aggressive play behavior

Question
Hi,
I have a 2 year old female spayed Great Dane that I adopted from a shelter about 2 months ago.  I am having some issues with her.  I go to an off lead dog park daily.  The dogs walk and run for about an hour.  Lucy loves to play with other dogs, but will often grab the back of the neck of dogs when playing or, particularly when chasing them.  This especially occurs in chase with more submissive dogs.  She doesn't do this with puppies.  I am having a very hard time correcting her in the moment.  Partly because I can't get to her and she doesn't seem to hear me in the excitement of play.  When I can reach her, I tell her no and take her out of play (time out).  It is often hard to catch the exact moment she is doing it and correct in the moment.  She does appear to be trying to dominate, but is CLEARLY still playing.  I don't know if this is aggressive behavior or not, but because of her size, it seems to worry other dog owners, therefore I want to break the behavior.  Any training suggestions?  BTW, I have a Shibu Inu/husky mix that we have had for a week or so, also.  She does not usually play this way with him.  She is very egalitarian-sometimes laying down submissively to play and sometimes dominating, but rarely grabbing his neck.  I have to say that she is also rather stubborn.  I often have to give her commands repeatedly before she obeys.  I always follow through and make her do things, but clearly, she doesn't think she has to obey immediately.  I would greatly appreciate any advice you have.  Thanks!  Tracy

Answer
Hi, Tracy,

Thanks for the question.

From my perspective your great Dane isn't doing anything terribly wrong at the dog run. It's very doubtful that any "correcting" you could do will "fix" the problem without creating other, more serious problems down the road. If she were my dog the only thing I might do is teach her what "easy..." means.

Think of it this way: if a dog is full of emotion and is involved in an activity that releases tension, it's going to be hard for her to listen to you when you say "Stop releasing tension like that!" That doesn't give her an alternative. Saying, "Easy, honey! Go easy, girl!" she can more easily respond because you're giving her an alternative way of behaving, not just telling her to stop having fun altogether.

As for your shiba/husky mix, it's not unusual for shibas to behave this way. You have to figure out what motivates her and gear your training around that. Do you ever play tug-of-war with her? Or fetch?

LCK