Village Veterinary Hospital, P. C. / Proper Play w/Puppies

Proper Play with Puppies

Puppies are energetic in their play and their play can sometimes progress to lack of control or exhaustion. This can result in mistakes in both the objects and the intensity of their play behaviors. For this reason, it is important that they learn from a young age how to properly play with humans.

Boxing, mounting, rearing and pouncing

By eight weeks of age puppies begin to pay more attention to people and to apply the same behaviors used to communicate with other animals to communicate with humans. When dogs are small and do not weigh much, these wrestling and boxing behaviors tend to be harmless. However, as the animal grows, these behaviors can result in the injury of a child or even an adult. Puppies should not be allowed to play in an overly aggressive manner with people. Tackling, pawing and mounting by young puppies should:

Always be able to be interrupted by the owner by saying "no" or by withdrawing attention.
Always be able to be refocused to a toy.
Always be responsive to a gentle correction by the owner if play is too rough.

Appropriate correction includes stopping, saying "no", startling the animal if needed and asking the puppy to exhibit a desired behavior such as sitting and waiting for a toy or channeling the activity to a toy.

People should not correct animals physically. This only teaches them that rough play stimulates a rough, physical response. They will often become stimulated to respond to the body part that is moving and go after it. If the pet is out of control and the owner becomes frustrated, crate confinement in "time out" is best.

Mouthing and biting

No pet should be encouraged to mouth. Puppies do this naturally because they use their mouths much as humans use hands. It is a simple matter to abort this behavior when it first starts but it can be very difficult when it has been ongoing.

The first step to discouraging mouthing behavior when it occurs is to say "no" and freeze. Quickly pulling a hand away encourages the pet to pursue the "game." Say "no," stop and gently remove the body part while holding the animal's body. Immediately offer the puppy something appropriate to chew on and reward the pet when it does so. This should be repeated as often as necessary.

If the puppy does not respond to this, the owner should "yelp" as though injured when the puppy mouths and then get up and walk away and ignore the pet for several minutes. Only when the puppy has settled down should play begin again. If the puppy is so out of control that neither of the above work then taking a "time out" in the crate is warranted or the play session must end altogether.

Teaching tug-of-war

Tug-of-war is an aggressive form of play that is allowable as long as the owner is in complete control of the game. Owners can play tug with a pet if the following rules are observed:

The dog must sit and wait until the owner is ready and until the toy is offered.
The dog must wait to take the toy until the owner gives a command such as “take it”.
The owner and dog both pull on the toy without violently swinging back and forth.
The dog should not grab any body parts.
If the dog even grazes a body part, the owner should act as though mortally wounded, stop the game and give a "sit" command or ask the dog to lie down. The dog must comply.
Offer the toy again as in step (1).
The owner decides when the game is over by using commands like "stop" or "enough". The dog must sit and drop the toy into the owner's hand upon hearing the command "drop it".
The owner always wins.

If all of these steps cannot be followed, it is better not to engage in this type of play with the dog.