Rough Play

[Simply Grand]

Hi everyone, I'm hoping those with more knowledge than me can give me some advice. There's a little beagle that we see at the dog park quite regularly. She and Saxon love to play together. She's 11 months old and Saxon is 6 months. She's a bit bigger than Saxon, and heavier and stronger and their play together gets quite rough. They usually have a bit of a wrestle and a box then Saxon ends up on his back with her over the top of him and they both get in with paws and mouths. She's clearly in charge but is not being aggressive, she does use her mouth quite a lot but is inhibiting her bite and is not trying to hurt Saxon, and they both seem to be having a great time.

Both the beagle's owners and I are a bit unsure whether we should let them keep going or not. Saxon occasionally squeaks when she's accidently hurt him a little bit (she's never done any damage) but he doesn't want to stop playing and if we separate them they both keep running back to each other to keep playing. The beagle's owners have apologised to me but I tell them they don't need to, they are really attentive to their dog, she is very responsive to them and she is behaving well, it's just that because of the size different Saxon has to fight quite hard to keep up with her, and if she ever wanted to, she could certainly do him some damage (not that I think she would ever try!).

Do you think we should separate them or just let them keep playing and sort it out themselves? I know we'll both stay close at all times anyway so we can always stop it from escalating.

The thing that concerns me, apart from one of them getting hurt, is that Saxon might be learning to play too rough. He doesn't often come across dogs smaller than him, but we have met a little pug x puppy a couple of times at the park who is smaller than Saxon and Saxon has tried to be quite rough and growly with him, so I've called him away. I don't want him to be rough, especially with baby puppies!

Thanks for any advice

[melzawelza]

As long as both dogs are wanting to keep playing then leave them be, they're having fun! If like you said Saxon is trying to run back and continue playing he can keep up! And if he yelps and she backs off then no issues.

The only time i'd ever step in would be if either dog was clearly not enjoying it and trying to get away.

[poochmad]

I would go by the body language of your dog. Is his tail up, ears pricked forward, happy' smile? Or is his tail between his legs, ears back, crouching down and generally looking unhappy? Sounds to me they are having a great time and the fact he keeps going back speaks volumes.

When we first got our female, she played very rough and our male (a sook and bigger than her!) was unhappy with the play (ears back, tail between his legs, worried look) so I would step in. Now they've learnt how to play together and both play quite rough!

When he meets younger pups, I'd recommend keeping him on the lead so he doesn't bowl them over and accidently hurt them. Bigger dogs on leads tend to lie on bellies to play with little dogs. It's a nice, safe way to interact with younger and smaller dogs than yours.

[Simply Grand]

Thanks for your comments guys, as you've noted both dogs definitely seem to enjoy their playtime, so we'll leave them to it, unless they become uncomfortable.

Poochmad, I hadn't thought about having Sax on lead to meet smaller dogs, we meet so few smaller than him that it hasn't really been an issue (he's 11 inches tall and just over 4kgs). I've seen bigger dogs drop when they say hello to Saxon, and be very gentle with him, so I'll work on teaching him that he's not always the smallest and needs to be gentle too!

Thanks again

[percyk]

yeah i agree let them play

i spoke to a behaviourist once when we were getting a smaller breed of dog to mix with our existing pack

she said to just watch the behaviour of the little one and if they gave back as good as they got then it should be fine...a balanced situation where both are having fun

as for the lead....i dont always think leads are the way to go

some dogs change totally on the lead and it can cause trouble when the leashed dog feels trapped

i have seen this many a time

theres a place for leashes ...of course...i just think it is best to watch and be close to grab but not necessarily restrict a dogs movement in the that first stage of greeting..unless youre on a street of course...

we dont frequent dog parks but we go past some sometimes on our different walk routes and often sit and observe....some dogs on leads can get a bit antsy with even pups mucking around with them

[melzawelza]

yes leashes can cause an issue with some dogs, if your dog is friendly i'd do away with the leash (as long as you're in a secure area) and just stay close by monitoring.

[Amika]

Nothing to add to peoples comments about rough play, but just wanted to share pic's of large and small breed dogs playing .

And sorry about the size of pic's......photobucket wouldn't let me copy them at a smaller size .

Napping after a work out.

[MsBex]

Nothing to add to peoples comments about rough play, but just wanted to share pic's of large and small breed dogs playing .

And sorry about the size of pic's......photobucket wouldn't let me copy them at a smaller size .

Ooooh ... those pics are SO cute!! Love the last one

No info to add Saxon sorry. We have a Cocker that we're introducing to my sisters Staffy, I'm the same as you, never sure whether to step in, but Cory seems to love it even though he gets hurt from heavy paws on the occasion.

[KnuckleBuster]

I have two beautiful rotties who play rough, or as my OH and I refer = 'Rotty Love' As the others have already said, watch the body language as this will tell you if they need 'time out'.

Amika - just beautiful!!!

[Simply Grand]

Saxon will be very glad to know that everyone agrees he can keep playing with his beagle friend!

I'm working on a "gentle" command with him to tell him to be calm when necessary (including when meeting little puppies) so maybe I'll see how he goes with that before I put him on lead. He's generally pretty responsive to me so hopefully he'll learn quickly. I'm also hoping to start him in beginner's obedience at the end of the month, just waiting to hear back from the club, so that should help too.

Amika, those pictures are so cute - they're like a little set of big and small!! I love watching Saxon play with big dogs, especially chasing them. He thinks he's winning while he sprints flat out after them and they just trot along I'll have to get a photo and post it.

Thanks everyone for the comments