I have a few questions regarding puppy on puppy play. Our neighbours have a 16 week old Sprocker called Rum and a 3 year old Sprocker called Meg and Nelly (my pup) is almost 12 weeks. They met for the first time a few weeks ago and then again, today. Nelly is wary for the first 30 seconds but then goes full force. They run round the room countless amount of times. Rum is faster than Nelly but Nelly is chunkier and stronger. Nelly seems to be on top of Rum most of the time and clamps down on her. Rum yelped once out of the whole play date and I moved them away from each other every now and again for time outs. Nelly can get a bit carried away. I really can't tell if Nelly is being aggressive and whether or not she is really biting hard or not. My previous dog was a rescue and had behavioural issues from the start so we rarely saw her play with other dogs so I'm not sure what to look for. Any signs or ways of telling?? It's awful to watch at times but at the same time I don't know if they're just playing and giving and taking just as much as each other?
At 12 weeks, she is not aggressive, don't worry. Sometimes play looks and sounds very scary, but that's normal - it's practice for fighting, after all. Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't step in and break it up sometimes - some puppies don't have an "off" switch, so need to learn to moderate. It's also a very valuable lesson to learn to be around other dogs without interacting with them. Basically, don't let your puppy practice behaviours that would wouldn't want to see when she's nigh-on 30kg. The biggest indicator of whether she's playing nicely or if she's being a bully is whether the pups take turns "winning". If it's alway her on top, then separate them and let Rum have a break.
How lucky for you to have a playmate and an adult dog right next door. They can get pretty rough when they play. They don't knwo their own strength and they don't have good control so yelps will happen. Unless Rum is hiding from Nelly I'd let it continue but step in every now and then, break it up when it gets too rough. Meg might be the ideal dog to do this for you, an adult female is less likely to put up with puppy non sense; as long as Meg herself is not too rough.
Okay- I'm reassured again by the forum! Rum wasn't hiding she was giving it back a bit too. So basically, leave them be and interfere occasionally when necessary. Thank you
Yes it is so good! I live in the heart of the countryside surrounded by dogs and all sorts of animals for that matter
Our 20 month pup and our 11 yr old dog still play fight and it looks ferocious, but no one ever draws blood or yelps.
We can actually stick our hand in between the puppy 'biting' and the older dog and you can shove your hand in between the pressure isnt that hard. The yelping is usually the older dog teaching the younger one when its clamped down too hard so it learns. In fact ours make a lot of noice but often the whole jaw is over the neck etc (as in not even gettign a hold). Watch very closely and you'll see how they do take care and there are unwritten rules and just remember if you mention food or something they will probably just stop in their tracks and look at you with that 'um what where' look
Oh yes. That's how I train the 'enough' command. Treats on their mats, they stop in a nano second ...
My boy and my sisters boy play hard - there is 10 weeks between them with my sisters boy being the older of the two. They take turns over wins. They would go on forever especially playing bitey face while boxing, but every so often we step in and make them take a break. They really are best buddies.
This is a picture taken today during a break in play (there was a piece of cheese for each of them being held above me!). Riley, my sisters boy is nearest the camera and my Bailey is the one furthest away. This is them when Bailey was about 11 weeks old - he is the tiny puppy - I'm sure he was never that small!!!
