[titiaamor]

Sacha and Bob are the same age- 7 months- and lately Sacha has started to chase Bob off if we are petting him. She's very forceful about it, usually heading him off is he's running toward either of us, and running up, quickly grabbing and releasing the back of his neck and backing him up. Then it shifted back into playing, with her doing a bow and running so he would chase her. (FWIW, he did this with her in the past.)

This happened tonight.

In addition to the 2 of them got into a quarrel that frightened me. They both have soft mouths, but it went from playing to fighting fairly quickly. A lot of noise and some slobber. Then they stopped, and started to quarrel again about 3 minutes later. At that point I decided to tether one to me and one to my husband, and we just calmly sat at opposite ends of the veranda.

We train them, walk them, play with them, and use positive techniques.

Today I was unsettled by the quarrel and by her bossing him around twice. Maybe I'm misreading the behavior?

Please help! I've learned a lot off this forum, but I'm still very new to caring for puppies.

 

[hanksimon]

1. Are you sure they are quarreling and not just playing roughly?
2. Regardless, it is fine for you to stop them when they get too rough for you... but then let them go back to playing.
3. Personally, I like dogs to play as roughly as they are comfortable with... within a set of rules that you define for your comfort level.
I have found that dogs that play roughly, but with inhibition and control, tend to be well-socialized and very slow to anger or fighting...

 

[titiaamor]

1. Are you sure they are quarreling and not just playing roughly?
2. Regardless, it is fine for you to stop them when they get too rough for you... but then let them go back to playing.
3. Personally, I like dogs to play as roughly as they are comfortable with... within a set of rules that you define for your comfort level.
I have found that dogs that play roughly, but with inhibition and control, tend to be well-socialized and very slow to anger or fighting...

Gosh, you've got me wondering. I mean, they were very loud- and Sacha had him pinned for a bit, both had their teeth really bared, and there was a quickness and intensity to the interaction that I don't normally see. They also did not respond to my verbal commands at all (but that can also happen when they have their sights on a parrot flying by.)

Is there a way to absolutely tell? It was different than the ferocity I saw when Bob tried to take a coconut from Sacha. There she was putting all of her energy into backing him off. That was months ago, but it did really teach me the difference between rough play and a 'fight'.

So you have a list of signs play vs. quarrel?

You are the one who taught me bite inhibition (which I just used a few hours ago!)

 

[hanksimon]

1. Look for a playbow - where a dog will have his butt up and his front legs down... like a bow. Dogs can also do this very quickly while running. Fighting dogs NEVER do a playbow.
2. Look for a wide open mouth with lower teeth exposed, and biting front legs or mouth. A serious fight will slash and most dogs can draw blood, if desired, before you can even move.
3. If you separate playing dogs, the victim will run back to the 'aggressor' to continue. With fighting dogs this can also happen, but the starting energy is usually greater.
4. Most family dogs will stop/separately if you clang two pots together... This may be excessive for some dogs.
5. Stopping and starting sounds like play. Quarreling is continuous, unless one gives up and leaves.
6. When they play, be alert for one of them shrieking, they can hurt each other by accident. If the aggressor backs off, that's OK. Sometimes things can escalate, if one gets hurt....
7. After playing/tussling, dogs will be tired, calm, and may go to sleep. (You could get slobbered on
8. After fighting, dogs will be full of adrenaline, anxious, may be tired, but not calm or happy.

 

[titiaamor]

1. Look for a playbow - where a dog will have his butt up and his front legs down... like a bow. Dogs can also do this very quickly while running. Fighting dogs NEVER do a playbow.
2. Look for a wide open mouth with lower teeth exposed, and biting front legs or mouth. A serious fight will slash and most dogs can draw blood, if desired, before you can even move.
3. If you separate playing dogs, the victim will run back to the 'aggressor' to continue. With fighting dogs this can also happen, but the starting energy is usually greater.
4. Most family dogs will stop/separately if you clang two pots together... This may be excessive for some dogs.
5. Stopping and starting sounds like play. Quarreling is continuous, unless one gives up and leaves.
6. When they play, be alert for one of them shrieking, they can hurt each other by accident. If the aggressor backs off, that's OK. Sometimes things can escalate, if one gets hurt....
7. After playing/tussling, dogs will be tired, calm, and may go to sleep. (You could get slobbered on
8. After fighting, dogs will be full of adrenaline, anxious, may be tired, but not calm or happy.

Oh, well according to your list this was still play! They did lay down and sleep. And they had clearly been playing until then.

I only saw them go too far when we first brought the second puppy home, months ago. And just once or twice since then.

I think I'm going to translate this into Portuguese and share it here.