# 4 month old puppy aggression



## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Can you describe what the puppy does when they are playing? In most cases it is just playing, even though it looks and sounds like a battle. If the older pup is not protesting, I would let them sort it out as long as there is no bloodshed. I highly doubt the puppy is aggressive.

It sounds like lions killing each other when my dogs play, and it really is all in good fun.


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## Tuckerpuppylove (Jul 20, 2013)

His face is scrunched, shows his teeth. He doesn't get vocal until the older rotty (7 months 65 lbs) protests his mouthing him, then he gets irritated and when the rotty gives him a taste of his own medicine and throws his weight around, my pup gets nasty. Like barking that seems aggressive, and he goes after the rotty like he's mad, but only for a second and then the rotty backs off. It has escalated twice before and the golden (tucker) gets really excited and nasty, but then the rotty pup showed his teeth and barked asserting his dominance and tucker backed off completely. 


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## Tuckerpuppylove (Jul 20, 2013)

The thing is he keeps gnawing on the other pups face and when it escalates idk if its playful or not


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## Tuckerpuppylove (Jul 20, 2013)

It doesn't bother me he plays and gnaws on the pup, I think it irritates te other pups owner(my roommate and best friend) 


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Does it look like this? This is 100% play.


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## Tuckerpuppylove (Jul 20, 2013)

He does yeah. Bark gets higher pitched and he looks like he wants to eat the other pup. 


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

It really does sound like they are just playing to me. But anytime you don't like the level of play you can interrupt them. But I wouldn't worry about it being aggression at all.


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

Sounds like they're just playing. Puppies play rough and it sounds worse than it is.


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## Tuckerpuppylove (Jul 20, 2013)

My cause for concern is he's not a very submissive pup. Even as a 7-8 week old pup he hated to be submissive. On his back or Doug stuff he didn't want to. The only real time he gets nasty is if the rotty pup is over him in a dominant position, or when the rotty isn't letting him be dominant. It's just concerning Bc what happens when he is full grown 80 lbs?


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## Jaykay (Jul 20, 2013)

He doesn't need to be submissive. He just needs to be well trained. 

My border collie Skye, (60lbs) would never let anyone but me deliberately roll him on his back or stand over him (and he doesn't like it then) and he would certainly _never_ let another dog do it. Any dog who had tried has ended up on his back. 

Skye's the best trained dog I've ever had and is absolutely no problem. But he isn't a submissive animal at all, albeit second in the 'pack' to me - which has been achieved by training and co-operation between us, not unpleasantly 'dominating' behaviour from me.


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## Tuckerpuppylove (Jul 20, 2013)

So what you're saying is he has no aggression even now, just doesn't like to be submissive or stood over. How did you react when he got nasty if another dog (even as a puppy) was playing and tried to be over him or be dominant?


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## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

Tuckerpuppylove said:


> My cause for concern is he's not a very submissive pup. Even as a 7-8 week old pup he hated to be submissive. On his back or Doug stuff he didn't want to. The only real time he gets nasty is if the rotty pup is over him in a dominant position, or when the rotty isn't letting him be dominant. It's just concerning Bc what happens when he is full grown 80 lbs?
> 
> 
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I wouldn't worry too much about it. Puppies have a "license" with older and bigger dogs. When it expires the other dogs let them know. I think what you're watching is "bitey-face"--a very Golden form of play that looks pretty scary. You need to supervise anytime a puppy is playing with an older dog but my guess is that your dog just LIKES the rottie a lot and gets frustrated when he doesn't get the attention he wants. If you search for bitey face on GRF you'll find video, photos, and lots of discussion. 

What you're watching is in fact play fighting but doesn't really have much to do with dominance. My two tussle off and on all day but neither really dominates the other. I think it's more like practicing skills than anything like a real fight. Jmo.


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## Jaykay (Jul 20, 2013)

That sounds very sensible OutWest. 

What I was going to say is that one of the two dogs needs to be dominant - why not your pup, why must it be the other dog. 

But as OutWest says, maybe it's just playing. I think humans tend to see all dog behaviour in terms of dominance and pack hierarchy but a lot of the newer behaviour stuff I've been reading since I got Daisy doesn't go with that.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

If my dogs are playing too rough with each other or another dog, I break it up. I have seen innocent play escalate to full blown aggression.... Happened when we would let our dogs play with each other after class, then one day, two labs and a rottie went over the top and a dog fight ensued... I also took a lesson from my Cookie who was the ultimate momma dog. I kept two littermates from her first litter. When they would get too rough in play, she would pick up a squeaky toy, start squeaking it and go between the pups and break them up.


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## rhysmichael (Aug 10, 2013)

I brought my golden to our home in the province. My dad told us earlier today that our almost three month old golden would bite our 1 year old japanese spitz. Wen i brought home the golden, the spitz was running away at first. But they soon got along, so i thought. The spitz would run and the golden would chase after her. So i thought they were fine. Until my dad informed us that the golden would "bite" the spitz during play time. I havent witnessed it personally but im afraid it might start agressive behavior. I hope im mistaken. 


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## Jaykay (Jul 20, 2013)

Rhysmichael, it sounds like your golden pup is just playing - they play a lot with their teeth - they have this game, 'bitey face' that they love, you'll see it mentioned earlier in this thread. 

It's not aggression, it is only playing and it sounds as though your spitz understands that. I guess it's a dog thing, rather than a human thing.


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## Tuckerpuppylove (Jul 20, 2013)

Ok so the rotty pup he plays bitey face with the most has a form of mange coming in around his eyes that the vet said isn't contagious, but the area has to stay dry and clean. So should I just separate then the moment he starts to play bitey face? I don't want to ruin a fun game he loves to play, but I also want to be respectful if my roommates attempts to treat the rotty pups issue. 


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