To wrestle or not?

CoopersDad

So I've discovered that my pup doesn't like to get loved on (when he's awake/aware). If he's napping in my lap or next to me, I can pet on him, but any other time, when I try to love on him, he turns it into a play session, turns to mouth me. When I say eht <sp?>, then he'll start the play bounce and start barking. Is this normal? I'd really like to have a pup that likes to just sit and get loved on.
And on that note, is it bad to wrestle with your pup? When he's bored and won't mess with his toys he'll just sit look at me, then throw in some barks.
When I kneel down he starts jumping around and growling. So I'll kind of wrestle
around with him with my hands and arms. He really starts getting into it, growling and mouthing. If he gets too out of hand, I stop the session, but he'll sit and bark. I'm torn, part of me thinks "well he wants to play so it's ok" but the other part thinks I'm creating a bad habit.
I take him out plenty and before any wrestling I try to get him engaged into fetching a ball or something like that. But after a few throws, he's less interested in the ball and would rather get physical with me.
Also, he's a boxer/lab mix. I saw the thread about people not understanding about boxers being quite vocal and physical when they play, so maybe for him it's just normal playing, I just want to make sure I'm not making him rougher that he naturally would be. Any thoughts on what to redirect it to? Like I said, when he want's to play with me, no toys will take his focus off me for longer than half a minute or so.

Meshkenet

"I'd really like to have a pup that likes to just sit and get loved on."
Sorry to say, this is quite unreasonable to expect from a puppy, specially a lab-boxer mix, which are two high energy breeds. Puppies have moments of high energy/play, followed by numerous naps during the day (from my experience).

Try to get your pup used to being petted by taking advantage of times when he is tired, such as after long play sessions, to gently pet him in non-threatening spots (varies for each dog, try and see what he likes).

As for wrestling, I have heard different opinions. Some people say it might raise agressivity. From my own experience, it is fine as long as you do not encourage your pup to bite: yelp and turn away when he does, this might teach him not to bite, even in play.

Enjoy your puppy, and please post pictures, boxer-labs are cute!

emily445455

Both labs and boxers have a lot of energy, so don't expect him to be a dog that "just sits there and lets you pet him" until he's at least 2, maybe older depends on the dog.

I personally don't like wrestling using the dogs mouth as an object of play. My neighbor does this with his dog (boxer) and it was annoying when I dogsat her she's get my fingers when I fed her treats from my hand. Ouch!

reynosa_k9's

It is possible to wrestle with dogs and yet train them to take treats "easy" from the hand.
I wrestle with all my dogs and we wrestle hard. I'm sure the neighbors can here us and it probably sounds like a dog fight ring in the house.
When it comes time for 'cookies' though everyone has to sit quietly and take it very "easy" from my hand. All my crew are big, ranging from 60lbs to 150lbs and I have yet to get a finger nipped during treat time.
Anyway, back to the wrestling: we have a lot of fun doing this and it exhausts all of us. When we're finished everyone is tired and happy. And we all know that tired dogs are the best dogs.

Jihad
and the pound puppy crew.

Hallie

I wrestle with my beagle. She knows there's a limit, she can't bite me she can only mouth me. You can play with him but when he bits you or makes mouth/skin contact I would stop the session and tell him no. A beagle hurts a little less than a boxer/lab adult! Try giving him a toy and playing with him when the toy is in his mouth.

CoopersDad

Thanks for the advice everyone. I guess I didn't word that quite right, since being a puppy, yeah I don't expect him to just sit around and let me pet him...but once in a while it would be nice!
I'm glad that wrestling isn't a major issue, as long as there is a line not to cross, and I'll need to work with him on understanding that. So far he doesn't really bite, but he's very persistent...when I feel he's getting too hyper I'll stop and tell him no, but he just pounces and barks hehe. And the growling, he sounds like a junk yard dog but I think that's just the boxer coming out.

Meshkenet, I'll post some new pics in the photo's forum shortly.

TxRider

Wrestling and mouthing isn't an issue if you like it, but it can be hard for a dog to know who he can wrestle and mouth on.

If you don't want him doing it to you or guests/other people it's probably not a good idea.

If you don't mind it go for it, it's not hard to teach them the limits of play biting/wrestling.

Personally I like it, but it means she'll also wrestle and get mouthy with other people who might not like it, and it can be a challenge to train a command to tell the dog to drop out of play mode and stop trying to wrestle with guests/strangers.

The great thing is your pup is focusing so much attention on you, That's going to be great for training and it's never too early for training. I would already be working on basic stuff starting with recall and trying to teach the dog to learn from you. It can be a great alternative to wrestling and a lot of fun for your pup as well if you make training a game.

Chris777

My westie was the bully of her litter so she's always been the tough one. I sort of wrestle with her everyday almost (I start it & finish it) She only does this with me though, to anyone else or any other stranger she is just exciting and licking. I have done this with her since she was like 12 weeks old, she is now about 6.5 months old.

Here is a video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtL-dw8zCjs