Sniping

Question
QUESTION: I have a 3 year-old husky boy who is very sweet and gentle, and he is also quite playful.  When he initiates play with other dogs, he often snipes at them and this typically makes the other dogs defensive and/or angry and results not in play but in more aggressive behavior (growling, barking or even fighting).  My dog is not aggressive in nature; he is just trying to get the other dogs to play.  But this intro to play is causing bad results.  Is there some way to break him of that habit?

ANSWER: Quick question, where does he nip the dog he wants to play with him?
-Michelle B

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: He will typically go into a "down dog" position in front of the dog he's trying to play with, and then he snipes in the general direction of the other dog's face.

Answer
Standing in front of the other dog, he is demanding that he play with him, which is rude and dominant. A polite dog usually play bows then goes to the other dogs side and nip at the bottom jaw from there.
One way to break him of this is keep him dragging a leash, when you see him being rude, give it a tug. What he is doing is the equivalent of someone telling you, you have to come with them and attempting to talk to you to come along even though you already said no, and you don't know them at all. Growling is a dog saying no, I am sure being a husky he is to stubborn to listen.
I have a husky that would do this to my old dog, he doesn't do it anymore because I let my old dog teach him a lesson, sounds cruel, but Blue just bit him 1 time really good and he finally got the message. I was trying to train him not to do it and couldn't get him to stop, because he would start up again when I left.
But in that case I knew Blue wouldn't hurt my other boy to bad and I also knew Aysumi was such a block head he needed to see why himself. But it sounds like he deals with strange dogs that way. So supervision and a leash will be about all that would work for you.
Maybe a shock collar??? But have someone who knows what they are doing show you how to use is properly.
-Michelle B