How to tell the difference between playing &fighting We have a brother and sister (9months old)... and they are ALWAYS together. We crate train them, and when they are out of their crate they are always chasing each other, biting tails, biting legs, pouncing on each other etc. My wife, a very non-violent person, claims on some occasions they are "brutally fighting." I say they are just playing around. With yorkies, how do you tell the difference? |
That's a good question. I have been wondering when my 2 do that. They are a year apart and sometimes the little one lets out a yelp. But, I figure if they keep at it, night after night, they must be playing or the little one would just stay away. |
I found a Web site that has some good explanations of dog interaction. It's all interesting, but scroll down to Play and Play Invitations for the part you're interested in. http://www.wagntrain.com/BodyLanguage.htm From personal experience, you should be able to tell the difference when it gets out of hand. Both dogs are showing their gums, their teeth and the whites of the eyes, and you can tell injury is possible. If there's no danger of injury, I let it go. If it seems to be getting out of hand, break it up with no punishment. Just sort of a rest period. |
I have a mother/daughter pair and they're always playing rough. It's never gotten out of hand. Now, when they try to play with my older rescue, I get on to them because he's in no shape to tumble like they do. Yours are most likely trying to establish who's the alpha. As long as they don't draw blood or you don't hear serious yelps, I wouldn't worry. |
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If however, their fighting is serious enough that you're afraid it might escalate, by all means separate them! |
With my 4 I can tell the difference right away, when they play they are growling but its a play growl, like knawing on each other, chasing each other, but when it turns ugly, they will get louder & louder untill one of them shows there teeth, then i step in and say NO more, thats ends it, good luck to you |
[QUOTE=alaskayorkie;1285163]I found a Web site that has some good explanations of dog interaction. It's all interesting, but scroll down to Play and Play Invitations for the part you're interested in. http://www.wagntrain.com/BodyLanguage.htm QUOTE] That's a good article. I still have trouble with trying to figure out the mounting/playing/fighting going on between my 10 year Shi Tzu and 5 month old Yorkie. It's hard not to humanize them too much and demand that the "play nice together" !! |
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Jad |
Thanks for that article. :thumbup: |
Dakota will either make a Growling, or Yelping sound. They do play fight a lot, but both of them will let you know when they get hurt. |
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