Single dog household - how often does your dog play with others?

Ella is our only dog and I'm worried that she doesn't get to play with other dogs very often. I've mentioned before about her obsession with her friend River and I'm now beginning to wonder if it's because she's one of the only dogs that she ever gets to have a free run and play with.

She sees and greets other dogs all the time (mostly on lead - this is very normal for where we live due to the lead restrictions) but she very rarely gets to have a bit of a hoolie with another dog.

How often do your dogs get to have a play with others?

I feel like I need to try and find some local doggie friends for Ella to be able to walk and play with

 

I sometimes attend a weekday morning "group walk" at a local beach - I only attend because it's mid-week so we're usually a small group. Xena greets everybody, has a quick hoolie and then...buggers off and does her own thing, which is sniffing, splashing, and eating seaweed. She seems so very dog-focussed when we meet dogs on our walks, but when she has "free time" she couldn't care less. There are masses of group walks that are organised all over Wellington, all on Facebook. That could be a starting point for you?

 

Homer is an only dog but has gone to a small dog day care since he was about 4 months old. So he should be well socialised but he’s a loner. He has one dog friend at his day care but he doesn’t interact and play with the others much, he just goes off doing his own thing. On walks with us he will sometimes play with other dogs we meet but not often. He much prefers humans than dogs and will go up to people in the park and encourage them to play ball with him (obviously I monitor this carefully).

 

Coco only gets to play/see other dogs once a week at dog school. I feel bad, because he clearly has a good time when he's playing, but he's doing it in a very controlled environment. Out and about he'd be a bit of a nightmare.
There is a very nice day care opened just down the road from us, I am considering trying him out there for a morning.

 

Molly doesn’t often choose to play with other dogs. She meets them daily off lead but usually just sniffs and moves on - very occasionally she’ll play bow and get them to chase her (she never wants to do the chasing.) Yesterday we went on a dog club forest walk where the other dogs were hoolying but Molly had a quick scamper with them and then walked with me, trying to get me to play a lot of the time - she just seems to like to engage with me more than dogs. It doesn’t worry me as she’s happy to lie down at training in very close proximity to other dogs.

My last boy could be reactive to other dogs in some situations (mostly in small spaces) but he had one friend he saw about once a week who he loved to play with.

 

Stanley gets to play pretty much every day on his walk if we encounter a friendly dog. Only for 30 seconds or so then we move on. But we might do that 3 or 4 times depending on who we see.

I try and organise walks with Judge the Great Dane and Little Basil a couple of times a month to let him have a good run round.

 

Mabel sees other dogs most days. She varies with the breed sometimes she is just not bothered then other times she will have a great big run around. I have made some friends through the training school so we try and arrange a walk a couple of times a month. I find the more dogs she is exposed to the less she bothers and will do her own thing just sniffing about.

 

Hi Emily,

I had concerns about the amount of socialisation my girl had with other dogs so, on the recommendation of a friend who had done a similar thing with Lurchers, I posted a request on a local dog community Facebook page asking if anyone wanted to join us at a local secure field for Labrador socialisation and playtime. I had a good response and our group has grown from 2/3 members to about 10 now. I think we have been going now for about 2 years, just once a week historically but now twice a week. It is fantastic and we have anything from 2 to 8 or 9 dogs, depending on who can make it. They have a lovely zoom about together but there is plenty of room to go off for a sniff and do their own thing if they wish. They really interact and it’s lovely to see their different personalities and how they play - or tell each other off and sort things out when called for. The only rules are: no training, no treats - it is purely a play session where they can hang loose or let off steam.

My dog still gets quite excited when she meets other dogs on a walk but she is much better socialised now, I’m pleased to say. We have enquiries coming in to join our little group but due to rules at the field on how many cars/dogs are allowed at any one session, we have a small waiting list!

There’s definitely a demand for people wanting their dog(s) to meet others, not to mention the secure field facilities springing up in the UK for those of us whose lab recall isn’t reliable... I’d thoroughly recommend getting a group together, you meet some really great and like-minded people, it’s a real win:win for us as we both get something out of it.

Good luck,

Amanda

 

That's my thinking. Ella is nuts about wanting to play with other dogs and I think it could be because she rarely gets to. If she had a more regular opportunity to walk with/play with other dogs, I can't help but feel it would make her happier and less obsessed

 

Thanks @Xena Dog Princess and @amandamumma for the Facebook idea. I'll have a look.

 

Mine never plays, I haven't allowed it, as play can quickly go into fighting. He was brought up with another dog and was with him until he was almost 6 years old, but they never played. He walks most days with a Greyhound and Labrador and they do explore things together but no playing. He plays with me

 

I don't think our boy gets to play with enough other dogs. When he gets the chance he is so happy. Usually we don't allow him to meet other dogs when on the lead.

However yesterday we bumped in to a guy with a Finnish Hound puppy, so we let them have a play for a while.

@Xena You've probably already checked that your local seaweeds are safe, but for anyone else reading, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifesty...ed-of-lethal-dangers-of-dried-up-seaweed.html

 

@Emily, I get where you are coming from , I've felt like this with Cassie too. She's such an outgoing confident and sociable character that I think she benefits from the interaction, but it has needed management.

I do think it's good for them to learn the pro's and con's of dog to dog interaction. She's been lucky that there are dogs here which are mature and well socialized and are always off lead who have been good with her. As a puppy I used to take her to see my friend who bred her and she loved to play with her sister, but they have 4 dogs, and it got more difficult as Cass saw less dogs she got very excited trying to rough play when the others didn't want to engage because it wasn't a novelty to them.

I've been lucky too to join in the SW forum walks, it's really helped Cass in so many ways. I agree with others about finding others in the same situation, but I think liked minded owners are important. These days if we are out walking in new places, I find that Cass loves to say hello, initiate play which may or not be reciprocated , but happily moves on with me .
She might go 2 or 3 weeks without seeing any other dogs though.

 

Appropriate doggy play is one of my biggest problem areas. My 8 month old boy has no manners towards other dogs. He’s had huskies and German shepherds growling and snarling at him and he’s still trying to play. He’s so boisterous nobody wants to play with him. His only friend is a terrier and they chase each other and play non stop if we’d let them. We go to training classes and he’s fairly good there he focuses on us and does recall games past everyone. I’ve walked with other friends and their dogs on leads and after a few minutes he walks reasonably well and doesn’t try to go to them. But I don’t let him off to run around when there’s other people because everyone gets annoyed with us

 

When Snowie was a puppy we went at least three times a day to our local park where people brought their dogs to play. He loved it. It was a savior in terms of his burning up energy. And of course he met dogs of every size and personality. He’s 6 yo now and gets totally bored in that park. He’ll want to go in occasionally to mark every spot, but he’d far prefer to go on a walk.

We walk the same on leash and off leash paths every day and he’s very happy to meet the regulars and new dogs. But off leash he seldom plays. He likes to lick lips with his friends and mosey around with them as they sniff the surrounds, but no playing. He does get excited for particular dogs, but I know he just wants to mount them, it’s not play but might look like it because there’s lots of bouncing around.

He adores meeting new dogs. But just for a sniff of the bum and a lick of the lips. At the Parkrun he insists on briefly greeting every dog that’s waiting to run as if he’s saying, “Welcome to the Parkrun! Enjoy your run. Ooh another dog, halloooo!” But once that’s over, he'd far prefer to sniff and mark.

 

Harley is also a completely sociable and friendly soul. She would love a play whenever she could but our oppurtunities are limited. When she goes to training she has made two friends who she ADORES. One is a BC who she started in puppy socialisation classes with as a tiny pup. He is in love with her and they are very sweet together. The other is a young (11months) bc female that she met at agility. Interestingly the two bcs are both the shorter haired, tall and slinky types with very similar personalities and without bc intensity. After class I will let them have a quick hello and a few loves but I can't let Harley play with other dogs when she is at class because it is asking a lot for her to get her brain back into gear again. What I have started doing is having her play with me. Which means she can still have play/fun times but they are focussed on me.
With regards to the dog play - she has play dates with friends but not as regularly as we should. Something I have found hard to find is well socialised dogs for Harley to play with, we seem to have found ourselves as other dogs transitional object to help with nervous and shy dogs. I realise she is a lovely, friendly labrador but she also deserves playmates that are the same. We keep getting invites from people who would like Harley to help their dogs be less nervous.
So I am going to take up the social media play date idea and find some regular play times for her.

 

Tatze has a play date with her Best Friend in the Whole Wide World, Zaba, once a week. On her other walks we always meet other dogs, plenty of which are up for play - but Tatze doesn’t bother, just a quick sniff ‘hello’ is all she does. She only has eyes for Zaba and absolutely zooms with him, I call it her ‘gym’ session. He stays with us a lot and she stays with them - then she gets lots and lots of play sessions in.

Of course, there’s always a pup here to play with but they always have to goad her into play, she rarely initiates it herself and tends to play very lazily with them - with minimum effort.

 

She sure does

 

Maxx goes to our local dog park nearly every morning and plays with other dogs. But he is so obsessed with them we worry often that he is being a pest. We have to go and physically get him to continue walking with us which is not good. We may have to find another place to let him off the lead where there are much fewer distractions. I can only go on the weekends and I'm doing the more formal training so it's going to be a long road.

 

Cooper likes to play with some dogs, and others she pretty much ignores. Her favorite is either some kind of chase or tug. She plays tug and bitey face with Tilly also, but Tilly is too old to play chase. If I pick up a tennis ball, Cooper will focus on me, so if I want her to play with other dogs, I have to leave the ball at home, or at least hide it.

Tilly played hard with other dogs when she was a lot younger, but now she mostly says hello and then goes her own way. When was in puppy classes years ago, she and a boxer were best buds, and they would tussle and box at the beginning of class every week. Both Tilly and Cooper seemed to understand the rules of dog play and not hurt other dogs, and would back off if the other dog did not want to play, or felt that the play was too rough.