not a probelm really just strange

[Luciann]

Ok, from time to time Frodo will jump on tika from time to time (as usual with more than one dog or child in the house). she will scream and submit and as soon as i see it happen i intervene and Frodo will walk off. the next thing i know she is enticing him to chase her and play.

is this normal? the only time she acts fearful with him is when he jumps on her or in instances that in the past he has jumped on her. and they usual play well together.

[Susan Schue]

My two are always at each other, with Maggie (the 10 month old fearless maniac) usually the instigator. Bonzo is always happy to oblige, but things can get loud, and once in a great while, it gets a bit ugly (when Maggie gets stepped on typically), and I holler Stop!, and it stops. We were at the dog park earlier tonight, and the only time Maggie got too agressive was playing with Bonzo, and they stopped the second I said Stop!, then went on playing happily.

I like to think that I know when to let them go, and when to intervene (like when they both gang up on the cat), and lucky for me they listen. I'd say go with your gut on it, keep intervening when she really screams, but keep in mind she is inviting it, and knows her mama will jump in the second she hollers.

[Luciann]

True, and Frodo usually stops after the first stern "stop" but ususally when she starts screaming she is shaking a lot. But it gets me that they start playing almost as soon as they stop fighting.

at least mine are not the only ones that do it

[Amber]

Precious and Sally play sort of like that too. Sally lays on the couch a lot and Precious will jump on her to get her to play. Either Sally will play with her, ignore her, or snap at her. I don't get onto Sally for snapping at Precious because as much as I try to get her to stay out of Sally's face, she doesn't. When Sally decides she wants to play with Precious, it does get loud and sometimes a little aggressive. One or the other will yelp and I will tell them to "Be Gentle" from where ever I am and they instantly go back to playing quietly and gently.

[Valerie K]

Esmee and Zoey do the same. They provoke each other all the time like little kids. Esmee is the bigger of the two but the little one tends to be the instigator. She will chew on Esmee's ears and tail, jump on her, bark in her face, etc. until Esmee can't take it any more. Sometimes the play seems to me to get out of hand, sometimes Esmee pins Zoey down when she has had enough, sometimes the flur flies and the volume escalates and I have to put in a "settle down", which they usually do, and if they don't, they end up in a time out, which used to happen a lot more when then were younger. They seem to realize now that I mean it... But really, I suspect it is all just in fun for them. It is great exercise, and most of the time I just let it happen around me and ignore it. The only thing I don't like is when Esmee snaps at Zoey for something. It doesn't happen often, and is usually a jealousy thing (like she is getting attention from her Daddy and Zoey tries to edge her way in). When that has happened, we tell her no, touch her gently on the mouth so she knows what we are objecting to, and she is immediately and obviously, physically ignored. It was happening a bit when they were in their early adolescent period, but now at 18 months old, they seem to have grown up a bit. (At least I hope so)

[Luciann]

thanks everyone for letting me know that it really is not that usual of a behavior.