Reluctant to play at puppy school?

[Diva'sOwner]

So we started puppy school! My saucy little 13 week girl loves to go. She is so excited to see all the puppies and she LOVES seeing all the people. We work on the few commands that we had for homework first and then there is "recess" and we stand back and let the puppies play together off leash. On leash, Haley loves to greet all the puppies. She tries to play with them one on one. Off leash, however, after two classes she is way more interested in (in this order):

1. The room. Running around, sniffing every corner. Checking out all the furniture.
2. The people and their kids. After checking out the room, she races to EVERY single person present (except me) and greets them, licks them, jumps in their laps.
3. The food the people in the room have on them. She sits and waits for people to feed her treats. She will do this until they finally ignore her.
4. The toys that happen to be out for the puppies to play with--together. She steals all the toys and hides them from who knows who. The people get a kick out of watching her snatch up all the toys and hide them.
Meanwhile, back in the class, all the other puppies are tearing around, crashing into each other, playing. Haley may glance at them but if they topple over her, she moves out of the way and even hopped in the instructor's cat's bed to chew on a toy and watch the other puppies play!
The instructor said that some dogs are just perimeter dogs and that it's no big deal that she doesn't want to play in the pack. I'm dying for her to burn up some of that energy and join the crowd. I wanted to try to insert myself into the group to see if I could get her to play with the pack but the instructor was against this. Is it weird that she's only interested in playing one on one? She plays very well with the dog who lives next door to us. Because of this reserve, the instructor has dubbed her the one big dog that the two tiny dogs in the class can play with (on leash). It's like, "Let the terrier meet Haley. She's the gentle one." To me she's reluctant to run around and join the other big dogs one! The other dogs are all a little older and bigger than her but I don't think she's intimidated by their size.

I must also add her that at the end of our last class, this hyper lab puppy shot around the room in big circles. All the other puppies chased her and as soon as Haley saw her running, Haley joined in for the chase and all the people cheered. Still, she seemed to not know how to play with the bunch of them and I'm thinking this could be because she only had one littermate?

[Diva'sOwner]

From another thread I posted about drives, I'm thinking her reluctance to play with the other dogs in a group could be a weaker pack drive? But she is very happy to be with the people and comes flying to me whenever I call her.

[Diva'sOwner]

We have puppy class again soon. Any advice on how to help her feel more comfortable playing in the off leash pack? Anyone?

[Judi W]

She packs with people which is what is desireable in a companion animal. You need to get rid of your emotional need for her to be part of a dog pack which serves no one. While it might be entertaining to watch, it provides nothing in the skills she needs as a family companion. She already knows how to be a dog, is accepting of being around other dogs. How nice to be training a dog that pays attention to its owner instead of trying to start a game with the other dogs when it is work time. That is the one thing these KPT play sessions do that cause a problem for the dogs as they move forward in their training. They have to learn that they are not attending classes to mix it up with the other dogs.

[Diva'sOwner]

Thank you, Judy, for your reply. I do love that she's so into people. I just thought she was supposed to also want to be in a dog pack. I am content with her playing one on one, then and I will continue to feed her or praise her when she runs up to me in class.