Rough play

[TankGrrl66]

I think would could all agree our GSDs love to play rough. Watching my young GSD playing yesterday got me thinking though...

What does your dog, or do your dogs, do during play?

Mine was chasing and chasing. She started trying to corner him, and biting the top of his rump and his legs. She was trotting to his running half the time, I noticed. She also, when close enough and felt more confident about being in a new environment, would grab the back of his neck and growl (not a mean one, you guys know what growl I'm talkin about) and try to stop her playmate from jumping around. Was this normal play or herding instinct?

But two of my dogs play adorably. My older male will stalk my young female, it makes me crack up! He will stalk her, and then suddenly rush up and play bow. This puts her in supercharge mode, and she goes flying around the yard. She gets super rough! She pounces, jumps on and over, bites, rolls around kicking limbs wildly, spins, etc.

But then my normally chill older male got her back the other day...They were playing, and I look up from a book to see him dragging my female by some skin on her cheek! She was just laying on her side wagging her tail, LOL!

My older male just doesn't play with other dogs. He plays with people. Sometimes. He tries to stop any dogs playing :P Total party pooper.

Share adorable play stuff! Or let me know if my pup was 'herding' her friend.

[Chicagocanine]

Bianca plays like this:

Bianca and Calvin 3 - YouTube

Bianca and Calvin 3 - YouTube

And this:




But she generally won't initiate play, she'll only play if another dog acts playful and is insistent about asking her to play. It's not that she doesn't want to play, though, she just needs a lot of encouragement to start playing with another dog.

Originally Posted by TankGrrl66

But two of my dogs play adorably. My older male will stalk my young female, it makes me crack up! He will stalk her, and then suddenly rush up and play bow. This puts her in supercharge mode, and she goes flying around the yard. She gets super rough! She pounces, jumps on and over, bites, rolls around kicking limbs wildly, spins, etc.

Like this?

You Tube

You Tube

Bianca's friend Calvin (the one in those videos) will start grabbing and pulling on her neck fur if Bianca gets tired and tries to take a break. He's a puppy (or, he was, he's over a year now) so she puts up with it. The funny thing is it actually works because after he does that for a while (and keeps barking at her) it will get him to get back up and start playing again.

Sometimes Bianca will be running with Calvin chasing her, then she'll suddenly flip over on her back in mid-run and do a roll over, and Calvin will jump over her! It's hilarious.

[Syaoransbear]

Chrono is a very rough player, so I only let him play with dogs he knows that are also rough players. He likes to bite necks, faces, and legs. He also likes to run full speed and crash into another dog, or jump over them.

Another thing he likes doing is removing collars. I've heard of many dogs getting their mouths stuck in collars and freaking out, but he seems to have incorporated them into play. He likes to bite another dog's collar and either pull it off of them and run around with it like it's some sort of trophy, or drag them around by it. Lots of times his play-buddy Sascha will roll onto the ground on her back, and he'll grab her collar and start dragging her around on the snow. I don't know why she puts up with him.

He also uses his paws a lot. A lot of times they will stand up on their hind feet and bite/paw at each other's faces. But for the most part they just gnaw on each other. They used to play chasing games a lot, but Sascha is about 8 years old now and Chrono can catch up to her too easily, so it's not as fun for him anymore.

[Syaoransbear]

Here's chrono playing(excuse his fatness at the moment). They are kind of pooped already in the video. When they first play with each other it really looks like fighting.

You Tube

You Tube

I can never get a good video because whenever I go outside to take a video they stop playing.

[summerronk]

You should post a video so we can assess.

Originally Posted by TankGrrl66

I think would could all agree our GSDs love to play rough. Watching my young GSD playing yesterday got me thinking though...

What does your dog, or do your dogs, do during play?

Mine was chasing and chasing. She started trying to corner him, and biting the top of his rump and his legs. She was trotting to his running half the time, I noticed. She also, when close enough and felt more confident about being in a new environment, would grab the back of his neck and growl (not a mean one, you guys know what growl I'm talkin about) and try to stop her playmate from jumping around. Was this normal play or herding instinct?

But two of my dogs play adorably. My older male will stalk my young female, it makes me crack up! He will stalk her, and then suddenly rush up and play bow. This puts her in supercharge mode, and she goes flying around the yard. She gets super rough! She pounces, jumps on and over, bites, rolls around kicking limbs wildly, spins, etc.

But then my normally chill older male got her back the other day...They were playing, and I look up from a book to see him dragging my female by some skin on her cheek! She was just laying on her side wagging her tail, LOL!

My older male just doesn't play with other dogs. He plays with people. Sometimes. He tries to stop any dogs playing :P Total party pooper.

Share adorable play stuff! Or let me know if my pup was 'herding' her friend.

[Bismarck]

del and biz 004 - YouTube

del and biz 004 - YouTube

my two lunatics.
i have to keep an eye on play time, as biz slips and falls and hurts himself, and del pukes when he gets too excited.

[summerronk]

I love how the GSD is tougher even though he/she is at a disadvantage!

Originally Posted by Bismarck

del and biz 004 - YouTube


my two lunatics.
i have to keep an eye on play time, as biz slips and falls and hurts himself, and del pukes when he gets too excited.