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Playing Too Rough?

ksteven813

ksteven813

Well-Known Member
Hey Everyone. We are a little concerned if our greyhound maybe playing too rough with Titan. She likes to go for his neck and really bite down. I was able to get a video of it. We are concerned she could hurt his trachea. He yelps a little every now and then but runs back at her for more right after she gets off. I would just like your opinion on if I should just let them play or keep intervening when she does that too his throat.

[video=youtube;d97RtDeEY_4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d97RtDeEY_4&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
DMikeM

DMikeM

Well-Known Member
I think they are pretty much fine. You could go buy a wide leather collar with studs or a prong collar and turn it prong side out. That will teach the Greyhound to leave his neck alone.

All these big dogs like to play hard.
[video=youtube_share;mtnLNrjboDs]http://youtu.be/mtnLNrjboDs[/video]
 
Penelope's Mom

Penelope's Mom

Well-Known Member
It looks fine to me. That's how P and Oliver play. If it were too rough, I wouldn't think Titan would keep going back for more. ;)
 
Rugers-Kris

Rugers-Kris

Well-Known Member
I think you are doing the right thing to correct her when she tries to pin him by grabbing his neck. I think she is just playing but that is a little rough and if you don't correct it, he will get big enough to correct and it could get ugly. If you continue doing exacly what you are doing, she will get it. On a side note, I love watching her run and poor Titan doesn't have a chance in hell at keeping it up. Beautiful dogs. :)
 
Hector

Hector

Well-Known Member
In the beginning up to about 45 secs, it looked like as if the greyhound was correcting the pup like she wanted to keep him on the ground lol. Maybe some sort of controlling behavior there? I don't know.

Even though she kept going for his neck and gnawed on his legs, I didn't see any intensity in those bites and her ears were back and tail carriage was mid level with frequent breaks which is good. She also let go right when he made a noise at around 44 seconds which is also good.

After that she tried to initiate game of chase and ran and ran and ran and every time she ran towards she did not make contact which was good and only started a game of tagging at 1:12. After that tag, the pup lip licked a couple of times and moved away from her and then she tagged him again at 1:16 which he didn't like, but couldn't help himself and chased her. At 1:23 I think the pup was done playing and shook it off at 1:29 to signal he's done. After his shake, the greyhound took the cue nicely and did not come towards him and went off to sniff or potty and the pup at 1:37 seen her taking a break and he starts sniffing the ground to take a break too. (you can see these things better at 1/2 speed)

It's good for dogs to have breaks and interruptions especially if you feel like it's too much. There's nothing wrong in intervening and calming things down. The pup did look pretty tired though.
 
D

Distaff

Active Member
That first video is exactly how the shelter pup and my grown lab-mix played the first couple of days we had the pup. She has grown considerably, and taken the Lab's wrestling lessions. She learned FAST. The gladitorial "fights" are now more evenly matched. They go at like a couple of tigers!

The Chiahuahua prefers to sit on the sidelines, and bark her head off.

I didn't see anything actually agressive in the Grey Hound's body language. Titan looked like he was having fun. He should catch up soon.
 
ksteven813

ksteven813

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the replies! That's good to hear. We were a little worried with him still being a pup. I read about trachea injuries and that got me worried. Every time he hacked, I was like...is his trachea okay?!?!

Our greyhound is only 60 pounds so Titan will be atleast twice as big as her. But she does have her speed. She does drive by bites lol.
 
ksteven813

ksteven813

Well-Known Member
Dmike thanks for the vid! That was great to watch to compare. Your dogs look amazing!

Rugers-Kris said:
I think you are doing the right thing to correct her when she tries to pin him by grabbing his neck. I think she is just playing but that is a little rough and if you don't correct it, he will get big enough to correct and it could get ugly. If you continue doing exacly what you are doing, she will get it. On a side note, I love watching her run and poor Titan doesn't have a chance in hell at keeping it up. Beautiful dogs. :)
Click to expand...
I will get a slow mo vid up of her running :)

Hector said:
In the beginning up to about 45 secs, it looked like as if the greyhound was correcting the pup like she wanted to keep him on the ground lol. Maybe some sort of controlling behavior there? I don't know.

Even though she kept going for his neck and gnawed on his legs, I didn't see any intensity in those bites and her ears were back and tail carriage was mid level with frequent breaks which is good. She also let go right when he made a noise at around 44 seconds which is also good.

After that she tried to initiate game of chase and ran and ran and ran and every time she ran towards she did not make contact which was good and only started a game of tagging at 1:12. After that tag, the pup lip licked a couple of times and moved away from her and then she tagged him again at 1:16 which he didn't like, but couldn't help himself and chased her. At 1:23 I think the pup was done playing and shook it off at 1:29 to signal he's done. After his shake, the greyhound took the cue nicely and did not come towards him and went off to sniff or potty and the pup at 1:37 seen her taking a break and he starts sniffing the ground to take a break too. (you can see these things better at 1/2 speed)

It's good for dogs to have breaks and interruptions especially if you feel like it's too much. There's nothing wrong in intervening and calming things down. The pup did look pretty tired though.
Click to expand...

Thank you for taking the time to post in great detail! I appreciate it :)

Distaff said:
That first video is exactly how the shelter pup and my grown lab-mix played the first couple of days we had the pup. She has grown considerably, and taken the Lab's wrestling lessions. She learned FAST. The gladitorial "fights" are now more evenly matched. They go at like a couple of tigers!

The Chiahuahua prefers to sit on the sidelines, and bark her head off.

I didn't see anything actually agressive in the Grey Hound's body language. Titan looked like he was having fun. He should catch up soon.
Click to expand...

Lol my parents pomeranian will stand next to them while they are playing and bark his head off too.
 
CeeCee

CeeCee

Well-Known Member
That looked like some really nice play between your two pups! The one time your pup yelped (and you corrected immediately) your greyhound stopped. Perfect! My only question is did she respect the puppy's communication or was it your correction she repsonded to. If she responded to the puppies yelp, even more perfect! It would tell me she is a respectful dog in control of herself and is not getting too excited or being a bully.

They took voluntary breaks in the wrestling action, shook off the energy, regrouped, and came back for more when they were ready.

I didn't see anything that said your puppy wasn't enjoying the play. But others are absolutely right; keep the play within levels that you are comfortable with. :)
 
DennasMom

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
Hector's analysis was great!

I agree with how you handled it - I would have stepped in at the same places you did.

You want the play to be somewhat balanced, with both dogs taking 'breathers' occasionally and letting the other one get up again... if the puppy gets too frustrated at being pinned too long, he will try and come back harder next time - and you don't want things to escalate too far. You, as the parent, get to set the limits on how hard they can play. If you're not comfortable with it, you can put a stop to it.

The only thing I might have added... was at the "shake-off" point - I would have called the puppy to me for some lovin'. But... I can't help myself! :)
 
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