How rough is too rough??

[Cola Champagnes mommy]

Hi gang,
For all of you that didn't read my thread entitled 'Co-Co's first boyfriend' who happens to be a 6 y/o 75 lbs. boxer and pit mix, she and Taz have become very friendly over the past few days. I am excited to say that Cola is very dog friendly to my amazement, she will be 6 months at the end of August. I never really had a chance to socialize Cola with other dogs because she is so hyper and to other dog owners, like Tulsa-Dan said would grab ahold of their dogs leashes when we would come by as if Cola was Cujo??? To make a long story short, as I stated I don't really KNOW this other dog very well and his owner and I are sort of friendly and she admits that Taz is a luv bug, which was my first impression of him too. In the begining he would only try to mount Cola and play very lightly - but now I think that they have gotten to feel comfortable with one another and have been 'boxing' up a storm! I am afraid for Cola because she is only 40-45 lbs and I feel more "fragile" if you will compared to Taz, who is strong and stout. I am not blaming Taz or the owner for anything because I allow Cola to play with Taz - it makes her happy I mean she sits in our yard and stares at his house (how cute) but i don't know if he is to rough for her yet. she keeps going back at him pound for pound, but he fell on her today and i just thought about him crushing her, i know he didn't mean it but am i being OVER PROTECTIVE??? i know i am a new mommy but i worry a lot and don't want Cola to get hurt. Should I wait until she is bigger or what? They growl and play and if I felt she was in serious danger i would pull her out but i want her to have fun and play with Taz and learn to be social as this is her first 'play buddy'. any suggestions would be helpful....sorry so long...thanks.

I can't really say what I think about your situation without seeing them play but I will tell you what happened here.


When we brought Rosie home she was only 10 weeks old and she is a beagle, so very much smaller than Eddie. At first Eddie was very gentle with her, he seemed to know she was a baby. BUT within a couple weeks they were boxing each other, growling and biting like crazy. At first it made me nervous, I watched them very closely and what I saw is that they were just playing. My husband had to remind me once in awhile to relax and let them play. There was one time that Eddie stepped on Rosie and she yelped, he immediatly backed off and even gave her a nice wet lick as if to say sorry!! Now, Rosie being 22 Lbs and Eddie 60 Lbs, when they play, Rosie is more rough than Eddie is! I don't worry at all that Eddie would hurt her.

[Tulsa-Dan]

My sister is horrified when she watches Maggie & Susie play. They play so rough with one another, but as I said to her, "watch carefully. They never bite one another, it is all growling, posturing and wrestling and the biting - they never close their jaws and neither of them yelps in pain or anything. Same with other dogs.

Of course they can get carried away so I always tend to watch them pretty closely. There are times when I feel they are getting carried away and will tell them enough for now and give them a few minutes to chill out. They always stop and shake and then give each other kisses, either on the ears or mouth. It is so adorable. In fact, just now my girls were wrestling and playing keep away with a toy when Maggie yelped a little yelp. I looked over and she had hurt her leg while wrestling with Susie. I said "OK Girls, Enough," and they shook, gave each other kisses on the mouth and lay down at my feet.

I also notice that they switch off on "who's on bottom" when the wrestle. Sometimes Susie is feeling the more fiesty and will always have Maggie on her back, jumping around over her, play biting her ears and neck and mouth, and sometimes, Susie will be on the bottom and she lets Maggie (Susie IS the Alpha - no doubt about that) be on top, as it were. I love it when they play like that. Many times they get carried away and stop themselves. One of them will start really making nasty noises, not like play, and the other will back off. They shake and start again, all without me saying a word.

Just keep a close eye on them while they play to make sure no one gets hurt. Dogs set their own limits with each other, even without our intervention sometimes. So, let them play and have a good time.

[gidget1]

Gidget was 9 weeks old when we brought her home. We also have a 2 year old Rat Terrior. From the time we brought Gidget home she showed him who was boss! They play very rough(if you can imagine a boxer and rat terrior going at it) they growl, pull at each others ears and mouths, no one has gotten hurt yet! As Dan said there are times when I can't take it any more and I break it up but it does'nt usually last long. And if one gets tired of playing they just go to their crates as if to say,"ok, time out." I'm sure if a stranger came to my door while this was going on they would think I was running a dog fight! And Gidget is the more vocal of the two!!!

[Brutus and Amaya's Mom]

I agree with Dan. The neighbors probably think my dogs are ferocious from listening to them wrestle They never hurt each other though and they have a great time. Like Dan said, its all about posturing and body language.

When we got Amaya I was scared to death Bru would hurt her. He was already about 60 lbs and little Amaya was about 10 lbs. I never had any problems and my little sweety Amaya is the loudest of the two

I think unless you hear deep throat growls and see hackles up the dogs are fine. They communicate very well with themselves and set up limits early in the relationship.