[TheMongoose]

My girl and I recently adopted a 4 mo. old Australian Shepherd mix, Leahnoyse, who was severely shy, but is getting warmer by the day. The rescue foundation thinks she was a runaway who went wild with her brother, but only had guesses concerning her history. In short, it is believed she and her brother ran away and were wild for a period of time. When at the adoption event, she played well with her brother, whom we were unable to adopt, but now that we have her home she has developed a nasty little trick when playing with Garfunkel. Garfunkel is a 13# Boston terrier/shih-tzu mix. His hair is long and wiry and stands up more than it lays down, making it the perfect pulling hair. Leahnoyse will walk up behind Garfunkel, bite the hair on the top of his head, and roll, pulling him backwards and over her, slamming his head into the ground. I can accept the faux biting of the legs and the wrestling, but a blind side suplex I cannot. I've started the isolation technique, but it seems to increase her shyness. Is there any other techniques I should try?

[dogs rule]

Because of the age and soon to be the size difference, this type of play would be hard on Garfunkel.
But that all this is, is play. My 2 Shiloh Shepherds play this way all the time. Brody will "sneak" up on Keegan and grab him by the scruff of the neck and pull him to the ground. Mind you they are close in age and size.

And because this is play and as you said "isolation technique" -not sure what this is?- isn't working, it's probably because she is feeling punished for something that comes natural to her, like playing.

The Aussie is a very active and intelliegent dog.
She will have endless energy. She needs to be keep busy.
Lots of long walks, maybe a dog park, puppy training classes, and lots of play time with you and anyother person in the house. Maybe with all this she will leave Garfunkel alone, or atleast not to be to rough on the poor old guy.

But, don't punish her for something that she doesn't know is wrong, and frankly what she is doing isn't wrong. She is just being a dog.

Hope this helps, take care.

[smooches]

I agree with Dogs Rule, but I would also keep them separated when I wasn't home to oversee their play. A very active youngster and a more sedentary older dog do need supervised play and there is a size difference to take into account as well.