Watching dogs play well together is one life’s greatest joys. One of my essential criteria when looking for a dog to replace Willie was whether he played well with Maggie. We tried two dogs out before we found Skip, neither of whom had any interest in playing with Maggie. Maggie ignored one, and hated the other. Skip and Maggie fell in love at first sight, but it took many months to teach Skip to play politely. He didn’t get why body slamming into Maggie at full speed tended to stop the play. Ahem. Between me and Maggie (and tug toys), Skip learned to play well with all dogs, but it took awhile. I talk about this in depth in a 2021 post, The Evolution of Play: A Case Study.
The key for them, and the key for all dogs, is to honor any dog who signals a pause. “Cut off signals” they are often called, when one dog stops, often turns to look at the other dog, or, perhaps, does a play bow. (CAAB Karen London and I have speculated for years that part of the function of a play bow is to create a pause that allows a decrease in emotional arousal.)
Here’s Maggie telling a pup that she is done with interacting. She’s turned to face, gone relatively still, and turned her face away.
Being a young pup, this guy needed a little more explanation, so Maggie elaborated:
That’s all it took; a growl and a pucker, and the pup backed off.
Here’s Maggie and Willie, after a hard chase game. Maggie stopped and became interested in a stick. Willie stopped trying to play, honoring her request for a break.
Most trainers and behaviorists agree that the key to interpreting play–polite or not?–is to watch for pauses, and whether those pauses are honored by the other dog. (There are some great videos of this in an excellent article by Christina Young, Teaching Polite Play, in the IAABC journal.)
But what if your dog, or another dog, doesn’t know how? Or simply doesn’t honor another dog’s pause? The good news is that you can teach dogs to pause in play, but you need to pay attention and have a plan in mind before the play session starts. The standard advice is to intervene, staying calm and quiet. The last thing the dogs need is someone rushing in and adding tension.
I counted on a good recall, if needed, when Skip and Maggie made a new friend this weekend. Poppy, a two-year old rescued Springer, came over with her family, Bonita and Fredericka. Poppy loves to run just like the BC’s, so there was lots of enthusiastic chase games after getting acquainted. After several mad dashes around the pen, Poppy just up and stopped. I was on alert, in case Skip forgot his manners, and ready to recall him. No need, he was on his best behavior, and stopped himself.
[Skip adored Poppy, and put on his guy-in-a-bar gold chain and fluffed up his ruff. (Note the tail!) Maggie gave her a huff at first meeting, and then discovered she could get her to play chase; love the play bows here that got the running started.]
Recalls are perfect if you are sure that the dog needing one will react right away. The last thing you want is to get aroused yourself because your dog isn’t responding. Coming when called while playing is an advanced skill, so if a recall cue doesn’t work first try, go to Plan B.
Plan B is to be armed with something you are sure, from experience, will distract your dog. Great food? (Dry kibble will be gobbled up by some dogs, and ignored by others.) The best toy in the world? If you are using food, that food needs to go right beside a dog’s nose, no good waving it around from yards away. The only caution here is to be aware if one of the dogs is food possessive. The safest practice is to have both owners have treats, and walk in together, treats moved to each dog’s nose, turning their heads away from each other, and then moving away a bit after the treats are eaten. Then start walking away from the dogs (no standing still, holding your breath, and staring!), which will encouraging them to either sniff around or start playing again. If rude play continues after one or two more tries, I’d cut it off completely. But cheerfully, no grumping at the dogs if you can avoid it.
So, Summary: Watch for pauses. Intervene if one dog tries to pause and the other won’t stop. Use treats for high value toys to distract the dogs, help them pause and de-escalate, and then let them decide whether to play again or not. Rinse and repeat, over and over again, and eventually, most dogs get the message.
The most common problems I see are 1) not paying attention when dogs play, 2) not noticing one dog bullying another when the victim has tried to stop, and 3) owners rushing in and adding tension rather than calming things down.
What about you? Is your dog a perfect player? Or got a nickname like Skip did when we first got him (starts with a d_____, just saying). What have you found that works best? And, (this deserves it’s own post!), what do you do when the other dog’s owner is oblivious? I’ll answer that now for myself: I don’t try to convince anyone of anything. I get in there myself to manage the situation, knowing that I am likely to hear “oh, but, he’s just playing!” and nothing I can say will convince them otherwise.
Dogs: Relatively easily trained. People: Harder.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm:
Jim and I no longer have lambs (well, our sheep don’t), but I get lots of lamb fun at friends. Here are some lambs at friend Donna’s house. The two on the left belong to mom in the middle, but the little brown one on the right just got nudged away and is calling for momma.
Took awhile, and enough bawling to flirt with FEMA laws about maximally-allowed decibels in a work place, but they finally found each other.
The bird life around our feeders has been a constant joy these last few weeks. The male goldfinches are so bright yellow/gold they looked like they’ve been dyed, and the chickadees are habituating to me so well that I can call them in now if they are anywhere near by. I am rejoicing in them.
And the spring flowers! Grape hyacinths are such a lovely contrast to so many other colors; in this case, the base of the deck Jim built.
And finally, the daffodils I planted over Willie’s grave are still beautiful. Oh, Willie, my Silly-Willie-Billie Boy. Still love you.
May all of our next weeks be full of something to rejoice, to miss, and to love. Love you all, love our village.
Trisha
Kat says
I’ve been fortunate to have dogs that are wonderful at play. In fact I got to watch my late lamented Ranger teach a pair of puppies to play politely with each other. The pups were the same age (within a couple weeks) but since one was a Newfoundland and the other a Labrador Retriever there was a significant size disparity. Add to that that the Newf was an exhuberant extrovert and the Lab a rather shy introvert and you have the beginning of some issue. The Newf wasn’t listening to the Lab’s request for space so whenever the Lab needed a break Ranger was going in and herding the Newf away and holding him until the Lab signaled he was ready to try again. My job was to describe to the people what we were seeing as Ranger taught the Newf to listen to his playmate. As the Newf began to listen the Lab gained confidence and everyone had a delightful time. I like to think that the next time these puppies found new playmates everyone had a better chance at success.
D’Artagnan impressed me with his play intelligence when we discovered an empty dog park that we hadn’t known existed. Why it made sense to the person that arrived with her French Bulldog to simply turn him out into the big dog section which was occupied by an unknown giant dog is beyond me. But that’s what happened. D’Artagnan came running down to meet this new dog terrifying the Frenchie who took off running in terror. Before I could intervene D’Artagnan stopped and considered the situation. He got in front of the Frenchie and pretended he was afraid of the little guy running away while looking back inviting a chase. He ran slowly and whenever the Frenchie started struggling to breathe he would stop and wait for the little guy to start chasing him again. If D’Artagnan had chased the Frenchie he could have done serious harm since the Frenchie wasn’t built to breathe easily but by being the chasee rather than the chaser he kept his pace slow enough the little guy could run without running out of air and stopped every time the other dog needed a breather. He let the more vulnerable dog set the pace and honored any request for a break. It was beautiful.
These days I get to watch D’Artagnan and Falkor Bash play. They’re a good match and watching them play together is always a delight. I just need to find myself a safe place to watch from since if I don’t have my back against a wall or fence they want to include me in their fun. Sadly I’m too old to play with the big dogs so I only get to watch.
Trisha says
Kat, what astounding dogs you have had. I never tire of hearing about them.
Sarah Johnson says
My desi dog (Indian street dog from New Delhi) as a 5 month old pup arrived pretty serious lack of dog-dog skills. Thankfully we were able to teach him that it was going to be ok with our dogs (other dogs it is very hit or miss). He loves to play but gets a bit too intense often. He will watch my expression from the corner of his eye and back off if I say “go easy”. Still have to put a stop to it at times, age 7, but not as often. Thanks for this great post. Watching dogs play is one of my greatest pleasures.
Sherry Allbaugh says
I have a 2 yr old Sheltie with lots of anxiety and fearful of many places. She loves other dogs however, but there are none I can find for her to play with. She nips at their faces to get a chase going. Most owners do not like that and so do not want her around. She also hates wrestling so it is simply the chase she wants. Her 13 year old sister cat is a good play mate for her, but the cat is finished after 2 minutes. My vet said to never take her to the dog park so I guess her life is whatever energy this old woman has to chase her around the yard! I found the article very interesting. Thank you!
Julie says
I have an Australian Shepherd, Maia, who turns 11 on May 23. My 4th Aussie, and the only one who had horrible manners with other dogs – not to the 2 resident dogs (6 & 12 at the time) just anyone new.
As in, at 6 mos. old, on her first excursion to a dog park, rolled an elderly pug dog 5 times(!!!!). The first 2 times, the pug got up, shook it off & kept walking, but she was relentless & it took 3 more times before I ‘got it ‘, leashed her up and left.
This pup, at about the same age, chased a bunny in a field for 20 minutes, with me unable to call her off (I know, I learned!) and I stopped trying, while my 2 other Aussies hung out nearby, watching, until the bunny was exhausted. Maia trapped and immobilized it with her paws. When I got to them, she was smiling & beyond proud of her work. While she looked happily at us, the bunny took advantage of that momentary distraction and took off. Well, Maia was gone & unresponsive to recalls for another 10 min., until
The bunny found a hollowed out log to escape into.
To this day, she continues to try to trap and immobilize anyone in the yard – from cicadas to turtles passing through, to more bunnies. Once, a young cat!
Sharing this to give you an idea of who she is.
After structured attempts, in classes, to help her learn to play nice, I saw that it was too much for he. I decided to limit her interactions & play to be only with her parents, who we saw regularly.
In my opinion, even with them she was relentless and rude, stealing toys, trying to control & continue whatever play was happening. The male would stay present, but consistently aloof, and she respected that. The mom dog, well, she did not make similar stances. Until one day, when she was staying with them for the weekend.
Their human person, who is a friend, was a local, well respected dog trainer. She would be watchful, but felt Maia’s best teachers would be her parents. And that they would let her know.
Maia (abt 3-4 yrs old at the time) was not listening when the mom wanted to stop playing & kept pushing her, even when she tried to hide under the deck to avoid Maia.
She said both parents united their efforts & completely shunned her for several hours, not moving, rather turning their heads away when she tried to approach.
She said Maia finally gave up, and they, in turn, remained aloof to her for a few more hours after that.
The result was her play did become more interactive vs pushy and she was respectful of her mom’s messages when she had had enough.
She remained very close to both of them til each passed.
3 years ago, she was able to befriend a 9 week old male Aussie. We went away for 2 days together, ready for lots of slow and monitored interacting. She was a wiggle butt from the moment they met. With lots of supervision (to stop her from switching into relentlessly chasing him down), many play breaks and some ingenuity on his part (there was a split rail fence & he snuck under it to run along on the opposite side from her, which she LOVED). She quickly learned to play well with him, and they have a quite lovely to watch back & forth play style. Could she transfer that to other ‘new’ dogs??? Not so sure.
Carole says
Great post! My Jax (a feral born foster fail) still, after seven years here, distrusts any human he doesn’t know well, but is absolutely wonderful with dogs. My son’s VERY high energy Pitbull mix, Axle, comes to play with Jax every weekend. My famiy calls it ‘Jaxle Day’ :-). They chase each other all over my big yard. Jax has no problem letting Axle know when he’s done racing around. Originally it was a soft grumble from Jax, but now all he does is lay down and turn his back. Axle then grabs the big ball on a rope that he loves, and runs around by himself. I’ve had several friends (who don’t have fenced yards) bring their dogs to play with Jax. Of course I watch the dogs’ initial interaction, but there has yet to be a problem. Jax greets every new dog with a play bow and an unmistakable ‘come chase me… we’re gonna have so much fun!’ Jax will never be good with people, but his dog communication skills are perfect.
Colleen says
My dog Finnegan (I still miss him so much!) was also a polite player. He was 75 pounds of legs and heart and was good playing with small to large dogs. I once saw him, over an hour or so time, teach a young unsocialized Golden how to play. She was too shy and introverted to respond to his play bows at first but he slowly, slowly, with many repetitions and start-overs, coaxed her to chase him. Then he ‘invented’ the game of lets-hold-the-same-stick-and-run-around-this-tree. It was fascinating to watch the process and all the pauses. I didn’t understand the pauses at the time but it was clear that Finn was being respectful of her comfort level.
He was a wonderful dog that I found at a Humane Society on one Very Special Lucky Day.
Anna says
My Field Spaniel Gilbert loves playing with other dogs, and it’s a joy to watch him. I’ve never had a dog love other dogs as much as he does. When he was an adolescent, he didn’t seem to know when to quit and wouldn’t respond to me calling him during play. But I discovered that when he played with my parents’ cattle dog mix, I could call their dog over and Gilbert would follow. Then I’d have them both do some tricks for treats before letting them play again. Gilbert is 2 now, and I can usually interrupt him by offering water (he gets thirsty fast!).
Recently, though, he had an interaction that worried me. He adores puppies. There’s a Golden pup in my neighborhood that he has played with before. We saw them in the park one day, and the owner asked if they could play. Before I could determine Gilbert’s mood (he had been focused on sniffing rabbit trails at the time), the puppy launched into play. They chased each other for a few minutes, and it seemed like Gilbert was enjoying it. At one point he stopped, and the puppy kept biting at his face and ears. Gilbert turned his head and tried to move away, but the puppy kept at it. Eventually he raised his paw and touched the puppy’s shoulder. The puppy rolled over and got up and tried again. This happened once more before the owner finally went to get her puppy, but she seemed less worried by Gilbert’s correction than I was. I think I probably should have intervened earlier. I could tell the puppy and Gilbert needed to rest long before the other owner did, but I didn’t know how to communicate that with her.
I’m hoping to get another puppy in the not too distant future, so I’m grateful to be learning more about what to look for in dog play as well as Gilbert’s play preferences in preparation for that.
Lorraine says
I would also suggest monitoring the physical condition of the dogs involved. I had an older lab charge at my whippet, who promptly took off and started running laps around the field, looking back and grinning at the pursuing lab. The lab eventually ran out of steam and staggered to a stop, then collapsed in a heap. The owner couldn’t get him on his feet again for a good 15 minutes and was just about to call his wife to bring a vehicle. They ended up walking off very slowly. We often met them subsequently but the lab never again attempted to interact with my whippet.
Louise Crane says
I am fostering a 3ish year old great dane who has terrible social skills – he is very playful and will run up behind a dog and put it’s entire head in his mouth – doesn’t pick up cues from my dogs that they aren’t interested in engaging with him (so they are separated) – he was at the shelter with his brother (my theory is that he is so rude because of growing up with a sibling – sibling play always seems to be much less respectful – kinda like humans 🙂 when I intro’d him to my other foster – a young bc mix I used food scatters and had them both on leash with short spurts of interaction – (was able to scatter in opposite directions and neither have food stuff) – it’s been a couple of weeks and they play well but he still body tackles her – I need to keep up with the intervening – because she is having to up her ‘stop it’ skills which isn’t fair – I keep explaining to him he needs to be charming and entice her with some moves but for some reason he doesn’t understand:). Good to hear that with consistent management you were able to effect long term change in his play style. Thank you for this.
Linda says
Tears suddenly welled up seeing Willys grave. Our amazing loves!
Jean carr says
Thanks such for this discussion. I have a mini golden doodle who loves to play chase with dogs of any size at the dog park. He is responsive to the other dog’s need to pause but i find that the owners at the dog park can be problematic. Some think that Fritz is aggressive even when he plays nicely (imho). Other times there is a dog that chases all and sundry constantly until they yip or squeal. The owner says ‘he’s just playing’.
Kristen says
Thank you for this informative blog post. I have an almost three year old Goldendoodle and he’s quite the energetic fellow especially when it comes to play. He was pretty awful at playing as a very young dog but, he has gotten better as he matured and will honor the other dog’s space as needed MOST of the time. He sometimes still wants to reach and paw out and bop another dog on the head to ask for play (not at all polite). He’s my first dog as an adult and I’m not super young so I’m not always sure what I’m doing so I pick “safe” playmates other Goldendoodles and big dogs with lots of energy are my go to playmates usually. Little dogs are not a good choice at this point! Lol
Elizabeth Smith says
My youngest loves a game of chase, but boy is she a stickler for rules. The first and only time any rude behaviour creeps in and that is it, end of game, “I do not need the likes of you in my life” swagger on. I should probably adopt that attitude more in my own life!
Jean says
I read your posts and do my best to translate dog into bunny speak, so this one is especially interesting. BUNS holds Hoppy Hours, large bunny play groups, – 20 to 40 bunnies from different households and the shelter. Human bouncers are in the pen to intervene when interactions go wrong. Bunnies don’t typically have a recall, so behavior is interrupted by a bouncer moving between the rabbits. If the behavior persists, a rabbit is placed in a side pen for a time out. The time out could be a learning experience, but there are bunnies who are placed in time out in spend a lot of Hoppy Hours in time out. We can add treats to make a more positive break in play. We have not, but could assign a bouncer to shadow and work with a rabbit that needs to learn better manners. so, as always, thanks for helping me make my bunnies lives a little better.
Charlotte Kasner says
I have a 22 week old Aussie who was very full on at 6 weeks; in fact all the litter were outgoing and played quite roughly with each other.
I have to be careful who I choose as playmates; generally speaking, he is well-suited to basal breeds, gun dogs and other collies. That said, he played brilliantly with a tiny Pom that was a quarter of his size (he is already 15.4 kg) and is matching and adjusting really well. A phase of humping ended when he got told off a couple of times but I am always very careful to keep and eye on it and break things up if they look as if they are not going well and I cut greetings short if the other dog – or for that matter, my puppy – looks uncomfortable before it kicks off.
I video play quite often so that I can take it home and find all the things that I missed at the time!
Annette says
Another perfectly timed post. I’ve had Wally for 5 years now. He is leash reactive and fearful of most humans. At play he is all about playing chase but doesn’t like to wrestle much. Dog parks are not good for us if there are more than one or two dogs. I used to think he had poor social skills but I do recognize his requests to pause from your posts. He is not very tolerant of hard stares pre play and I usually excuse us when I see any intensely fixated attention.
Only once have we met the perfect dog playmate for him and it was a beautiful sight to see. We have been looking for that dog ever since.
Thank you for your post it gives me much to think about.
Lisa says
We love you too!! Thank you, as always, for your words.
Jane Craig says
I could almost have written Kristen’s post, myself.
I leaped to read this blog because I have a very frisky, two-year-old, adorable, very mixed breed rescue, Pippin, about 53 lbs. We got her at 12 months, so she’s now used to being a loved and indulged girl — but you know, this reminds me of why I worked so very hard at puppy-socializing our last dog, a Golden. Watching him learn with the other puppies at numerous groups and play dates, he became a pro at reading their signals, and it was a joy to watch him “meet and greet,” and also handle dogs who weren’t as polite. He.was.restrained.but.firm.
Well, Pip just wants to jump at other dogs and hope they’ll be similarly enthusiastic. She has had great luck in a M-F supervised play group, where all the dogs are familiar, and where when she wears out one, she can go on to another (she’s highly energetic, and yes, part border collie–in fact, recently a “real” BC joined her group, and the play group leader told me that “at last, another dog that Pippin doesn’t tire out!”).
However with one-on-one play dates, it’s hit or miss. And the problem is exactly what you’re saying–she fails to read the signals until the other dog is upset/the other dog parent and I intervene, and that’s about it after a couple of tries.
So thank you for this explicit help. She’s very food-motivated, so if that works without causing issues for the other dog, it should help a lot. I have despaired when a possible playmate doesn’t work out because she’s not patient enough to wait until they warm up and become comfortable. This at least gives me more tools.
Arielle says
I wonder if you have advice on young dogs playing to rough? I recently rescued a cattle dog mix, who starts out playing by frequently grabbing at the other dogs neck, I recall her away with treats and she will go right back to neck biting. After 5-10 minutes her play becomes appropriate with running/chase etc.
Karie says
Your sentiment about Willie made me tear up. I remember Luke, Lassie, Tulip, and all the others from your books. I still miss my sweet Dixie Mae who passed a year ago February.
I currently have my delightful Misty (Moo Moo) who is #7. I am her world! She came from a (good) breeder and for 7 years had to share her people. She loves having her own mommy! I was late to the dog party, adopting my first at age 44. (Was a House Rabbit person.)
Alicia says
Thank you for this great post. I have a 10 mo lab and he is such an aggressive player, when the other dog stops to sniff or take a break my pup immediately mounts the other dog and causes stress all around. I pull him off repeatedly to no avail. I will start taking treats out with me. Should I not physically seperate or just try to use the treats?
Debbie Sheridan says
Such a great post. Thank you Patricia! My reactive guy Fitzy lost his littermate at the age of 6. I slowly introduced Sally and now they are great buds.
He is a husky pit who would slam down hard play bows with deep loud barks. Sally is a cattle dog chi and was excited for the chase and run but was terrified the first time she saw Fitzy’s very happy play bow.
He has learned to tone it down a bit though he was incredulous that she found it to be scary.
Lynn says
” I don’t try to convince anyone of anything. I get in there myself to manage the situation, knowing that I am likely to hear “oh, but, he’s just playing!” and nothing I can say will convince them otherwise.” THIS is what I want to learn to do. I look forward to you writing a blog on the topic of handling (or rather resisting handling) other dog owner’s behavior with their dogs. I find it so terribly hard to stay quiet. Of course this is mainly with friends and neighbors but once I actually told a stranger to stop hitting their dog.
Irene Stoller says
Body slamming play can be very dangerous. Our Moss was a rough and tumble player as a pup. My Quin was older than Moss and they got along well but Moss liked to body slam and was around 10months old when they were playing and Quin’s spine was damaged. He was permanently paralyzed. He was the nicest dog and the best herder I ever had and he was just at the point where I would have started competing with him. He was from Kathy Knox’s breeding and when I told her what had happened she just said that she never allowed body slamming. She was right. It was our fault and I’ve never forgotten that.
Trisha says
Oh, Irene , that is heartbreaking. I too don’t allow body slamming which is why we spent months teaching Skip to play politely. We actually kept them apart for months while working on it. So sorry about Quin.
Trisha says
Lynn, your idea sounds like a good topic for a future blog!
Trisha says
Alicia, I’d try stopping the play (treats versus pull off?) 2-3 times max, then stop the play session altogether.
Trisha says
Arielle, if you were my client I might try yelping (loud!!! ARWP!) as your dog goes to grab ruff, then a lie down for a moment. BUT, I’d try that with me there, because it will stop some dogs but make a small percentage worse. Be ready to watch carwfully. And, if she’s better after 5 minutes, maybe tire her with mental exercise first? Any reason that she might get ramped up before being released to play? I’d look at that too.
Maureen says
Another great post! We have a lot of dogs who were covid puppies coming through rescue now and a lot of them missed out on good socializing with other dogs (and everything else, unfortunately). We have a lot that “come on like a freight train” – not meaning any harm, but just so. excited. and ignorant that they aren’t reading signals right. And of course they body slam like crazy (rottweiler play style). Good tips here – thank you!
And yes, I live the idea of a blog post about not trying to convince anyone else. I was out with my two on a walk recently, and two unleashed dogs came running up to us full bore (their owners calling them, to no avail, followed by the (say it with me now) “they’re friendly” line. My response (in all interactions, frankly) is to get to my Rottweiler’s side and hold his collar. He’s not reactive or (to my knowledge) aggressive with other dogs – rescued a year ago – but he’s big and is very “stare-y” with other dogs. Not a hard stare (he does it with people too – he’s not people aggressive, but he’s not a social butterfly either…he’s a Rottweiler), but an interested, keen look. I like to get next to him/hold his collar for better control AND so he knows I’m there and (hopefully) that “I got this.” The other dogs barrelled up – one wearing a loose prong collar, draped around the base of his neck – and I didn’t say anything. They were aroused, and I didn’t want to escalate anything. My little Setter went to hide behind my Rottweiler (and me). He’s somewhat timid with other dogs – not interested in them at all. The one dog ran back to it’s owner, but the other, more intense dog with the prong collar, circled us, coming behind to sniff my little Pal’s butt. I quietly told it to “go on” and “git” – it mostly ignored me, but I held my ground and stepped forward to get it away from Pal. Finally it got bored and left, thankfully. We kept walking, with Pal all to happy to leave, and Moose coming along easily, looking back at the other dogs but without reactivity, then looking for something to pee on.
All this to say, I thought about the interaction for many minutes afterwards. I don’t think their dogs were necessarily bad, and probably were the “they’re friendly!” but it was intense. Should I have yelled at the owners? Not my style, and nothing really warranted it. Off leash in a park where they are supposed to be leashed, but what would my yelling do, other than escalate the whole situation? They were in the wrong. Would me telling them this make any difference, or “teach” them anything. Nope. And me yelling could have started a dog fight. I was proud of my Rottweiler boy – he really is a good boy – at how well he behaved, and how good he is in these sorts of challenges.
Orietta says
Thank you Trisha!
Louise Wholey says
Great post! More on these topics is welcome.
My dog lies in wait for others to come, then runs fast right at them. Is there a way to tell her not to run fast at the other dog?