How rough should puppies play?
Margarett Hessel
2025-06-22 07:45:11
Count answers: 9
If 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. When dogs have all the right social skills, they have many ways to keep the situation under control. They stop and pause regularly, allowing for the excitement to go down and adapt to the size and strength of their playmate. Some dogs however play too rough, in a hyper-aroused state. If we still chose to 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. Take short breaks and allow the dog to calm down on a regular basis. Don’t push the excitement level too high.
Jordi Parisian
2025-06-22 07:03:05
Count answers: 4
With puppies, this is rarely aggressive behavior in which the intent is to do harm. The goals of working with this normal puppy behavior are to redirect your puppy’s desire to put something in her mouth onto acceptable chew toys and to teach her to be gentle when a hand is in her mouth. At first, you may need to pet or scratch your puppy for short periods of time, since the longer she’s petted, the more likely she is to get excited and start to nip. You must also teach your puppy to be gentle with hands, and that nipping results in unpleasant consequences for her. Teach your puppy that nipping turns off any attention and social interaction with you. After a nip, look your puppy right in the eye, and yell, “Ouch!” as though you’ve been mortally wounded, then ignore her. It may take many repetitions for her to understand what’s expected. Remember that any of these three methods will probably not be effective unless you work hard to teach your puppy the right behavior by offering her an acceptable chew toy.
Olen Romaguera
2025-06-22 05:50:18
Count answers: 10
When we allow puppies to roughhouse with each other, especially with larger puppies they quickly move from lighthearted play to sparring and mock battle. What they are doing is reverting/regressing to sibling behaviors that encourage competition and bringing down one’s opponent. You can tell when a puppy is about to go ballistic during play, his energy level will become increasingly intense and explosive. As his brain fills with adrenaline he quickly moves into a state he cannot change or stop. This is when play turns to sparring and mock battle, when the competition starts to feel too real and puppies slip into fight mode. The downside of allowing your puppy to roughhouse with another puppy, a grown dog, or a person is that once he’s learned rough play is permissible it’s challenging to teach him to stop. Better to teach your pup how to be calm, learn a new way to interact, and throttle back with those sharp weapons. If you listen to the vocalizations of both participants it can sound like mortal combat, these are the sounds that tell you it’s well past time to break things up, take a time out, and have your puppy do something else.
Frederick Brakus
2025-06-22 04:04:12
Count answers: 8
Proper play is equal. For example, chase is ok if I chase you and you chase me. Pinning is ok, if I pin you then let you up and you pin me. If I am just chasing you or not letting you up, play is not equal, I’m being a bully and an owner needs to interfere and stop play. Proper play is relaxed. The body of your puppy should be loose, bouncy, wiggly with a relaxed wagging tail and a big silly grin. As soon as that body stiffens and the tail tucks or straightens (even if still wagging), an owner needs to interfere. Proper play can include biting (mouthing) each other. This is ok unless a puppy bites too hard causing the other puppy to yelp and DOES NOT let go. Sometimes they bite too hard by accident, it happens they are learning, but they must let go.
Kelsie Harvey
2025-06-22 02:49:48
Count answers: 8
Puppies can play rough. Puppy play consists of chasing, pouncing, barking, growling and biting. Although normal play can become intense, it’s important to be able to distinguish normal from abnormal behavior. In normal play, a puppy may bow, present its front and side to the owner, wag its tail, dart back and forth, emit high pitched barks and growls, and spontaneously attack people or objects. Generally, its ears will be up and its mouth will be open and relaxed. Problem behaviors are prolonged, deep tone growling, a fixed staring gaze, stiff posture and lip curling. Puppies less than 12 weeks of age that react to pain or fear by growling or snapping are responding abnormally.