Rough Play

[KatLek]

I have got 2 whippet girls.

One is 3 y/o and one is about 6 months old.

the pup loves to play with her bigger whippy sister. mouthing the older whippy's neck and legs. all these while, the pup's tail is wagging.

the older whippy tries to get away when the pup mouths her neck or legs. no growling at the pup.

however, when the older whippy turns around and wants to play with the pup, she is pretty rough on the pup. chasing and pushing the pup against the fence as they play. sometimes the pup's tail is between the legs.

occassionally, i feel that the pup is actually afraid of the older whippy when she is playing rough. and a couple of times, the pup gets cuts on her legs from running away from the older whippet. i am worried that the rough play may turn into a bad accident.

should i be worrying? should i interfere? how should i deal with this?

Edited October 23, 2007 by KatLek

[clueless]

I have got 2 whippet girls.

One is 3 y/o and one is about 6 months old.

the pup loves to play with her bigger whippy sister. mouthing the older whippy's neck and legs. all these while, the pup's tail is wagging.

the older whippy tries to get away when the pup mouths her neck or legs. no growling at the pup.

however, when the older whippy turns around and wants to play with the pup, she is pretty rough on the pup. chasing and pushing the pup against the fence as they play. sometimes the pup's tail is between the legs.

occassionally, i feel that the pup is actually afraid of the older whippy when she is playing rough. and a couple of times, the pup gets cuts on her legs from running away from the older whippet. i am worried that the rough play may turn into a bad accident.

should i be worrying? should i interfere? how should i deal with this?

I am also eager to know what to do in this situation.

We also have two puppies, a 7 months and 6 months. We just adopted the 7 month old this week and the 6 mo old we had since 9 weeks. They play non-stop even at night time. Sometimes there are growling also and I don't know if I should stop them or something.

[percyk]

i have read that u should intervene....

i dont tolerate any really rough play

and as alpha i have to enforce the rules as do my kids

sometimes it will take time for the older one to accept the younger one and it depends on the breed and the individual in that breed and the sex

things do improve...a hierarchy is formed under ur reign and the dogs work out what that order is but u must always wield the power if ur not happy with the body language

supervise all play sessions and train the dogs individually and apart

i feed some meals by hand to all the dogs so that they know that they all have to wait for a bite and theres no stealing from each other,,they sit and i will call their name and give them a piece of meat or whatever

i think this really sends the message that im boss

i think with a pup u have to be careful and step in just as u would if the older dog had one of ur shoes...the message is that the pup is urs and must be respected like any of ur property ...this applies to a human baby being introduced to the family too

ull soon see what the dogs can handle..if one is being picked on too much u should help out and give the aggressor something else to do... do a few commands...take the attention away from the pup/cat whatever ..clip on a lead and go thru a routine with some treats..keep the dog busy in a positive way

then allow play to resume...

this will help when u take dogs out to play with strange dogs too...if theyre overly rough in play and even tho they may not mean to hurt ...they can still scare a pup in its formative months

good luck with it...its usually a lot of fun to watch them gambol