Can you overplay with a dog?

The most important thing to remember during constructive play is not to overstimulate your dog too much. We want them to be excited but not so excited that they aren’t able to respond to commands. Playing fetch with your dog can be quite overstimulating and encourage excessive chasing if you don’t enforce clear boundaries and training. If your dog breaks their ‘sit’ or ‘down’ before you say ‘get it’, reset by asking for a sit or down again. If your dog is struggling to hold their position, you may need to reduce the length of time you’ve asked them to stay before rewarding them with a toy.

When dogs are 'playing' we need to watch their body language in order to truly see how a dog is feeling about that 'play' and to ensure that both dogs are enjoying the interaction. These are called meta-signals. They include play bows, bouncy movements, having relaxed, partly open mouths, curling and turning their bottoms into each other and lying down or stopping to pause play for brief moments. In appropriate dog play, you will see the following signs and signals: Relaxed and loose posture with bouncy movements, Play bows, Turning their bottoms into each other, Role reversal, Fair wrestling, Racing around, Mutual pausing in play, Self-handicapping, Inhibited biting and mouthing, Cocalising, Shake-off's. Remember dogs should not be allowed to just 'work it out between themselves'. As dog guardians, we must monitor their interactions and intervene if we feel it is necessary so that your dog and the those they are playing with stay safe and only learn appropriate play behaviour. It is worth mentioning however, that rough play doesn't necessarily mean that you have an aggressive dog but just bear in mind that the way they play, could result in an aggressive interaction. Therefore, always look for reciprocated, fair and even play and intervene if that play is appearing to be one-sided or where any party is looking more over aroused than the other.

When we roughhouse with our dog, because we’re not dogs, we don’t master the rules of play and will often bring the excitement level out of control. Dogs chase, grab, push and sometimes play rough with other dogs. Some dogs however play too rough, in a hyper-aroused state. If we roughhouse with our dog, a few rules will help keep the situation under control: Put the behavior on cue and don’t encourage it when the dog initiates roughhousing without the cue. We’re teaching the dog that humans are fun playmates to wrestle with and jump on. If we adopt the dog when we’re young adults, will it be OK for the dog to play this way when we have toddlers or when our friends visit with their children? The dog will not always know the difference and understand when it’s alright to play this way or when it’s not. Certain movements that we make or things that we say, that are similar to those used during roughhousing could trigger rough responses from the dog. Any behavior that has the potential to hurt a person can lead to injuries or lawsuits and the dog will pay the consequences. Keeping everybody safe, the family, the visitors and the dog should always be the priority when making the decision to roughhouse or not.