I used to have a dog like that (Ordnung must sein!) and I put him on a down stay since I am the one deciding who plays when and with whom.

Sounds like your male is being dominant, and like previously stated, denying access to pack members. Not unusual, my last GSD ignored my Lab and his antics, but when a female pup was introduced he was suddenly very dominant and would often roll her over and put her in a submissive position. Either you let them work it out like dogs will (assuming it wont get violent or aggressive) or you step in as alpha and correct your males behavior. I am of the mind to let them work it out under supervision, but they need to listen to me as well. You should work with both your male and the foster until the foster finds his place within the pack heirarchy.

LO

My boy does this, mostly just with my other dogs though. And the cats. I don't tolerate it. I will say 'hey', lean forward and make eye contact when I see him starting to posture towards the other dogs, if that doesn't stop him I will make him move away and if he still won't stop he gets put in a downstay. He's usually pretty good about stopping right away though. I have two unneutered males living together, a dominant border collie x and an american pit bull terrier. I do not allow them to choose who gets to do what, that is my choice to make. 3 of my dogs could do major damage in a fight and I don't ever want a little jealousy to cause my dogs getting hurt.
Very much a german thing hahaha. I find herding dogs in general like to control what is going on around them. If any body is acting what they feel is 'out of control', they feel the need to control it. I understand what motivates them to do it, but I did not ask my dogs to control each other, I will control them so it is not a behaviour I allow in my house. If I had sheep, he could go out there and make them stand still and have no fun all day if he wanted to. But I don't, and the other dogs aren't sheep, so he can't lol.