I've been looking around on youtube... even though I should be studying. I found this video and thought the Doberman was pretty rough and so anxious/excited/ he doesn't know what to do with himself. Is this how all Dobermans play or do you stop them every once in a while?
Personally I'd put a stop to it. The dobe is lucky the other dog is so easy going, because that kind of behavior could easily lead to a fight. When Brandy liked to play with other dogs they always chased and did "bite the face". It sounded bad, but it was still all play. There wasn't any of the grabbing the neck and shaking for all your worth. That's just my experience though and maybe other dogs like it rough!
Make the Doberman a mutt, the Kangal a GSD, add ferocious snarling sound effects, and you have Ilka and Leo. All the noise come from Ilka, by the way, Leo is practically silent. And they are supervised, because like Meldrew said, it can escalate into a fight
I'd probably interrupt once in awhile, especially in the one portion where the Doberman had the Kangal's collar and was pulling on that. At the tail end of the video, the play seemed much less frenetic; I don't know if it's because they wore each other out, or if it's how they normally play but were gotten excited for the purpose of the video.
My dogs play like that with a lot more sound effects coming from Jubes. Jordan often bites the back of Jubes neck and pulls, but has never hurt her once, even though she is less than half his size. I can call his name and he looks right up and she goes right back after him for more. They have played like this with other dogs too and they know what they can and can't get away with with other dogs. Honestly some dogs play even rougher than they do. Dog have a great way of expressing when they have had enough or when you have gone too far. Unless I feel uncomfortable and feel like the other dog hasn't had a chance to give a warning, I just watch signs and step in if needed but otherwise let them wear each other out. I imagine they have been playing together often and the person video taping knows the dogs and when there would be need for concern.
This is exactly how Toby plays with Reina, but funnily enough not his pittie girl friend.
I am forever intervening during this kind of play. Not because I think it could break out into a fight, but because I just don't like the look of it.
Reina by the way instigates rough play with Toby constantly, so she kind of gives as good as she gets.
Still, I do not ramp the dogs up in anyway, but try to calm them down, running round is fine, bitey faces is fine, but the rolling, grabbing of the collar and shaking their victim is a bit too much for me even though it is in play.
Regards Toby not doing this with his Pittie friend, he does play fighting games with her, but never has taken it to the same level as the dog on the video, maybe he understands, with Reina he can do so far, his Pittie friend, not a chance.
Kiss does the running and jumping and pouncing, but I have never seen her bite on another dog. She does the nose pokeys to the neck or wherever, but she hasn't put fur in her mouth and she's not connected and done the shake. When I was watching I was wondering, too, if this could have gotten out of hand. That was just me, but it seems some others thought the same thing.
Strangely enough, when Toby is playing like this it doesn't seem to go much further. It is as if this is enough for him. Of course, I stop it when I see it going to the extremes you saw in the video pdq.
But I agree it could so easily lead to a fight if the other dog ever feels threatened, scared or pee'd off enough.. I suppose it depends on the dogs involved. Which is why Toby never engages in this kind of megarough play with his Pittie friend. I think he knows if he did, his a$$ would be toast.":lol2:
Oh by the way, Toby doesnt like it if someone tries to do it to him. He goes bananas, guess he can't take the heat when it comes down to the nitty gritty.
Yup, some Dobes do. That's exactly how Jack played with his pals when he was younger. But if things threatened to get too rough, we called a halt. One day, when Jack was about six months old, he was playing with a yellow Lab — when we realized that the Lab was covered in blood. We freaked, thinking that Jack had bitten too hard and caused an injury. But when we examined the Lab, we found that all the blood was on the surface of his fur. The blood had, in fact, come from Jack's mouth, which was bleeding because he had lost most of his baby teeth during the session. We collected his teeth from the grass — and the Lab's owner took her dog home to hose him off.
As long as the play is carefully monitored to ensure that it remains play, it's a great way for a dog to learn bite inhibition. As Jack has matured, he has learned to play much more gently.
I'll just add that the collar on the Kangal made me nervous. With the amount of neck mouthing going on, I would worry that the Dobe might catch a tooth in the loop and injure himself.
If I let my girls go without interruption they would play like that right up until it turned into a bloodbath. Because they will fight, I supervise all play and I call them off or separate them the second things have the potential to become unstable or too intense.
They're allowed to play like happy nut jobs but I don't allow anyone (i.e., Fiona) to get out of control excited to where the other one (i.e., Tali) feels bullied.
Yes, Rudy plays with Dixie the same way. BUT, most of the time she lets it happen. Rudy trys to remove her collar and sometimes is successful. They have fun!
Yes, Rudy plays with Dixie the same way. BUT, most of the time she lets it happen. Rudy trys to remove her collar and sometimes is successful. They have fun!
I advise taking her collar off when they play. Ilka used to do the same with Leo's collar.... until the day she got her lower jaw caught, and they both panicked. It was a very scary incident that nearly wound up with a dead dog, because the more they thrashed around, the tighter Leo's collar got. She was turning blue by the time I finally found the buckle in all the fur. Now, I take Leo's collar off before they play, and I also take the tags off of Ilka's collar.
I see two dogs that are very comfortable with each other and both seem to be having lots of fun. The Kangal even initiates more play when the Dobe backs off.
Roxy only plays like this with her American Bulldog/Boxer "cousin" that she's known since puppyhood.
I agree with the person who posted the video, that this play would not be advisable between strange dogs.
This is how mine plays with all her siblings.... Pretty normal dobey play. They like to neck and bump and check eachother. Dobes neck but they don't bite hard at all because they have such a thin coat and they never pierce skin like other dogs. Just check up on play once and a while.
Make the dobe a giant GSD/GSP mix and the kangel a chow mix and you've got Mocha and Titan. We don't ever let Baby get that rough because she WILL escalate to a full out fight if she feels she's being overpowered, but only intervene when Titan is being too much of a d*ck because of Mocha's poor hips. She initiates by smacking him with her feet and grabbing his head, he retaliates by grabbing her ruff or tail and knocking her over. They'll do this for hours if allowed, I tend to make them stop before the first hour is up so Mocha can have a break and not limp for the rest of the day.
Buster just escalates to being snotty immediately, he doesn't really know how to play nice.
When my Leia gets together with her brother Luke, it's like the clash of the Titans! I do referee.. and they both listen well if I think they are getting too rough.
This video was taken when they were 6 months old. Can't believe they will be 2 in August!
I will not let Eli play like that. It's true my collie does like to play, very much like the dog in the video but he doesn't like to be thrown on the grown and bitten and dragged by the neck, very much like the dog in the video. I don't like it and I won't allow it. I let them play when Eli is calmer and I never let Eli play loose on the acre with Sebastian unless he has a ball. He just is too rough, always has been. When he played with his sister she was even worse and he kept getting hematomas on the neck so I had to buy a special collar for him and monitor play. I think in the video, the doberman is too intense, luckily the other dog is large but I don't see her enjoying the way the doberman is biting her neck but she does want to play just not quite that rough. It reminds me of Eli and Sebastian. Sebastian, collie, does want to play, he adoress Eli but Eli just grabs him and throws him around and puts him to the ground. Sebastian is a male and Eli is a male so I think it best not to allow that at all because one day Seb could get angry as he matures (he is 11 months now) and I do not want that to happen. I let them wrestle but if it gets ramped up even that I stop.
Snoop would wet himself if any dog tried to play with him like that but Hades would love it! He absolutely loves getting chewed on. He once laid down at the dog park to allow a pit puppy to jump all over him and bite his neck.
I always get worried that he's getting too rough and will put him in a down stay to let him chill out a bit but he loves wrestling. I usually find when I get him off a dog that the dog ends up running back and jumping on him to get him to play again.
Luke and Leia youtube, yep that looks a lot like Kiss playing. She played with my daughter's English Mastiff pup. There was lots of sound, but not much connection. I noticed when Kiss would pounce on Gypsy that Kiss would land straddle of the puppy so she actually didn't stomp on her. And they would tear around the furniture and it would last for quite awhile. Of course this really wore poor puppy girl out. But man did they crash in the floor napping. And, too, the puppy would scream like someone was tearing her apart when Kiss wasn't even touching her or near her. LOL Kinda like kids screaming before they're hurt. :jokersmile:
Then, of course, the tables were turned. Gypsy quickly outgrew Kiss. My son-in-law went around with a smirk on his face and mutter something about "who's a bad-ass dog now?" When I said, "WHAT'D YOU SAY?" He'd just smile. He really wasn't meaning anything by it, he WAS joking. But just as it was with Gypsy as a puppy, Kiss would play it for all she was worth.
Not a doberman but I don't want to make another topic. Here's a song for you before you go out with your dogs.. LOL. The TIME FOR A WALK Song - YouTube
That type of play is waaaaay to rough. Dogs need to respect each other. The Dobie was only showing dominance, not play. That needs a correction big time. Only because if he runs into another dog that matches his excitement or more, it will lead to a fight.
Riley used to play like that when he was little, and as he got bigger and was introduced to bigger dogs, his excitement got out of hand and started to cause aggression with other dogs that wouldn't take it lying down (pun intended), so we had to put a stop to that sort of thing. He was also extremely hard to break out of play biting/nipping people, too, as almost every single method caused him to get more hyper. Trainers simply said he was a very pushy type and needed lots of discipline/NILIF. Couple that with his extreme reactiveness to anything that moves or makes noise... and yeah... interesting first year with a first dog, lol.
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