Rough play? Too Rough? Opinions please...

Quig · 07-02-2008, 01:45 PM

Hello everyone...

Brief intro... We're raising a 7 month old female Dobe named Kyah. She's a total sweetheart... extremely freindly and pretty well behaved for her age and we're having a blast with her.

Lately she's started to really like to play rough with me. In fact, starting recently she'll occaisionally 'Call me out' for a wrestling match. I'll be sitting on the couch and she'll come up and kind of give me a little growl and bark and if I don't respond she'll really get fired up. Barking, nipping, tugging on me(all very playfully...). If I'm in the mood to play I'll play along and we really get going... she barks/growls and lunges at me and I pretty much push her around and throw her (gently...) on the ground and scratch her belly and tug on her legs and get her seriously fired up. She seems to absolutly LOVE IT. However, the noises that come out of her during this event make my girlfriend pretty nervous. The damn dog sounds vicious... however the entire time we're doing this she'll mouth my hands/arms and never uses any pressure. To her and I we seem to both know that we're playing and having fun. Occaisionally I'll abruptly stop the play by standing up and immediately putting her into a calm sit and then a down. She does it IMMEDIATELY and calms right down very happily.

Am I doing anything wrong? About the only thing I think was doing wrong initially was rewarding the barking/nipping/growling by playing on HER terms and I know that. Because of this I've started to put her into a down-stay and make her calm down when she decides to bark/growl/nip and get excited and only play on MY terms. Ok, not always (I can't help it... I'm defenseless against her cute-ness sometimes...).

Sorry for the long, rambling post but I've been meaning to post this up and get your opinions!

Thanks!

**dobermansrule** · 07-02-2008, 02:34 PM

Quincy was doing that... our trainer happened to be over one day and observed it and she said, "whoa, you are not a play toy" and she proceeded to demonstrate... first she stepped in with a NO! She had to follow through with a growling "Knock it off!!" while grabbing loose skin and putting him to the floor. The combo NO plus the pinning down got his attention. Then she had me do it. After a couple of times of me establishing that I was not a play toy, he got it. Now we play on my terms. Before, it was getting out of hand - he was ripping my pants, putting nip marks all over my legs.. so sometimes enough is enough and we have to set boundaries.

Quig · 07-02-2008, 03:00 PM

Exactly.

I'm in the process of making her understand that she plays on MY terms... not hers. She gets it pretty good. I'm at work with her right now and started to get her playing a little and then decided it was a bad idea so I calmed her right down.

I'm not having any problem with her understanding that I'm in charge. She definately gets that.

I guess I may have muddied my original question with my rambling. Am I playing too rough with her? Seeing as we're BOTH having fun and even though it sounds pretty horrible(the growling/barking) she's not biting me hard at all and she calms down when asked so I'm of the opinion this is all just fine. My gf thinks otherwise. ??

**dobermansrule** · 07-02-2008, 03:45 PM

I have tugging matches with Quincy that way - he gets into it growling etc., but then stops when the game is over. Regarding the physical rough housing you talk about - I suppose as long as she knows the rules to apply to all people and not just you, you know what I mean? She might start to think that's how all people play and it just one time of a doberman play nipping a child to have authorities all over your a$#. Just be careful.

bean · 07-02-2008, 11:41 PM

I think you're approaching it right by now having her do something for you and playing on your terms. Also you should be sure to stop it for too much pressure or if she gets too wound up. She should stop quickly when you ask - I usually end with a command to re-direct the energy (basic like sit or whatever.) Phillip end with kisses.

You have to be careful when they're young that they get the rules. I didn't wrestle with Frankie until she was a little bit older but I think I could have sooner - she's sharp.

Frankie plays differently with me and P. She knows that I tolerate very little pressure when wrestling and dad lets her get away with more. When she goes overboard with me, we stop immediately. It rarely happens.

You can play with Henneh and make her sound evil too. I have a video on my phone that I should upload so you can hear her. We joke that we could sell her voice for millions to Hollywood when they need a devil dog noise. But she is definitely playing....

bean · 07-02-2008, 11:41 PM

The site was having a big hiccup. Double post, sorry.