08/28/2026
TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️
For the sensitive souls who do not believe in dogs correcting dogs. It's not all pretty in training- often times, dogs can teach extremely valuable lessons & communication skills that we can't, or that'll take us much longer to teach.
In this video, you will observe an adult dog and a black puppy. The bigger dog has something the puppy thinks she may want also.
The adult dog expresses warning signs and very delicate corrections (and to be quite honest, she is being extremely patient with this puppy.) I believe that if the adult dog had something of higher value to her, she would have given harsher corrections, causing the puppy to yelp, scream, cry, etc. ( in which I also would have allowed.)
The puppy learns a very valuable lesson here - she learns to read body language, warning signs and doggy communication in a safe setting, with a safe dog.
Let's face it- puppies are ANNOYING! They push boundaries & ignore personal space. This is why it is so important to allow older dogs to correct younger dogs , to an extent, for proper behavior & communication skills.
When your puppy misses out on these valuable lessons, they find themselves in a situation where they push the wrong dog's boundaries and get mauled.
I highly recommend allowing these interactions in a controlled environment, with safe dogs, and with people ready to intervene if necessary.
Now here is the problem with most households & owners during doggy socialization groups or mutli-dog settings.
They will see the initial interaction involving one dog growling, showing teach, snapping, etc, and instantly think the dog is being "aggressive" or "mean". They will yell at the dogs, take the toy or treat from the "mean" dog, and give it to the "poor" puppy. People intervene before the puppy actually learns anything valuable. In fact, In doing this, the puppy will learn that humans will cover for their obnoxious, rude behaviors and continue to help them get what they want.
Until the puppy does this to the wrong dog.
The older dogs get deemed as "the problem". It is our job as their owners to control their behaviors and intervene when necessary.
If you do not know how the "corrective" dog will respond, it is your job to intervene, correct the puppy or obnoxious, boundary pushing dog, and remove them from that space.
If you want to learn more about dog communication, body language, behaviors, etc, please reach out!!!
