I am new here and I feel quite privileged to have access to all the knowlegde on this website and forum. Sorry for the rather lenghty introduction that precedes my question, but it might be necessary to get the whole picture.

We got our eight month old black lab/retriever mix Hayes (a rescue) three weeks ago. He walked into a stranger's yard with a huge wound on one side of his face (at the age of six months), was brought to a vet who fixed the injury and gave Hayes to a small rescue organization where dogs are kept at foster families until their "forever homes" are found.

When Hayes came into our home, he was shy at first, but very cuddly. Since we didn't know anything about his past (according to the vet, the wound stemmed either from an animal bite or a car) we try to socialize him as much a possible. We take him everywhere, from restaurants with outside seating to hardware stores, and he is doing great. He also seems very balanced and self-confident, e.g., he never showed any signs of separation anxiety. I work at home and can therefore spend a lot of time with him.

We also tried to be observant regarding signs of aggression - given that his wound might have been from a bite. But there are no signs of aggression towards other dogs or people we meet during our walks: he is very interested, cheer- and playful. However, he does raise the hair on his back sometimes, but it seems more out of insecurity than aggression. An example: Although being eight months old, basically anything he encounters, seems new to him: from lawn mowers to bikes, from cats to squirrels. When we met a group of joggers the other day, he watched curiously but stood rather shyly close to me, with some parts of his back hair raised. As soon as I talked to him in a calming way, his hair went back to normal. (I am not a native speaker, so "raised hackles" might be the term for the raised hair situation).

But. We wanted to welcome Hayes into a loving home (especially given his past) which might have led to giving him too much attention. Especially when we - my boyfriend and I - are both at home and in the living room together with the dog, he starts play biting, only soft, but sometimes with raised lips. When he gets into this hyper state - he also starts chasing his tail - it's quite challenging to calm him down. The same thing happens outside, when he picks up a branch, encounters a puddle, or, when on a longer leash, he suddenly (and playfully) hides in higher grass and gets overly excited. He also tries to bite his leash on our walks, but only when he recognizes that we are close to our home. Outside, I make him sit until he calmes down, and repeat if necessary. We got him a crate today (which he accepted right away), so I expect the in-house situation to improve.

I am a bit concerned that Hayes might challenge if not mine, but my boyfriend's pack position (who grew up with cats and tries to solve problems with a softer approach - I am more strict). He nipped my boyfriend's hand yesterday while walking him, followed by trying to bite the leash.

Here come my questions: Do you think that these are signs of dominance or rather a rougher kind of playfulness (or a bit of both)? Are the curled lips when play biting and the raised hair on his back reasons for concern?

Hi Alex,

In the newest video Michael Ellis explains a bit about dominance stuff, mainly that people very often erroneously attribute all kinds of things to dominance. Some dogs have more energy than others and they need to work it out before they settle down. Cannot expect a puppy to be always calm. Check out Michael Ellis videos and DVDs on this website - it's great stuff! It helped me a lot with one of my dogs who showed a lot of fearful aggression when we first got her as a rescue.

Look into marker training

 Quote: Alex Riegler

Here come my questions: Do you think that these are signs of dominance or rather a rougher kind of playfulness (or a bit of both)? Are the curled lips when play biting and the raised hair on his back reasons for concern?

Your dog sounds like an 8 month old puppy. Still a goof, still mouthy (they do grow out of it) and just getting to that point where energy needs to be used. It doesn't sound to me like aggression, just anxiety and energy that needs to go somewhere. Time to step activities up a notch, imo.

Hello and welcome to the forum! Kudos to you for giving a forever home to a recue pup.

Your little guy (although probably not that little) is still a baby and is going through a lot of adjustments right now. Not only do I support the Marker Training recommendion 1000 percent, I also suspect this dog needs lots more exercise to make him TIRED. Tired pups are the best pups. It sounds to me like he has a bit more energy to burn.

Hi Alex,

Welcome! I concur that mental and physical exercise will fix playful puppy problems. Also have to say that I love your pup's name.

Have fun with him!

Thanks for your welcome and recommendations!

@Ana: The video is quite insiteful! I really like Michael's distinction between dominant and upwardly mobile dogs. Hayes clearly isn't a dominant dog - I think, I know that now.
@Melissa: He usually gets two long walks (in the morning and at night) and about four quick visits to "his" tree. However, he seems very eager to learn, so marker training might be a great addition to the mix.
@Barbara: I also watched Michael's video on marker training yesterday and we already started it this morning. We only have to stock up on training treats
@ Meredith: The people from the shelter called him Haze, but decided to write it Hayes - and we liked and kept the name.