# overexcited when playing - gets out of hand



## vizslaaustralia (May 6, 2009)

Hi
I have an 8 month old male neutered pup. Hes a wonderful dog, loyal and loving, very affectionate - both with dogs and people. He lives to play with other dogs and has been really well socialised.He gets 2 hours of off leash exercise a day. He has always shown "no fear" when it comes to other dogs and wants to play with big and small breeds alike. 
This was fine when he was little but now he just doesnt know when to give up and especially with younger puppies will just keep going when they have had enough of playing, even to the point where he will try to bite theire legs/back/ears..anything to get a reaction.
Although it doesnt yet seem to be developin into agression I am wondering what i can do (other than avoiding this situation and pulling him out of the play before it goes too far) to nip this in the bud and if anyoneelse has had similar problems. I'm hoping maturity will help and this may be part of a terrible teenage phase?!!
thanks


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## madaboutvizslas (Nov 12, 2008)

When my V was this old she used to chase my brothers 3yr Lab around trying to grap his ears. She just wouldn't give up. It was just play. They sorted themselves out in the end.

If you have youg pups that need to rest, you may need to separate them for a while.


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## DragonTheRevolutionary (Feb 15, 2009)

vizslas are crazy awesome ...but seriously they're super crazy


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## Lillasar (Jan 14, 2010)

Hi
My Vizsla is like that when playing to and as you say Vizslaaustralia, when he was little it didn't seem bad at all. Now he's 10 months old, it sometimes comes across as threatening - however, it seems more threatening to the owners than to the dogs. I'm certainly no expert but I tend to go along with the belief that if it really gets out of hand, the other dog will let my dog know and tell him off (which is what he needs). And in some cases you just have to remove him if the owner and/or dog is anxious. 
I guess that's no a lot of help but at least you know that you're not the only one. Does yours still do the same now? Mine is beginning to modify his behaviour to suit the dog he encounters so he's starting to read them better and figure out which dogs are up for it and which aren't. Perhaps that's maturity?


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## doglover (Aug 4, 2009)

Clyde (7 mo) is in the same stage. This is how he behaves at the dog park. He is starting to get a sense of which dogs he can and can't mess with. This is good in that I do not have to worry about him getting hurt but bad in that I feel he is a little to dominant or mean with smaller or weaker dogs. It seems as it he just knows whether or not he should "mess with" a particular dog because size does not matter. One day he was all over a Rotweiller (who was like a big teddy bear) yet he wouldn't dare mess with this one poodle that same day. I was going to quit dog parks at one point because it was causing me so much anxiety but I do not know any other way to give him the off leash exercise he needs. After one week of no dog park (and like $400 worth of wrecked things) We went back and it slowly but surely it is getting better...knock on wood!


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