Friendly puppy but plays rough - how long for?!

[Rach247]

Hi all,

My 12 month old foreign rescue dog is nervous around strangers but absolutely loves other dogs, and he’s never happier than when he’s playing with them in the park and running around. The problem is, he likes to play rough - lots of rolling around and mouthing and trying to nip tails. When we meet another dog that plays the same way it’s heaven, and the other owner and I are always delighted. If he starts to play rough with a dog that doesn’t like it and gets snapped at, that’s fine, he always back off immediately and I’m a big believer in letting dogs sort things out, he needs to be kept in line sometimes. But I am finding it increasingly stressful when he plays with another dog and the owner gets angry because he’s too rough (even if their dog is fine with it). I always grab him straight away and put him on the lead but I hate confrontation and some people have been really snappy with me. I get it, we all love our dogs and want to protect them.

It’s making me dread taking him out, but he needs a good run around so I can’t keep him on the lead all the time, and he loves other dogs so if I walk him away from everyone he just plods along a bit miserable. He’s really not an aggressive dog, it’s genuinely playing. Lots of play bows, wagging his tails, rolling on his back and letting them chew his ears, etc etc.

So my question is, for how long will he want to play like this? Is it a puppy/young dog thing or could it be all his life? If so I need to prepare myself! He’s a street dog so no breed-profile to give me any clues.

Thanks for any guidance/advice!

It could be a puppy phase that he grows out of our like you said his natural personality. If its a puppy thing he'll probably calm down in a year or so. Is he a larger breed? I have GSDs and i know a few people thought our puppy was an adult.

He could be like this forever but you really mustn't let him approach and play with other dogs like that unless the owners have previously said it's okay.

If he approaches the "wrong dog" he could get more than a snap.

I would suspect it's the puppy phase and the fact he backs off if they snap is a good sign that he's learning to read the signals about boundaries.
I've had big dogs who like to rough play up to the age of two to three and they get so much from it. Maybe say to the owner he loves a bit of rough and tumble is that ok? Before they start.
Also try and wear him out with different types of play and thinks like scent training or different training activities where he has to really focus.

Both mine play rough and one of them is nearly four years old, so they haven’t grown out if it. They are placid and gentle characters, but just love bundling each other. I got my second dog partly because my first liked to play so much. When I just had one, I’d never let her play rough unless I’d cleared it with the other owner, first. You can always tell if another dog has a similar attitude; not aggressive, but bouncy and full of beans. I got friendly with a neighbour who had a similar dog and we still walk all our dogs together. And they still play rough!

If he’s running up to dogs, playing rough and you can’t call him off and have to grab him off he needs to be on a lead. Hell end up hurting a small dog or getting bitten.