The play with other dogs is an important part of socialization for your dog. For the most part, this will involve some kind of struggle for status or a possession using mock combat. Properly supervised, this mock combat provides good training and entertainment for these dogs. Improperly supervised, this mock battle can escalate to the point of your dog becoming a thug or becoming withdrawn or getting injured. Remember that this playing fighting is practicing to kill each other, if necessary.
Our goal is to prevent any dog from acting like a THUG by properly supervising the dog play. Not only will we raise the confidence and therefore the trigger point for inappropriate aggression and also allow a fearful dog to blossom into the confidence to enjoy the company of others and life in general.
How do tell if our dog is acting like a THUG? Look for any of the following signs:
T takedowns or body slams (we are not talking about if the dogs are mutually rolling around and taking turns going down – this is desirable.)
H humping is very dominant forcing the other dog to become submissive and not to be allowed – ever
U unwanted attention, if our dog is bothering another dog that obviously does not want to play
G growling aggressively, the other dog is the one that decides if the growing of our dog bothers him in a negative way
Remember, that safety permitting, we do not want to separate dogs fighting inappropriately since that will end the training session in anxiety. We would rather just modify the inappropriate behavior and allow the dogs to continue in the training situation.
In all of the pictures depecting play, the dogs are not acting aggressively but rather playing very nicely together.