Missy and Dooley - Playtime

[Susie B]

I have been very pleased with the way Missy and Dooley have been getting along lately. I've had Missy almost 6 months now and she is 18 months old. Dooley just turned 7 and I've had him since he was 3 months old. Both are mutts but Missy is bigger than Dooley (about 6" taller and 5 lbs heavier). I've been noticing when they play, that Missy usually instigates it but Dooley is the one that is noisy and biting. Missy kind of wrestles with Dooley and never bites him. They are not aggressive with each other, just earlier, Dooley nipped a little too hard and Missy yipped a little and quit the game. They were both fine with that. Dooley did strain his leg in May and wasn't able to play with Missy for awhile. Actually, they just started back playing within the last 2 weeks.

Is this just their play behavior that they've established or does it mean something else? Is Missy being careful of Dooley after his injury? (or am I just being an over-protective mother)

Thanks for your input.

[Amber]

Precious and Sally also play like that...with the exception that they do nip at each other. One or the other will sometimes nip too hard and the other will yelp. Both dogs will jump to attention and immediately start licking each other's faces...it's really cute. I take it as a make up gesture. They will either go their seperate ways for a minute (playing with seperate toys on the same couch) or they will go about playing again after "making up" with each other.

Sally was adopted 7 months ago (actually 8 months at the end of this month) and never played with toys or other dogs before because she was so terribly shy, so this may be why Precious plays with her like this. On the other hand, Precious was taken away from her sibling a little early (shame on me...I know) and was an only dog until Sally came along, so this may be why SHE plays like this as well! Either way, they get along perfect and no one draws blood from the other, so I like it!

[Luciann]

Well i have to say that my two chis do the same thing. My two wrestle, bite, chew on each other all the time and from time to time one gets a harder nip in than necessary. which of course causes a yelp (usually Tika) they make up and then Tika will hall hiney out the back door and frodo is right on her tail and they are back to playing