Puppy Play or Dominance?

[elbykitty]

Hello
This is my first puppy and I need some advise. I have a 12 week old boxer boy (Oscar) and am unsure if he is just being playful or dominant. I have a 2.5 year old female foxhound(Lilly) that tends to be very timid and he is constantly biting on her legs, neck, ears and mounting her. Growls and barks when she is eating, chewing on toys, getting attention from me and generally doing anything he wants to be doing, he does this with all new dogs. I try to discourage this behavior by telling him no and giving him the appropriate toy to chew on, then praising him when he chews on that. This only happens in the house, although my foxhound is a inside dog she does not play in the house (her own doing), when outside she reverses it and wrestles, mouths him ,holds him down with her paw and generally terrorizes him, and he gets very upset "How Dare You?", but she is not hurting him. I am trying to let them work this out themselves but I think he may be getting mixed messages, this behavior is appropriate for her but not me. I am just unsure what to do, let them work it out or take them outdoors seperately. Which putting them outdoors seperately would be hard, he seems to take cues from her and goes potty outside as a result. They also sleep together at night and that seems to be event free, she takes this opportunity to clean him. He generally appears to feel bad when he hurt her, she yelps, his ears go down, his tail starts wagging, he starts licking her, and looks like he is saying "Oh I am so sorry, so sorry". The whole mounting all other dogs is getting embarrassing , but I am just not sure if he is playing or being bossy.
Lilly and Oscars mom
Cara

[Lolita]

My goodness, it sounds like you are describing my situation. I have a 4.5 month old boxer female named Lola and a 3.5 year old boxer male foster named Halo. Lola is constantly harrassing Halo. It is horrible. She is always on his back (literally) trying to bite on his jowls, his ears, his legs... anything she can get in her mouth. She also makes horrible growling sounds while this is happening. Poor Halo is so patient. He is a very calm dog and does not really want to play day and night. Most of the time he ignores her or puts a paw on her neck to hold her down and away from him. Sometimes he rolls around with her on the floor and chews on her. I assume at these times they are playing. However, sometimes Halo plays a bit too hard (he weighs 70 pounds and she weighs 28) and she yelps. When I start to see it get rough I say "gentle Halo" and he will back off. When she yelps he backs off as well. I feel sorry for Halo because it is non-stop and I do not want to intervene because I figure they can work it out themselves. However, I do not know how to make Lola back off. Often I will separate them just to give Halo a break.