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gentle
When our lab was about 1 yr old we brought home two very tiny kittens. At first he wanted to play rough with them too. He bowed and hopped around and generally acted crazy. The kittens would get all poofy, hiss and genrally let him know he was on their last nerves. When ever he got out of hand I made him sit and lay and be calm next to me on the floor for a few minutes. Slowly the cats came to him in this position and I said the word gentle over and over again when ever he sniffed them or licked them kindly. If he became too excited the cats skittered away and I would help (not force) him calm down again. After a few days of this introduction he knew the word gentle. I would say it when ever the cats came near and he would treat them accordingly. We praised him when ever he had a successful gentle interaction with them. Dont get me wrong he still had a few moments when he decided he wanted to play rough and chase with them. We always corrected with the word gentle in a calm voice. Before you knew it they were crawling into his crate with him at night to sleep. The cats layed on top of him in the living room and they often shared the water bowl and each others food (much to my annoyance).Their interactions became about snuggling and cleaning each other and less about play. The word gentle has transfered to small kids and skittish or older dogs at the dog park. I dont know if it works with all dogs but it worked with Duke.
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