Puppy and older dog just started growling when playing

[jreach72]

10 month old Lab/Mix (Bear) and almost 5 full month old OEM (Payton) play a lot and seem to truly enjoy each other enjoy playing. Question is when is playing moving from play to aggression? My lab from day one played the dominance card and was corrected for it each time. Once he stopped being so dominate they moved to the play stage. They would run chase each other (swapping off who chases who) and rolling around mouthing each other. I have never heard a yelp and it has never gotten "violent" but recently both dogs will occasionally begin growling when they are playing, I immediately give the come command and they both stop and run to me. Question is, are they still playing or is it moving beyond play to dominate aggression?

I had a wolf/husky (a rescue, we were told it was just a husky..it wasn't) mix and a husky before and they fought to the point we had to give up the rescue dog because it got so violent...so I have experience with violent aggression and that is possibly skewing my view. I want them to play and have fun but at the same time I want to ensure I am setting proper boundaries.

Thoughts?

 

[bw68]

Can only speak on personal experience but when Blue and his brother play, a great dane, it turns into an all out war. They jump on each other, tackle each other, and grab each other all the time. But when Blue gets in his bros space and gets attacked, I break it up after a couple of seconds. Blue will have some scratches and what not but he needs to toughin up anyways.

 

[jreach72]

That is a familar photo hehe...I have a few of those myself. Most times they are literally just goofing off, its the growling I was curious about. Never any damage to each other until you start brushing them and you find all these tiny scabs from their scratches. I personally think I am over reacting but wanted to get additional input. Thanks for the info bw68.

 

[Smokeycat]

My two will growl when they are playing. The tone of the growls and the body posture, mostly Jiggers tail, let me know if it is about to stop being fun for one of them and I'll break it up before it goes too far. They are 10 and 20 months.

 

[big blue]

I would be careful about how you correct them.. not saying youre doing it wrong, just a thought, you dont want to teach them that growling is not ok and then have them start attacking with no warning.. just keep that in mind

 

[DennasMom]

Our Dane/Lab learned the joy of growly-play from a GSD at the dog park... and our second dog liked to bark at times. But, you can normally tell when things start to escalate beyond play... that's when we would step in and say "enough". Our two would normally break off the game then and take a breather for a minute or two... then go back at it at a better, lower level.

We also had major fights with our two (luckily only two stitches required over 3 years)... it was a very, very obvious difference.

When Denna would escalate during puppy playgroup, there was an "eh-eh" from the trainer, followed by a squirt of vinegar/water in the vicinity of the nose... the puppies all learned the boundary for 'too-much' quickly that way.

 

[bw68]

Yep,you can always see when its about to escalate, if Blue was being an a-hole to me all day I usually let him get whats coming to him.

 

[musicdeb]

Titan tends to growl when he's playing. I can tell when he means business with the growl.

 

[northernmastiff]

We always have growls during play. It is a big thing here. Let's be local when we play with each other. The growl changes depending on the dog. Petey gets a deep, primal growl when he says enough is enough. Daisy hasn't had a fight growl yet, just once when Petey went to enjoy a drink of water and she got corrected for that as the dogs share their dishes. We have a very bossy cat who feels the dishes are his so just for safety, there is no food possession even amongst the other animals. Damn cat used to sleep in the bowls, even when they were full of food. Rascal doesn't have a different growl but she goes stiff and she starts snapping her jaws before she launches. There is a click, click, click as she starts striking out. Fights are pretty rare though. Rascal more than the others, Petey just gets the grumpy old dog attitude and Daisy just rolls with the moods.