Help please - issue with playing/aggression

[nickya]

Hi everyone

We've had our grey boy (Sonny) for 3 years now. He is a real character - loves life, playing and people! We adopted our second greyhound (Jackson) about 6 weeks ago now and they have got on fine. The only issue we are having is that when let out in the garden together, Sonny runs at Jackson as he wants him to play. He then barks in his face repeatedly, I'm assuming to try and initiate play however as Jackson just doesnt know how to play he either just stands there looking or will skip to the side which entices Sonny to think he is playing back and then barks at him even more! They have done this since we have had them however this morning Jackson decided he'd had enough of the barking behaviour and unfortunately went for Sonny. He nipped him a few times on the face and ear and produced blood. There was squealing and Sonny cried and ran away to the back door so we took him in and cleaned him up. No marks on Jackson whatsoever. They have been totally fine together in the house since then but obviously we dont want a repeat performance of this morning. Please can I get some advice on the best way to handle this. Are we best to just take them out into the garden separately so that Sonny can run off some of his excitement on him own? But if we do that, i'm thinking that Jackson will never learn how to play and so we would just be prolonging the problem.

Really appreciate any advice on this.

Thank you.
Nicky 

[darcysdad]

I would start using muzzles on both dogs when they are let out that way at least they can't hurt each other. Sonny may have learnt from this and may well calm down, if Sonny persists trying to get Jackson to play then you will need to intervene and try distracting him, recall with sausage treats works for mine or get him to play with you until Jackson decides play might be a good thing.

It's still early days for Jackson, home life is still new to him. It can take some time for a hound to adjust to his new surroundings.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Ian

[nickya]

Thanks for the reply Ian!

I tried muzzles when I got home yesterday and it warded off any play attempts in that they were both too busy running their faces furiously along the grass trying to remove them! I think they could probably both escape a muzzle from what I saw so instead we're going to try having 5 minute "Quiet Time" when we first arrive home or get up in the morning. They are both usually SO excited that the instinct is to get into the garden and go absolutely bonkers. Hoping that will get them into a calmer state before going out.

I think Sonny has learnt a bit of a lesson from yesterday as did seem more on the subdued side last night!

Thanks again for the advice - really appreciated.