Puppy Bowling

[JASONSMIRAKEL]

What to do whit my 3year old whippiboy who seems to think it is ok to do the "puppy bowling "thing whit his little brother( 6months) I fear that the little one is going to get heart. At his defense(the big one) the little one is pestering him and nibbling him(only want to play)of course but he is very intense.

I wood be grateful for some help

Milla Jason and Jaymee

 

[J.T.]

Hi,

When you say "Puppy Bowling" do you mean when the older dog runs at the younger one really fast & sends him flying? (w00t) My 6yr old lurcher has always done this, first with the beddy, who very quickly learned to dodge and now she's doing it to the skinny lurcher pup. It is quite scary as she means business and has knocked them over a few times. I have conditioned the older one to the "Training discs" as a training aid so whenever it looks as tho she's going to launch an attack I rattle the discs and she stops (usually), then she gets a treat for being good. o

Hope this is what you meant, if not, then sorry for waffling on.

 

[chelynnah]

The advice from US friends in whippets (one of whom I think termed the coin puppy bowling) is to let them get on with it unless you TRULY think the pup is in danger. It's the older adults teaching the younger who's in charge.

I didn't worry too much about it with my girls. I would occasionally just have to tell them GENTLE and they'd back it off a bit.

It can be scary to watch, but it can also be a very normal part of pack life.

Wendy

 

[clairej810]

My greyhounds do this, the older one (5yrs) shoulder barges the younger one (1yr) out of the way and the little one usually falls over but is back on his feet in no time. There's never been any damage done. I think it is just "hey, I'm the boss, stop bugging me!!" cos the younger one is always on the older ones case. (w00t)

If it gets a bit rough I step in and stop it but otherwise I let them get on with it. Hope that helps.

 

[oakmoorehill]

My greyhound does it to my whippets.because of this the only one that is allowed to free run with William is Owen as he will warn William off . Now he has learned he can't do it with Owen but will try it with the others

The adult whippets tend to do it with the pups as well but within reason they are allowed to carry on If the game gets too rough they are told to be carefull

I do think it is a dominance thing the older ones putting the pups in their place in the pack It is scarry though when they run flat out at the pups like that but even more so when William runs at the whippets as he is big I can see all sorts of serious injuries occuring fortunately he has learned not to do it at Owen and I always stop the game if he starts on the othershe's so big he could hurt them badly.

 

[lalena]

my youngster does it to his mother :wacko: when he was tiny, she'd just chew on him :lol: now he's bigger, nearly the same size, she really has to snap and snarl

we keep having to separate them, because i'm scared she'll do him serious damage its definately a dominance thing, he's tried it on us, but all we did to stop it was, quite simply, catch him mid-run, wrap an arm over him so he couldnt get free and tell him 'enough'.

 

[dessie]

My advice is don't let the older one do it, you are heading for back or leg injuries is it is allowed to continue. If necessary only let one off to run at a time until the puppy is well over a year old. I learnt that one the hard way.