Louise is four and a half months old. She's a cocker spaniel/poodle mix, so she's small and we live in a very dog friendly part of the city, so she's constantly interacting with other dogs. We live a 2 minute walk from a huge off-leash area on the beach.
She was really great about interacting with other dogs and then about a week ago she had a little fear phase that lasted for a few days and now she's more confident than ever. The thing is that most of the dogs she meets are bigger than she is so she has learnt how to play with bigger, more aggressive (in a playful sort of way, not a dangerous way) dogs. She has some puppy friends who she wrestles with and plays chase with and they're great matches for each other. I love seeing them play together. She's also sweet, curious and playful with dogs she's meeting for the first time and at least 5 people have told me that their dog has never played well with anyone before playing with Louise
This is my problem: For a long time she wasn't interested in dogs her own size, but suddenly she has become interested in them and the problem is that she plays with them the way she plays with the bigger dogs; jumping up and super excited and wants to roll around. Today we were in the dog park as usual and a girl had a tiny Pomeranian mix puppy. It was obviously not well-socialized, maybe due to age? Anyway, Louise ran up to it to play like she does with most dogs and this puppy had no idea what to do and just got scared. She jumped on the puppy and the puppy squealed and the owner got upset and picked up her dog, so I called Louise back to me and we went over to another part of the park.
How do I teach her to play more gently with smaller, more submissive or less social dogs?