Dog Play Styles

JazzyandVeronica said:
I wish Veronica could play by herself and keep herself entertained!!

She doesn't get along with other dogs; so I have to act as a stand in! O_o :X3:
(She likes it rough!)
Click to expand...

LOL! Does Veronica like to play tug or Frisbee? She seems to have tons of energy! River is pretty mellow so he doesn't need a ton of exercise.
 
JazzyandVeronica said:
I wish Veronica could play by herself and keep herself entertained!!

She doesn't get along with other dogs; so I have to act as a stand in! O_o :X3:
(She likes it rough!)

Click to expand...

How old is Veronica, and how did you teach her not to mouth you when you play this way? Brody enjoys this kind of play as well (at least I think he enjoys it!), but he mouths a lot. He's not a pit bull, but I am afraid to encourage him to play like this. Do you ever do this wearing short sleeves? I noticed you put your hand on top of her muzzle when she was getting carried away. Does this calm her, because if I try to close Brody's mouth (2 hands, mind you, not 1) when he gets mouthy, it makes him angry.
 
Brody is pretty good at playing ball by himself, too. He uses his paws a lot, kind of pouncing with his front legs really stiff and pushes down on top of the ball to make it pop up. I need to film this, as it's really cute. He will also dribble the ball like a soccer player. This is just using tennis ball sized ones. I would like to find a larger ball, something that is soft enough that he could still pick it up and carry it around, but not be able to destroy it. You think something like that exists?

When I try to get him to play fetch in a large open space, he will run like the wind to get the ball, but then he will only bring it all the way back about the first five times. Then I have to really cheer him on to get him to bring it half way back. After a few more throws, he will still chase it and pick it up, but then he lies down and eats dandelions. We have a neighbor who has three chocolate labs who will fetch until the cows come home. Brody likes to chase them when they are fetching, but they get really annoyed with him. The same thing at the dog park; he doesn't really compete with other dogs for their ball, but just wants in on the chase.

I've tried frisbee a couple of times, but he's really only interested in chewing it.
 
srdogtrainer - frisbe...not so much. Tug yes! (She also likes to play a combination of tug/fetch ooutside with her ruffian octopus that I haven't gotten on video yet). Actually though she's pretty lazy. She has bursts of energy and then she's like "Ok, done now!" (y)

brodys_mom - Veronica is going to be 7 in June. She has an extrememly soft mouth. I don't know if that was just the luck of the draw or if I can take some credit for it, but I did do allot of work with her to encourage a soft mouth. As a puppy I used Jean Donaldson's techniques for teaching bite inhibition which allow for some mouthing as opposed to a no teeth on skin at all approach. I also did allot of training around "gentle", "drop it" and "leave it". She does mouth a little, or more exactly every time we play like this I manage to catch a tooth on me and get at least a little scrape on me. In this video I'm actually wearing my coat because instead of mouthing per se what will happen is...her head is hard, her teeth are hard, her mouth is hard...when she swings her head around she hits me with her teeth because her mouth is open and they bruise...so I generally don't do it with short sleeves because I joke with my husband that someone will think he beat me up. :confused:

Putting my hand on her muzzle does calm her and as a puppy we did allot of work with handling all body parts and we're overly affectionate so she's learned to like being touched, hugged, squeezed, and kissed all over. :oops:
 
JazzyandVeronica said:
As a puppy I used Jean Donaldson's techniques for teaching bite inhibition which allow for some mouthing as opposed to a no teeth on skin at all approach. I also did allot of training around "gentle", "drop it" and "leave it". She does mouth a little, or more exactly every time we play like this I manage to catch a tooth on me and get at least a little scrape on me. In this video I'm actually wearing my coat because instead of mouthing per se what will happen is...her head is hard, her teeth are hard, her mouth is hard...when she swings her head around she hits me with her teeth because her mouth is open and they bruise...so I generally don't do it with short sleeves because I joke with my husband that someone will think he beat me up. :confused:

Putting my hand on her muzzle does calm her and as a puppy we did allot of work with handling all body parts and we're overly affectionate so she's learned to like being touched, hugged, squeezed, and kissed all over. :oops:
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. I will look up Jean Donaldson. Brody seems to know gentle, though I didn't teach it to him. I just found out because he was getting a little over-excited during training for 'roll over' and he nearly nipped me when I was treating him. I said 'gentle' and he backed down and took the treat very slowly. I think I'll spend some time on that command, rather than waiting to correct him when he does nip or mouth too hard.
 
JazzyandVeronica said:
She has an extrememly soft mouth. I don't know if that was just the luck of the draw or if I can take some credit for it, but I did do allot of work with her to encourage a soft mouth. p.
Click to expand...

You know, I have met a surprising # of pit type dogs that have an extremely gentle mouth and goldens and other breeds that you would expect to have a soft mouth (supposed to be bred for) take treats rather roughly. It seems to be at least partly a genetic trait.
 
JazzyandVeronica said:
Hhmmm...all of a sudden I can't figure out how to do the quote-y thing :confused:

brodys_mom - the Jean Donaldson book is free at scrbid:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/116526977/Culture-Clash
Click to expand...

To quote, just hit reply, then delete any parts you don't want to have show up in your post. Make sure the "quote" parts are still there, and the original post will appear separate.

I actually had bookmarked the link to "Culture Clash" and started reading it about a week ago. I didn't recognize the author's name when you mentioned it. I am only a short way in, but I didn't realize it had actual training in it. I though it was more about the psychology/behavior aspect of dogs-human relationships.
 
On another note, I have cause for celebration! Brody had a lightbulb go on big time last night. We were playing our usual game of fetch, aka chase but not bring back, at our local school ground when a mallard duck flew into the field. Brody dropped the ball and chased after the duck as it was coming in for a landing. Naturally, the duck aborted it's landing, but proceeded to loop around the school ground, with Brody in pursuit. Once the duck had cleared out, we resumed our game, but suddenly, puppy began bringing the ball all the way back! Every time! Again and again! I couldn't believe it. He just kept going and I didn't know how long he could keep it up, but the sun was going down, so we headed home. I have never seen him so tired, or so happy!
 
JazzyandVeronica said:
Yea Brody!!! Now he's going to want to play fetch ALL the time!!

Culture Clash addresses bite inhibition on page 63.
Click to expand...

He was already playing fetch really well in the house, with a ball or with a tuggy, it was just getting him to really burn that energy outside that I was struggling with. I am so happy, I just hope he will give a repeat performance tonight.

I will definitely be reading the section on bite inhibition. Thanks so much for that!:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top