Rough Play Fighting

[Snout Girl]

My Bert and Sally like to play fight. A lot. And very rough. There has never been any punctures or blood.

Neither of them squels or runs away, so we assume they must just like it?

It gets VERY rough at times and we get concerned but are confused as neither is yelping or walking away?

should we intervene or is this normal dog play behaviour?

we are very confused at what we should do!

[MolassesLass]

I don't think anyone can really say what is going on without knowing your dogs and seeing things first hand.

I personally do not interfere in dog-to-dog interaction unless I KNOW that something bad has gone on or is about to. In the case of play this would be a yelp of pain. I would then be focussed on things so that if they did not make up and modify their play I can step in. All the growling and snapping is ignored - they are dogs and this is their language.

Another thing to watch is how the dogs interact when they are not play fighting. If the dogs are comfortable in each other's presence (one isn't avoiding or slinking away from the other) and both dogs initiate play then it's likely they are fine.

[Snout Girl]

I don't think anyone can really say what is going on without knowing your dogs and seeing things first hand.

I personally do not interfere in dog-to-dog interaction unless I KNOW that something bad has gone on or is about to. In the case of play this would be a yelp of pain. I would then be focussed on things so that if they did not make up and modify their play I can step in. All the growling and snapping is ignored - they are dogs and this is their language.

Another thing to watch is how the dogs interact when they are not play fighting. If the dogs are comfortable in each other's presence (one isn't avoiding or slinking away from the other) and both dogs initiate play then it's likely they are fine.

Thanks for your reply Molasseslass.

There is sometimes growling and snapping which makes us think we should intervene but then Bert will seek her out a few seconds later for round 2- so as you said, it is most likely just doggie interaction and they are fine.

when they are not play fighting (or fighting over a toy), which is rare , they are fine with each other. bert adores sally and follows her everywhere. sally in turn is quite protective over bert, runing up putting herself between him and another dog at the beach which surprised us as we thought she viewed him as a pain in the ass!

[lovemymutts]

My 2 staggies play unbelievably rough, they tried it with my old boy & got a right old telling off! So they figure that they can play rougher with each other and do, I am amazed sometimes, they grab each other & thrash around like they would with a rope toy & smack into each other when they're doing zoomies, the boy has a habit of smacking into the BBQ door but it's hilarious to watch & much better entertainment than the telly!

[spoilt lab lives here]

I step in when Leila gets too rough and Friend starts to yelp a bit because she has him pinned and he cant move. Ramses and Leila I let them go for it! They love it and have a great time and because they are similar sizes no need to step in really.

[Dame Aussie]

Our two are out of control!! They wrestle like maniacs but have never actually hurt each other.

Every now and then one of them might crack it or freak out and snap at the other but that's the end of it.

I love watching them play. When we first brought Mosley home Lili wrestled with him allll day, and I MEAN LITERALLY :laugh

There is quite a difference in size with our two, Mo is 45kg and Lili is 22kg, she can actually run underneath him, and does it all the time.

[corvus]

With my two? When one has tried to end the game non-violently and the other is not taking the hint. Otherwise, I let them do their thing. Kivi squeals sometimes, but I have a sneaking suspicion he does it when he wants to bite Erik and can't because Erik has him by the neck. Basically, Kivi is a whiner and will lie on the ground on his back and whine but make no effort to actually get up and out of the way. He's twice Erik's size, so it's not like he's helpless. Mostly, they are very considerate of each other and what I think looks painful is just good fun to them. I've seen Erik halt a very wild game of chase with Kivi when he's had enough. He just turns around and faces him and just like that Kivi's glassy-eyed look vanishes and they have a few tension-relieving shakes.

[sas]

My current 2 don't play, however with previous fosters, rough play gets chucked outside and if I personaly think it's too much I tell them to calm down, although in saying that it's hard to say as we can't see your own dogs in action.

[Zebette]

Our two play rough (well I consider it rough) but none of the noises are growling and much of the time the tails are still wagging, neither seems to be actually trying to get away from the other and they have never broken skin on each other either and when not playing they love each other's company, sleep near to each other, don't fight over food etc. The only issue I have with my dogs playing is the noise of it...our Delilah is so so so vocal and loud. It's not barking, it's not growling..I can only describe it as her "talking" but I sometimes wonder what on earth the neighbours must think of it!

Even when not playing though she can be vocal (again not barking) but with her sighs, whimpers, snorty smiles etc. Apparently her breeder says her mother was very vocal too.

[Odin-Genie]

Our two are out of control!! They wrestle like maniacs but have never actually hurt each other.

Same here. Genie, my goldie would jump up on Odin, throw him to the floor and sit on him ;) then Odin would do the same. There is a substantial amount of growling and play biting, but it usually ends in both of them lying on the floor facing each other and snapping teeth while they catch their breath!!!

[poochmad]

Our two play quite rough as well. The only time I ever step in is when Jindi is being extremely rough chasing him in the backyard. She has a tendancy to bite him on the back and tail and often he will yelp, stop, put his ears back and his taild between his legs which says to me he's not happy. That happens very rarely now, and they play together quite well, even though the dog that's often crying is Henschke not Jindi. However, his tail never stops wagging and he constantly goes back for more.