Tarzan Play Style

Often when dogs are not socialized to other dogs in the first six months, they never learn how to approach other dogs gracefully to initiate play.  Instead they often run up barking and growling which looks very aggressive but really is just their excited way of saying they want to play.  This is usually not well received by the dog they want to play with.  Imagine raising a daughter in the mountains for 20 years and then all of a sudden, taking her to Seattle to go to a ritzy cocktail party.  Not only would she be overwhelmed and amazed at all the lights, people, food and drinks but she probably wouldn’t act in a socially acceptable way.  This is what Tarzan dogs are like.  They are just so excited and overwhelmed, they don’t read the normal play signals of the dogs around them. 

 This is a difficult situation to train and we don’t recommend you do it without a trainer present.  To get a Tarzan to learn the social rules of dog-dog play, you have to find a really well mannered dog who doesn’t react to a rude play partner.  You give your Tarzan a warning if his behavior is not polite and then a timeout if he continues.  The instructions for timeouts are included.  This is a very sensitive process because a Tarzan can be really off putting with barking, body slams, growling etc.  You don’t want the other, therapy dog to start being fearful of dogs because of this one bad experience.  It’s important to do short sessions and if you can, use different dogs often.

 You could completely avoid this situation by keeping you dog away from other dogs.  This might be easier, less time consuming and less expensive.  Buy your dog lots of toys and take him on walks in private parks so he can have a happy and wonderful dog free life!

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