How do you tell if dogs are playing or being aggressive?
As mentioned earlier, its incredibly important that you recognize warning signs of aggressive behavior so that you can tell the difference between dog play fighting and an actual dog fight. This will help keep your dogs safe and healthy, not only by ensuring they dont get injured, but also by ensuring you dont anxiously stop them play fighting and cut off important socialization time. Weve pulled some tips from the AKC (opens in new tab) to ensure were giving you the best info on how to discern play fighting from real fighting.
What does it mean when my dogs play fight?
Dog play fighting is just socialization made a bit more physical. Since dogs cant talk, they communicate with body language, and play fighting is akin to having a light ribbing session with a good buddy. Young puppies play with their littermates all the time, which helps with their social development by teaching them about dog manners and bite inhibition, according to the AKC (opens in new tab).
An unsocialized dog may not know the difference between a playful nip and a painful bite, or may not understand when to give another dog space. Thats why dog play fighting is so important at a young age and beyond.
If theres more than one puppy in a room, chances are theyre play fighting. This is a good thing! Remember, puppy play fighting is crucial to their socialization and growth and will help them become better behaved adult dogs that understands boundaries and bite inhibition. Its adorable to watch and its good for them.
What should you avoid doing if your dog plays too roughly?
This one is pretty easy: Don’t punish your pooch when she plays too roughly.
Often when I say this to a client, they immediately tell me that they would never use punishment.
But when I watch their interactions with their dog, they often revert to things like:
It’s human nature! It is important to train yourself to react appropriately too.
Technically, punishment is anything that your puppers finds unpleasant enough to stop an unwanted behavior. For some dogs, this is as simple as raising your voice.
At best, punishment riles your pup up even more and doesn’t do anything to change the behavior. She’ll likely continue to mouth, bite, and play rough.
Generally, when this happens, people begin to increase the intensity of the punishment provided. This may mean raising their voice or pinning the dog down for longer periods of time, or tapping the pup on the nose with a little more force than before.
I think you see where I am going with this.
At worse, punishment can actually cause emotional damage. This may cause your dog to become frightened of you, and it may weaken your bond too.
No one wants this to happen. And ultimately, the behavior may still happen because she hasn’t learned anything other than that you are scary.
Do your dogs play rough or fight?//Proven method to fix it.
If two dogs are wrestling and it seems too rough to you, with all that growling and snarling, body-slamming, and biting of each other’s necks, should you intervene? How can you tell if dogs are playing or fighting?
This is normal dog play. Puppies play with their littermates constantly. From around two weeks, when their eyes open, until they go to their own homes, they spend almost all of their waking hours wrestling with each other. It’s a critical time for social development because it is when they learn bite inhibition and good dog manners. It is good exercise and socialization for them and fun for us to watch. But you should learn how to tell the difference between playing and a real fight when adult dogs are involved.