Controlling boisterous play outdoors

These two dogs get on really well, they do play boisterously sometimes but at home they can easily to be told when to "cool it"
The problem is outdoors, when they are off lead the bigger male dog chases and pins the other slightly smaller female, he will paw and mouth at her and basically just tries to control her or not let her get up. Generally He doesnt hurt her but occasionally he bowls her over quite roughly and he has "accidentally" nipped her ear, She also can equally be a pester to him.
The owner has tried simply calling them in but this is difficult, they are now going on walks armed with a water sprayer but this only works if they are close enough.
I believe the trigger for this behaviour is sheer over-excitement?

Yes and breed predisposition.

So for example my GSD would, if allowed, herd and body slam my gundog bitch.

I just put the dog on the lead the first few times and got the message, ruff, tuff play was halted.

A water spray is not much use if the dogs are far away though?

I think perhaps more general domestic control is required, so if they are called, they come.

I'd use a line on a harness and pull the dog off when it becomes inappropriate play. Done it with labs on occassion.

rune

I would love to know the cure for this thread. Both of my dogs adore each other and play non-stop in and out of the house with no problems. They are boisterous and 'rugby tackle' each other frequently and both seem to be equal in their playing tactics. However when we are out in a larger area (our garden is about 1 acre) for instant in woods, large country parks, common land etc etc one of my two will chase the other (always the same dog) bowl him over and keep him down. It is as though he doesn't want his brother to run free. I have to physically remove him off his brother which drives me mad. In public I tend to only have one off the lead at a time which works perfectly but it just seems a shame.

Both of them have excellent re-call but the one who is pinned to the ground at the time cannot physically come and the other one just becomes deaf to any commands. The other thing is a long line is not a good idea - I tried it once and never again. The line got wrapped around their necks while they were rugby tackling!
It is odd, but it is as though my dog that is always the chaser when off our land gets a 'red-mist' and becomes so focused on keeping my other dog from running that nothing will stop him.

I’ve had a similar problem. One of my males (the younger, smaller, more submissive one) ran after the other male dog, bowled him over and pinned him down. This was when the ‘victim’ was ‘on a mission’ possibly on a rabbit trail. He was running, totally oblivious to everything else, in a very high state of excitement.

I now know the signs and will verbally stop both dogs and bring them to me before they lose their minds. Controlling the intention prevents the problem.

I have a pal who could only ever let ONE of her two Jack Russels 'off lead' at a time - not because they attacked one another but because they would 'go' for other dogs if both off lead but never individually.

jenny.g I am a bit puzzled by what you said here:

I can understand a dog that is being prevented from coming back to you, but not the other - not if he has EXCELLENT recall? Maybe you meant excellent if he is not more interested in something else?

Personally I don't believe any dog has 100% perfect or excellent recall (under any circumstances - not just when training or practising it). Good - yes, maybe even almost ALL the time. But not perfect or excellent.

Sorry I haven't explained myself very well. Under 99% of all other circumstances I can recall both or either dog immediately even if they are in the middle of playing with other dogs and even once when they were chasing a cat etc etc, the ONLY time that my 'bully' dog becomes deaf to ANY commands is when he gets this 'red-mist' and is preventing his brother from getting up!! If they are both off lead and playing with other dogs 'bully' appears to be happy for his brother to run free and play, it only happens if it is just the two of them in an open space. Very bizarre! It literally drives me mad and it is just such a shame as I would love them both to be 'bounding around' having fun together as they do when in my garden.

I would stop the rough and tumble as it's just practising fighting.

If you can't control it in the house, then don't be surprised that you can't control it outside.

Teach them how to 'time-out' or 'settle' or simply work hard on an amazing response to 'sit'....i.e. teach an alternate behaviour you want in the house and start working on it with increasing level of distraction.

I have taught mine 'behave', but must admit I taught it by accident due to the tone of voice that comes with that command

I would do more with the dogs when they are out - play with them, train them, do scent work. They sound like they are simply left to their own devices.

My two are more than a little boisterous in play both in and outside the house. Their fav games are 'take me down' games, my girl prefers to drag my male down by the neck, with a lot of noise..they also both like to hold onto the back leg of the other one and run in circles to see who falls over first.

When we first got our girl however, she was TOO rough and also had no recall. Steep learning curve.

We ended up hiring a horse arena thing and popped her on a longline and ran around with our other dog offlead. If she took him down roughly she was told 'no' and recalled with lots of praise and reward. Sorted.
Not saying she doesn't do it anymore, she will always do it, but she is not as rough and now recalls when she does it; so as good as we can ask for really given her dubious training background (ex working gundog).