Play fighting with your dog...

[wheresmymojo]

Do you play fight with your dog?

We play fight with ours quite a lot...just being silly with her really. She absolutely loves it and sometimes will play bow and bark until one of us gives in and 'fights' with her.

She's quite bitey during these sessions but never breaks the skin. However she does occasionally get over excited and snaps at your face and on occasion has bitten my nose which has hurt (again, no skin broken and I don't blame her, it's just natural play behaviour however we have put boundaries in place around snapping towards faces and stop playing with her immediately if she does this so this has reduced).

I guess I just wondered what other dog owners do? Do you rough play with your dogs?

Shes quite a large(ish) German shepherd x Doberman x something else (maybe something hound-ish) mixed breed rescue.

I can imagine some people might think were mad to play fight with her.

Important to note that we don't have any children or children who visit us at home and I watch her like a hawk around other people because if she decided to play fight with them they might think she's aggressive.

Yes. But I also spent a lot of time training an emergency stop in which, when I hold my hands up and say "stop" then play must stop instantly - though it might then start again when I initiate. No exceptions allowed. We practised it a lot.

TBH she grew out of rough and tumble within a couple of years anyway. So it was never a permanent thing.

Mine loves to play tugging games while growling like a possessed thing. He fetches you a rope toy (say) and will wrestle for it, then rush to fetch it if thrown. He won’t play fetch without some tug-of-war.
He has occasionally nipped my finger accidentally when we’re pulling and tugging on a toy. He’s a small dog so it doesn’t hurt.
But what you’re describing sounds a bit more than the above. It sounds like biting has become part of the game and I think you must stamp down on it in case it escalates. It’s a big dog so even a casual bite is a bad idea.

im headbutted daily by my girl, loves tug, loves being on her back for me to tickle her chest as she tries to get my hands, has a little chew but always playful, never sore or else I wouldn’t do it. My boy used to be the same, loved a wrestle but half way through forgot about me and started chasing his tail 😂

I play lots of games with my dog where he growls at me as part of the game (so we're fighting over something). Like @DevilsVineBlues, I have also trained a stop so I can take the toy away and the game is over whenever I choose.

But I don't encourage games where he plays with me like another dog which is what it sounds like you're talking about.

No not at all. She's a Springer Spaniel FWIW. I know people do do this with their dogs - I have even played rough with my SIL's Staffordshire bull terrier - he was an excitable dog, that's what he was used to because my BIL used to play with house this way. Their Staffy didn't take much fussing before it started to want to play rough - not what I always wanted to do. I'll be interested to see what other people say. Maybe it's my particular dog or the breed but I've noticed she is very confused and gets upset with this type of rough play - she's not used to it and TBH I don't really like it to be a part of my relationship with my dog - she's super excited for every walk, a very effervescent character who (annoyingly) likes to say hello to everyone on a walk so I prefer to try and keep her calm - she is such a willing animal - all she wants to do is please you by doing the right thing so she likes nothing but gentleness and affection. A bit like I don't like to see adults (e.g. older grandparents, relatives) tickling kids fast beyond what the kids really want - I'm not keen to see dogs wound up by their owners. I guess it depends on what your dog is like and what sort of relationship you want with it - generally though - I don't like to see dogs wound up into a frenzy if I'm honest. YMMV.

@larkstar I'm with you on this. I have two springers, a male and a female, and play fighting is not something we do. Mine are wonderfully bouncy as springers are, but they are also loving and cuddly. Play fighting isn't their thing at all. It's not something I'd encourage from any dog though, whatever the breed.

We do a lot of tug of war with fetch and then she loves lolling on her back and trying to grab a hand with her mouth to the point of holding it in her teeth but no more.

We play “rough” with our lurcher, but not to the point ever of teeth on skin. He roars/growls/vocalises like a possessed horror, as lurchers do, but we also have an emergency stop where play ends immediately if we ask.
With the breed mix you describe and the level of accidental teeth on skin, I would tone it down, or stop entirely. A Shepherd (particularly, but any dog really) who thinks teeth on humans is acceptable is a liability, and at risk of a one way trip to the vet if they ever bite someone.

DH play fights with our beagle a lot - but like others, we've trained a "stop!" and he knows when we say it's over, it's over.

All the time

We play fight a lot. In the past he would sometimes get too excited and nip. If that happened all play stopped immediately. He has learnt that if he wants to play no nipping can happen. He hasn't done it now for a couple of years.

No. I sometimes chase my dog as it runs around me in circles and he loves that, but my other dog would not like that at all.
To be honest doing what you do sounds like asking for trouble - powerful jaws and overexcited dog, it's their only defence if you accidentally hurt them.

I don't think it's advisable to play fight with a dog (especially a large breed) to the point where teeth are making contact with skin. Not something I'd do to be honest.

No, I’m not a dog so he doesn’t play with me (or any other person) like I am one.

To be honest I know it’s not what you’re asking but I think it’s very irresponsible that you do with yours. She’s already snapping at your face and has bitten your nose (I know you say this has reduced but it’s ‘reduced’ not ‘stopped’) and she’s a big, powerful breed. She’s a rescue too, so you presumably don’t even know her full history.

No our lab isn’t into play fighting. He likes to chase/ be chased and to play tug but I certainly wouldn’t allow play biting anyway.

Only when playing tuggy with her toys. And she’s a mini schnauzer so a small dog.

Probably in the minority. I played tug with ddog, threw balls, played hide and seek or hunting games where I would hide a toy and she would run around the house looking for it. But never understood play fighting or rough housing

I always think you are on a dangerous path if you start fighting no matter how innocently you do it or how well trained your dog is. All it takes is a one off day.
One day when they just don’t feel like it, too tired, too hot etc

Ddog was the sweetest girl you could ever meet but I would never give her rawhide. It was the only time she growled at me. Growling is a warning. I would not get any dog to the point of them warning me let alone nipping me in the name of a game

Our male sheltie play fights but u can put your whole hand in his mouth and he just holds it there.no play mouthing at all.He loves it but I wouldn’t want a dog to be mouthy like yours is doing.too easy for it to tip into over excitement and a bite.Like others suggested maybe training a ‘stop’

We used to play fight with our German Shepherd but she never bit. You need to stop that

Absolutely not. Growling, mouth contact etc is not behaviour I want to encourage in any way at all. The closest would be a tuggy toy, but even there we have an immediate and clear stop

Thanks everyone, it's interesting to hear all the different perspectives.

I think it's a good idea to train a 'stop' so we'll definitely do that.

We only play like this with her in one context - which is on the bed (so she's rolling around on the bed).

We also only do it when she is desperate to play - usually when she whines and barks at us because we're reading Mumsnet our phones.

This means we never, ever instigate it ourselves. So if she's chilling out, we'd never be the ones to try to 'make' her play when she's tired, hot, grumpy, etc.

Also she never growls during these sessions...these aren't warning nips. It's definitely play...she basically takes your hand/arm in her mouth and pretends to bite / bites gently. Just as often as biting she's trying to lick your face. If there was any growling or sign she was 'done' we'd stop immediately (we've never got to that point).

I do agree that the snapping at my face (it's not done with annoyance or anger) is when she's got too excited and we try to stop before that point now.

Bless the Spaniels and their little gentle souls by the way, so endearing!

Nope because whilst it might be cute they are little it won’t be when they are massive
lots of other ways to have fun and build a bond without risking someone getting hurt

She was born in a rescue centre in Cyprus. Brought over to the UK to be with a family with two small children but she is a resource guarded with specific high value treats and also the kids (especially the youngest boy who is a very high energy 4 year old) sometimes played inappropriately when she didn't want to.

So she growled and air snapped at them (understandably from her perspective) and so after 7 weeks they re-homed to an adult only home (us).

So she's a rescue but we do know her background.

Generally speaking you can take most things from her and she's fine but super high value treats like a real bone, a sausage or similar we would never try to take and just give her space.

(I mean if someone tried to take a high value treat off me I might growl and snap too!)

Outside of this she's the most loving thing...I can completely understand why people might think I'm putting too much trust in her but I do think you get a very good understanding of your own dog and what their intentions are, their body language and what they would / wouldn't do.

I know people will point out dog attacks on their owners / others but I get the sense that a lot of these are where people - usually the man - has got the dog for the wrong reason and they probably aren't the best owners.

Honestly, with your updates I think play fighting with her is an incredibly foolish thing to do.

You have a dog who resource guards and who has nipped and bitten your face in the past, yet you think it's a good idea to roll about on the floor with her and let her put your hands in her mouth? And you've not even taught a stop command?

Please stop before someone gets badly hurt and you have no choice but to have your dog PTS.

This means we never, ever instigate it ourselves. So if she's chilling out, we'd never be the ones to try to 'make' her play when she's tired, hot, grumpy, etc.

This doesn’t seem right to me. If you’re gonna ‘play fight’ it should be you instigating it. If my dog started to do this to me I’d see it as disrespectful and I’d ignore. You don’t sound in control at all. Best stop. Someone will get hurt, it’s not fair to put your dog in that situation.