How rough is too rough?

Whispered

Both of my boys are neutered, Harley is 4, Phoe is 2. Harley is about 10kg heavier than Phoe, and both are very boisterous. When they play with each other they really seem to go hell for leather, they drag each other around by the skin on their faces, pull out of each others legs, they really look like they are hurting each other. Phoe is usually the one who looks to be winning.

They will stop IMMEDIATELY if told and the calm down quickly, they get on very well and besides usual arguments they are great together. There is never any blood and if one hurts the other they are well able to stop the game and take a break.

They both play more gently when with other dogs, although with Harley I do have to stay extra vigilant with to ensure he doesn't push it. I was wondering if other dog owners police how their dogs play? How rough is too rough? If they are both happy should I leave them to it? They only ever seem to play when my husband or I are in the room too, I'd imagine this is normal?

tk123

For me if both of them are at it it's ok but if one is doing all the biting/dragging I step in. There's one dog in our park who floors my guy and drags him around by the scruff of the neck - my guy doesn't seem to like it but doesn't react so I always stop it. The other dog in this case is younger than him so I suspect my guy is letting him away with it and being patient with him but his ear was all red and sore looking after it one evening so no more.

Cherry Blossom

My Westie is used to playing with very big dogs mostly, and play between her and the pup gets very rough, for the minute I'm limiting how much interaction they have by having one in the crate and one out most of the time and have split the dog run in two which has resulted in both of them lying next to each other on their own sides of the divide for a lot of the time. The pup won't leave her alone and won't sit still at all unless he's crated because he just wants to play all the time. Once he's old enough and developed enough that he isn't going to get damaged by so much activity, and has learned/been taught to settle down I'd have no issue with them playing rough as I imagine they will be fairly evenly matched with the Westie being a bit smaller but also slightly more robust. They are mostly mouthing each other but the pup will roll over on his back sometimes and she'll try to pin him down when does. There's a lot of growling and the occasional bark from the pup but no one is getting obviously hurt. Only 2 pups in the litter and he was bullying his sister before he came home so he's off to socialisation classes as soon as. I can get them to stop by asking them to sit for a treat, but the pup doesn't have much of an attention span yet and it he's straight back at her again once he gets his treat. Trying to walk them together is going to be heaps of fun :rolleyes:

Kash

My two are within a couple of kilos of each other, so there is no 'bullying', if you know what I mean. So I generally let them off to play as rough as they like - if one yelps, they both stop - but they have the measure of each other, so this hardly ever happens.

Whispered

So long as nobody is bullying the other then I suppose I should leave them to it. They have fun together but it looks so painful! They both have squishy faces so loads of skin to drag out of. :rolleyes:

I imagine that visitors or people who see them playing out the back must be horrified.

Never any yelping, but I've never heard either of them yelp, so I'm not sure if that means anything really.

Kash

Yeah, mine look like they are causing grevious bodily harm, but they they are just playing.

Do keep an eye on them though - one of mine managed to get her lower jaw caught in the others collar, then flipped over so that she had twisted the collar, choking the other dog, and trapping herself. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't been there!

boardbrowser

i would suggest that you interrupt the playing every 2 minutes just to give them a break so it doesn' t escalate with one of them not being necessarily consenting to this type of rough and tumble play.
the litmus test is to physically intervene by holding the collar of the one that appears to be the most 'boisterous' and see what the other dog does.
if the non restrained dog comes back straight away for more fun and games then let them at it, if he/she walks away and appears to need some time to gather his/her thoughts then you have the answer, non consenting play at that particular moment.
sometimes it's okay to police the situation but obviously you can't police them when you are not present and they come to their own arrangement.

Whispered

This is exactly what we do. The more boisterous one (it changes) is sent to their bed, if the other follows to continue their game I leave them at it.

I know it's probably silly, but it looks so painful! Being dragged across the floor by your face is not my idea of fun!