Dog being bullied

[Wimpling]

Can I ask for some advice from the collective experience of Mumsnetters who’ve had dogs for much longer than I have...?

I have a young male dog, just over a year old, had the snip a few months back. He’s a poodle/cavalier cross (please don’t judge this), and a super sociable happy wee chap. He loves meeting other dogs and is up for playing with anyone, no matter what size they are.

We’ve recently moved abroad to a place where dogs are generally expected to be on a lead. I take him to a big open space to run off-lead, and we often meet other dogs there. Usually they are quite big - German shepherds and similar - whose owners are also there because they need off-lead time. My dog wants to play with them, and usually is quite sensible about it - stops, gauges the reaction, comes to them for a sniff etc, and they start playing. But very often, and especially if the other dog is youngish (2-3 years old), the ‘play’ means he gets chased and the other dog tries to bite his neck, to roll him over and dominate him, mount him etc. My dog tries to go with it because he really wants to play, but because he’s smaller and not as fast he gets a hard time and it doesn’t look like much fun for him. Sometimes there are groups of dogs and he’s keen to join in, but there is always one who will target him.

This never happened back in the UK (well, maybe once) but it’s almost constant here. I’m a bit surprised because I’d thought that having the snip would mean that he wasn’t of much interest, but clearly not!

Any ideas on what is going on here, and suggestions on anything I can do differently? I can keep him in parks and on the lead much more, but he loves being able to run and sniff on his own!

[Thewolfsjustapuppy]

It sounds like dogs just being plane rude. Your little dog sounds sweet, socialised and well mannered unfortunately not all dogs are and your dog is too small to tell them their behaviour is not acceptable. Unfortunately this is the other dogs problem and it’s difficult for you to do anything about it. I would not let my pups get into this situation as it’s too easy for them to get frightened.
I think you were lucky not that have similar situations in the UK, we come across it all the time along with owners shouting cheerily that their dog is friendly and just being a dog 🤔.

[tabulahrasa]

“This never happened back in the UK (well, maybe once) but it’s almost constant here.“

It’s sadly a side effect of only ever getting to freely socialise in a free for all like that, I’m on American forums and most sensible dog owners hate leash laws and dog parks for the very reason, they’re full of badly socialised dogs.

It does happen over here too, but but not to the same extent.

[Wimpling]

Thanks for your thoughts! I think we’ve been lucky with where we were back in the UK - the dogs were generally well socialised and either got on, or ignored each other.

It sounds as if trying to fish him out of these situations when they happen is the way forward because you’re right, I wouldn’t want to see him getting nervous and scared around bigger dogs. Thanks for your advice.