Ok,
I have been working on the introduction of my dominant aggressive bitch to my future mother-in-laws Shar-pei. Her dog stays with us temporarily, my bitch is almost two years old and the Shar-pei is a 8 month male. My bitch is 70lbs and the Shar-pei is about 35-40 pounds.

For months now I have been using cages, one dog out, one in, separate cages. They interact through the cage and this has been a two month process. At first my GSD would act very aggressive through the cage at him. Through daily walks with two people, discipline, and me establishing myself with the Shar-pei as a leader and not treating him like a spoiled person like my F-MIL does I have gained his respect and have a bond with him.

We are at the point where there is no aggression though cages, walks, or though the fence, we are acting as one unit for the most part. The Shar-pei will bring bones by her cage, they will lick each other through the cage, even try playing through the cage.

I started introductions with a leash on my GSD and everything went great, My GSD only wants to play with him, she has so much puppy left in her.

The problem lies with my GSD is playing so ROUGH, she tries jumping all on him, when he runs she jumps over him, and constantly putting her nose and face under him and pretty much mauling him in a play fashion. Needless to say it’s relentless and doesn't stop or slow down and the Shar-pei is outmatched and tries to hide to get away from her. I have exercised her before introductions to bring her energy level down, this doesn’t work she just gets supercharged to be able to play with another dog.

I have been using a long line to correct this, but I don't exactly know how to, no aggression, just very rough play.
Some insight would be helpful from anyone. Thanks!!

 Quote:

.....My bitch is 70lbs and the Shar-pei is about 35-40 pounds.
....The problem lies with my GSD is playing so ROUGH, she tries jumping all on him, when he runs she jumps over him, and constantly putting her nose and face under him and pretty much mauling him in a play fashion......the Shar-pei is outmatched and tries to hide to get away from her. I have exercised her before introductions to bring her energy level down, .....

This is just my own feeling about this: If one dog is frightened and trying to retreat, it's not play any more. I would correct the GSD.

I believe that your idea of tiring out the GSD first is an excellent one and one I employ, too. Maybe a little more exercise.........?

I do think that separating them if the small dog is frightened is correct. Perhaps a short time at first, with a tired GSD and a lead, with leash corrections each time the play turned rough, slowly increasing the time as the GSD catches on (but with you still on the end of the GSD's line)?

I've been there, and it took a long time (weeks, maybe a couple of months) of this kind of supervision. I interspersed the play with fetch for the big dog, working off some of that energy each time he got wound up.

All this is based on no aggression from the GSD. If aggression pops back up, my own route would be 100% separation.

JMO.

Connie,
Thanks for the reply, it's not all retreat. The Sharpei will play in return and chase her, and then she turns around and chases him. The problem is the Sharpei tries to play back and the GSD will play that much rougher. I have used a ball to toss and they both run after it and my GSD will return it to me as asked.

I try to divert the attention from one another to the ball as long as there is no claim on the toy, which from both dogs it hasn't been an issue.

I was just wondering what its going to take for her to calm down and stop pouncing on him. She will let up on him, then he goes and tries to play with her then she kicks it back up a notch, from face to face antics, her putting her head under his body and nudging upward, to her run around him and jumping over him, all in all there has been NO aggression that I have witnessed, just lots of rough play.
<img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

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.......... I was just wondering what its going to take for her to calm down and stop pouncing on him. She will let up on him, then he goes and tries to play with her then she kicks it back up a notch, from face to face antics, her putting her head under his body and nudging upward, to her run around him and jumping over him, all in all there has been NO aggression that I have witnessed, just lots of rough play.
<img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Oh, I see. Well, I can only say that what worked for me was a few weeks of supervision, with me voice-correcting every time the play escalated to the point I thought was too rough for two such unequal-size dogs. (This for me was a GSD and a Pug, both pretty rambunctious and drivey; I know that's odd for a Pug, but there it is!)

I used voice corrections a lot, but also had the GSD on a line for that period.

"Hey!" in a pretty assertive voice worked most of the time, and a leash pop when it didn't.

I just want to say that it did eventually get across that I don't tolerate wild roughhousing, and it didn't break anyone's spirit! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Now I have a different situation: drivey Pug and couch potato GSD. The Pug gets the "Hey!"

My granddogs (working earth dogs) had to be corrected like this when the younger sister tried to hitch rides around the house by hanging on her brother's snoot, the poor guy. She tortured him. My daughter separated them when she couldn't supervise and corrected when she could.

They're fine now. As I recall, that was about a one-month period.