How do I stop this?

[SwearyMary]

My, almost, 6 month old puppy is a delight. She is well behaved and very good in all ways. Except this.......
She absolutely hates several of the other local pups, to the point of hackles up, teeth out, bowling the other puppy over and going for its neck . She is fine with other small dogs, in fact all dogs. We regularly walk with other dogs and meet new dogs, she is fine with them, friendly and plays really well. I actually had to drag her off one pup this week and take her away (is that the right thing to do) because she was relentless in the biting of his neck.
How do I correct this behaviour?

Are you sure she doesn't like them? My dog and one other we know do the teeth-baring thing as part of their play and the neck biting thing is a feature of a lot of dogs' play as well. She has one small puppy friend who sometimes comes over for play dates and they basically spend the entire time biting eachother's necks They are of similar age (a few months old) and she doesn't do it so much with older dogs, I think because they can't be bothered with such youthful enthusiasm and won't tolerate it from her.

It does sound like over excited puppy play.

How do the other dogs react? Do they run off cowering, or do they hold their ground and wait for more?

i tend to agree with the others, that she is over excited and playing.

My two still do this, which is fine but one is 4 years old and weighs in at 46kg and the other is 3 and is 34kg, imagine that in a house I live in hope that one day they might just grow up . they do stop when told to though.

The other two puppies that she picks on seem to just lay there and take it but one yelps as if she is hurting him. They do 'come back for more' though. The owner of one seems to not mind but the other one has made me feel my pup needs an ASBO.....she is a lovely dog really, very friendly.
I guess my question is then - How do I handle the situation in order to not make my pup seem like the bad guy?
I'm not sure its hatred, I assume so as she behaves differently with all other dogs, except theses two

Maybe she is more competitive with those two for some reason? Are they bigger than her, maybe?

She is the bigger pup by a long way, she is a lab/collie and stands knee high weighing 20kg. The others are quite small still and only about 17weeks old. She is almost 6 months old.

It's puppy play!

And they pretty much moderate themselves while they're doing it. We call it teeth and handbags in this house - masses of noise - yelping and other noises, lots of teeth and play biting/nibbling and lots of standing on top of each other looking as though blue murder is being done.

But it isn't.

They're learning social skills, bite inhibition and other valuable doggy skills. If one of them goes too far, then the other will make a little whining noise; or a louder one if it really hurt and the other will back right off - and then they'll start again.

I intervene if one of them is trying to get away from the other (play has gone too far) or if I think they're getting too exuberant and in danger of accidentally hurting each other.

You're the one in charge, so if you don't like what your dog is doing, stop her. But it is a perfectly normal thing for dogs to do. If she really wanted, at 6 months and 20kg, to hurt a younger or smaller pup, she would have done it by now.

My guess is these particular dogs give off a puppy play signal, but can't quite cope with a bigger, older dog and can't quite hold their own - and she isn't old enough to control herself successfully.

I'd let them play and separate them before it gets too exciting. It will pass.

So, how do you know when it's not playing, but has become aggression? My 7.5month old is a right bully with my SIL's 18 month old dog. They're moreorless the same breed although mine is bigger, despite being younger. They do this horrible snarling thing, although both tails are wagging and they both go back for more. Mine is more dominant I think - barges the other out of the way going through doors and so on.
I look after both once or twice a week and it's not very restful, to be honest.

So, I should stop worrying so much! I shall continue to walk her in the same way and moderate her rough play in the same way. Its just a bit worrying when the other pups owner is obviously horrified!!!

It's definitely not restful!

And I'd take it that if they're going back for more, they're enjoying it. In our house it seems to be the best game ever.

With mine, the older dog always lets the younger one look as though they're in charge but with a bit of careful observation you can see they're not. It's a bit like letting children win at a game.

Here, the younger one does all the chasing; all the game starting. The older ones will either respond or not, depending on their mood. The noise is awful - it really does sound as though they're about to kill each other with all teeth on show.

Our most dominant dog is the one who does nothing in particular at all. She lets everyone do just as they please. She's not bothered about who goes though the door first, nor who jumps on furniture nor who's fed first. She's sort of above that sort of thing. She knows that most disagreements will be sorted out with no intervention from her. Very, very occasionally she will take some sort of swift, clear action which leaves no doubt in anyone's mind of who's in charge! A truly dominant dog is the one who doesn't often need to push themselves forward.

I'm fascinated by the dynamics of my little fleet of dogs.

I do separate them or distract them with a bit of training when I've had enough. I don't let them do it for long because it I worry they will accidentally break a leg or something. And because I don't think it's so good for the fixtures and fittings .

sweary - the other owner is the one who will probably end up with a badly socialised dog! They need to learn to speak dog.