Play or Fighting?

Puppies have the most energy and a lot of social interactions while they are young.  To burn off some of that energy and help social interaction, they play!  Them playing as puppies is a critical time for their social development and learn proper dog manners.  But how do you know if they are playing or fighting? This is what could be difficult for the owners to distinguish from play or fighting.  They both look fairly similar and could leave someone confused about the situation.

There are many different things that can show it's just play and not fighting, moves like the play bow, open mouth, snarling by the dogs, and etc.  The play bow is when the dogs front end is down and their back end is up in the air.  Like we talked about in class, they have their mouths open.  They also snarl and growl continuously while playing.  They will also bouncy around while doing all these actions together.  Bouncing around in the play bow with their mouths open showing the other dog or dogs they want to play. This is an example of the play bow :

Some things that will tell you its not play fighting include the dogs body becoming very stiff.  Also closed mouth with a low sounding warning growl towards the other dog.  They will not bounce around like they would do when playing.  Their ear's will most likely be pinned back and one dog might try to get away from the other.  Watching from a distance does not help with determining wether they are playing or fighting.  Since they do look alike, watching the reaction of the dogs during the playing will help show if it is friendly or not.

Ways to help make sure the dogs keep it to play instead of fighting is letting them only play with dogs they are familiar with like ones they live with or others they have meet before.  Make sure one dog isn't getting ganged up on during play.  And don't let food or toys get involved with the play.  Dogs might be aggressive towards their items they want.




References

Writers, Staff. “Are They Playing or Fighting? A Guide to Evaluating Rough Pup Play.”American Kennel Club, 4 Nov. 2015, www.akc.org/content/dog-training/articles/are-they-playing-or-fighting/.

Benel, Jolana. “How Can You Tell When Dogs Are Playing or Fighting?” Quick and Dirty Tips, 9 Oct. 2013, www.quickanddirtytips.com/pets/dog-behavior/how-can-you-tell-when-dogs-are-playing-or-fighting.