How to tell safe puppy play – do you understand what is puppy play and when it isn’t safe?
Here’s What to look for:
- Curved Bodies
- Taking it in turns with play = equal play ( play growling is normal )
- Rocking Horse Movements
- Play Bows, soft open mouth
- Pauses, wiggly body
- Calm on Lead Greetings, Sniffing Bottoms
- Mirroring ( copying each other )
- Checking that the other puppy / dog also wants to play & Meet by observing their body language
When to break up puppy play & Call Away
We want to prevent the rehearsal of inappropriate or unsafe behaviours. This is because the more that something is practiced, the stronger that behaviour becomes. We want to try to avoid your puppy having an unpleasant experience, and other dogs too.
So learning canine body language can really help you know when to step in and move away, or when it is find to let play continue.
For example in puppy play:
If a puppy is jumping all over another puppy here are a few helpful tips.
If play is becoming ‘too much’ – call your puppy away using your ’lets go cue’. Always make sure that ‘let’s go’ means that you are changing direction, coming away from something and that something good happens when your puppy or dog hears this. This training is best to practice ‘out of context’ before you need to use it in real life situations.
Shorten time of meets to seconds, depending on your dog or puppy,
Add distance so puppy can concentrate on you easier from a bigger distance
If puppy is humping ( This means often they are over-aroused and do not know what to do with their arousal energy, so end up humping)
Not many dogs will like this, so again take note, use let’s go and help your dog calm by using distance and doing some simple scent games.
Barks and Splendour are passionate about enhancing your lifestyle with your dog or puppy, and take approaches that go beyond simply training. Like us, dogs have needs and training is not enough to ensure a happy and healthy lifestyle together.
Body Language is a key aspect of understanding your dog or puppy so this blog post gives you some of our most common tips. For more, discover how it feels to become part of Barks & Splendour Lifestyle Club here.
How do I know when my puppy or another puppy is unhappy with the play?
If the other puppy is on his back, tail tucked, hunched body, looking away ( avoidance ) ears down, has tight closed lips, whale eye ( seeing whites of eye ) Is trying to get away, hide behind owner or an object, is crying/whining – these are all signs that the puppy or dog is not comfortable and needs space from what is happening.
A few tips on dog body language
Dogs communicate with their whole body from their nose to their tail.
When looking at body language, context is important, it is the whole picture that tells the story.
What is the rest of the body doing?
What is going on in the environment?
What is ‘neutral’ for that dog?
A few examples of stress signs and communication:
Lip Lick/Tongue flick can be a signal of potential discomfort/stress
• A dog may try to be communicating “please
leave me alone/please don’t do that”
• Dog may be feeling uncomfortable in a particular
environment e.g. the vets
• May be accompanied by turning or lowering of the
head, avoidance of eye contact or yawning
Head Turn / Looking away
This is a non-confrontational way of avoiding conflict, for example in greetings or to ask people or dogs not to
invade their space.
• You might see this when trying to put equipment on
or near a dog such as harnesses, leads, clippers
• You may also see this from calm, older dogs who are
Being hassled by a young or boisterous dog
Whale eye ( can see whites of eye )
This can wrongly be considered ad as the ‘guilty’ look
• The dog is actually seeking to avoid conflict (head turned), but at the same time, keeping an eye on the ‘threat’
• The dog understands someone is cross but doesn’t know why/what to do about it.
• Can be seen if the dog feels threatened, for example it could be protecting a resource or avoiding something
