Sibling rough play

[viagrafalls]

Hi, we have a totally gorgeous puppy and a friend of ours has adopted her brother. He comes for regular visits and they are so excited and happy to see each other but it often always descends into really rough play, it sounds horrible, no one has been actually hurt but there is a lot of ear/cheek pulling etc and when it gets too rough I have been on the receiving end of a nip when trying to separate them. I now use a water pistol instead but I guess what I'm asking is, is this an age thing? Will they grow out of it, we'd love to eventually be able to hang out and go on walks together without it descending into a gypsy camp style dog-fight. Does anyone have any tips or advice? Many thank s

[Jouska]

I would not allow this on any level at all.

It just leads to trouble.

The puppies have to learn to interact politely if they behave like this with other dogs they will asking for trouble.

Prevent it at all costs so keep the puppies on a lead and remove the second the play gets rough.

They will not grow out of it if you leave them to it you need to train them and show them the correct way to behave.

[viagrafalls]

Hi thanks for your advice - neither of them are like this with any other dog, but I think you;re right, I will try to stop them. i was just hoping it was to do with the fact that they are both so little.

[Booboostwo]

Couldn’t disagree more. I’ve been running puppy classes for a few decades now and rough play, where no one is injured is not a problem at all.

If you do want to separate them, do not put your hands in there, as you have discovered, it’s a good way of getting nipped. Both of you should call your puppies and reward them when they come, but Ben reasonable, if you try to call them just as they have started playing, they won’t listen. Also, try walking away, most puppies will run after you and they will be more likely to switch to a running/chasing game.

Throwing water on dogs can be an effective way to separate them, and I have had to use it the odd time, however, it is not something you should be using regularly. If it is effective, you’ll put the puppies off each other, if it is not effective (because you have desensitized them to it) you lose a valuable, emergency, training tool.