Lurcher grabbing older dogs legs?

[hbb 1]

I’m looking for some advice as we recently rescued a whippet lurcher mix. She’s extremely friendly and sociable with dogs and people but is constantly biting and grabbing our older dogs legs, ears and neck. He’s s cavachon and doesn’t really care for playing or interacting with other dogs so he rarely snaps or growls at her when she starts. He’ll just stand there looking at us or try to run away. She’s never been aggressive towards him and regularly try’s to protect him if other dogs get rough with him. However she’s constantly biting at him when he starts barking or when’s she too excited. We separate her and tell her no but so far it’s not working and he’s doing little to tell her to stop. My worry is he’s much smaller then her and that she might accidentally hurt him if we weren’t there to stop it. Is this common Lurcher behaviour and any suggestions? Thanks 

[zigzag dan 775]

Don't know how old the dog doing the biting is but I have a 14 month old lurcher pup here who is always doing it to the older bitch, seems to be just a stage hes going through, wouldn't worry to much, its instinct to pull quarry down, be firm, pull her away, tell her  no.... It will pass.... The dog will put her in her place if needed. 

[AndyD89 253]

From what u describe it Just sounds like a typical young excitable dog mythering an older dog to play that’s not arsed, dosnt sound like out to be overly worried about.  They will establish there own pecking order and boundaries with each other over time and it will pass.

One thing I would say is don’t be tempted to separate them all the time to make things easier or avoid the situation. It won’t get better like that. it’s just something u will have to get through.  Like previous post said be firm and stick at it and it will pass. 

[Neal 1,645]

I agree with AndyD89. In addition, if you find it starts to get too much then make sure you've got a firm and reliable down/stay with the younger dog so that you can intervene verbally without having to do it physically. I've had a few similar situations in the past where older males are simply too polite to tell a bitch off and put up with it.

[Aussie Whip 3,580]

Seen a few young dogs do this but stopped when they started on real game.

[slip lead 860]

Shock collar,  depending on age, if you can't be close enough to reprimand when this is happening.

 

[hbb 1]

17 hours ago, zigzag dan said:

Don't know how old the dog doing the biting is but I have a 14 month old lurcher pup here who is always doing it to the older bitch, seems to be just a stage hes going through, wouldn't worry to much, its instinct to pull quarry down, be firm, pull her away, tell her  no.... It will pass.... The dog will put her in her place if needed. 

She’s only around 2 but the shelter believes she’s never really had proper socialisation as a pup so she’s quiet puppy like, play biting and chewing things so hopefully it will be something she’ll grow out of. Thanks

[hbb 1]

17 hours ago, AndyD89 said:

From what u describe it Just sounds like a typical young excitable dog mythering an older dog to play that’s not arsed, dosnt sound like out to be overly worried about.  They will establish there own pecking order and boundaries with each other over time and it will pass.

One thing I would say is don’t be tempted to separate them all the time to make things easier or avoid the situation. It won’t get better like that. it’s just something u will have to get through.  Like previous post said be firm and stick at it and it will pass. 

We try not to separate them too much but after a while our older dog will give a growl and instead of warning her off she gets more excited and in turn he then gets excited and it turns into a full play fight and both can get quite rough. Never aggressive, just over excited, he’s just quiet small compared to her and has bad hips so we worry about him getting too much action 

[hbb 1]

5 hours ago, Neal said:

I agree with AndyD89. In addition, if you find it starts to get too much then make sure you've got a firm and reliable down/stay with the younger dog so that you can intervene verbally without having to do it physically. I've had a few similar situations in the past where older males are simply too polite to tell a bitch off and put up with it.

We’re attempting to train her but unfortunately she’s 2 and a half and has never been trained in any way before so we’re not having much luck, we’re separating them and telling her no firmly so hopefully it’ll stick after a while 

[hbb 1]

2 hours ago, Aussie Whip said:

Seen a few young dogs do this but stopped when they started on real game.

We’re not lamping or hunting her 

[Black neck 14,023]

6 hours ago, hbb said:

We’re not lamping or hunting her 

Well u need 2 be ,30 runs on the slop in a howling gale then see if it wants 2 feck about ,it's the only way 

[Aussie Whip 3,580]

8 hours ago, hbb said:

We’re not lamping or hunting her 

She might keep it up until she matures more. If she's a hunting bred dog she has to relieve her prey drive somehow.

Edited September 3, 2021 by Aussie Whip

[hbb 1]

13 hours ago, Aussie Whip said:

She might keep it up until she matures more. If she's a hunting bred dog she has to relieve her prey drive somehow.

We use rabbit skin and hide to try and do “mock lamping”, however the shelter believes she was abandoned due to not being a good enough Hunter and other lurcher owners who we’ve met who go lamping have said she doesn’t have the right temperament for it. 

[tb25 4,605]

It's what pups do isn't it? Till the older dogs had enough..

[mushroom 12,080]

My mate's terrier used to do it, little b*****d. Just got over excited and nipped as he passed/played Dickhead actually didn't react tbh (thank fuuck) but I did once lol, I booted it with a size 10 hiking boot lol. My mate and me nearly ended up having a full on ruck, on top of a mountain over it. England V's Poland on a Spanish mountain ffs