Staffy Playing

Took 4 month old Alfie to meet his 2 Staffy cousins (sons dogs) last night, they are bitch 4 months and dog 3 months, they met up outside of sons house with a good reaction, wanting to play. We set off on the walk up to the field, Alfie pulled more than usual but i guess that was excitement, we arrived at the field and found an open unoccupied area and my son let his 2 off the lead, i didn't let Alfie off his, his recall is reasonable but i didn'y want to take any chances on the first meeting. Now i know Staffys play rough but for the next 30 mins all the dogs wanted to do was fight, i think it was all in good nature, my son didn't seem over concerned as he said his 2 do it all the time. The bitch gave up on the fighting after about 5 mins but it seemed the boys wouldn't give up.
Question - should i have let Alfie off his lead maybe they could have done more running which would of reduced the fighting.
We then walked back to sons house with the dogs walking nicely side by side.
Question - does that sound like a normal 3 staff play session or is the fighting excessive.

Sounds about right I think, my 2 pull each other around by their faces, legs, body etc and very noisy with it, lots of open mouth play and literally jumping all over each other.

My girl let's Tank know when shes had enough !

My 2 have never drawn blood on each other despite it looking rough, so it us just playfighting rather than fighting which would be aggressive,

Take a look at the body language section, u can learn a lot there xx

Sounds like normal play to me. They can be quite rough and vocal as well. Without seeing the interaction to I don't want to say for certain. Here is a link to help you understand body language

http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/dogbodylanguage.html

It takes some time to get used to and if you aren't certain it's okay to be cautious.

Definitely normal play , Tommy has put quite a few scars on Tilly now specially round her jowels and her ears, Tilly always goes for a little chew on Tommy's legs and tries to pull him round the garden by a leg or an ear

Sounds like good natured play to me. Staffies can be very vocal when playing which can be misread by people sometimes.

You were right to keep your dog on the lead as you were not to know how they would react to your dog being there.

This is what Winston out staff does with our poor terries lola and shes half the size and its purely play but some times a bit much for her as she so small so we just correct him when we think needs be, otherwise i worry he would accidentally hurt her but only through play and because hes a lot stronger aswell.

If there was no damage then it was play. if a staff wants blood you will know it. they def won't be walking side by side at the end of it lol

i think staffys just like to play rough

Mines the same, he loves to play rough with other dogs.

Last week, neighbours had a BBQ and invited us. Ralph our pup, played and argued with their Labrador for 8 hours on and off. They did take a few time outs to eat, drink and sleep, both dogs loved it.

Sounds like normal Staffie play however I've found that having one dog on a lead with the others off can turn play into fighting. I would either put all dogs on a lead or have them all off. Just my opinion though.

I think they do play rough. Lots of nipping necks and jumping on shoulders, at least Cal does with her sister.

Our trainer suggests not having one dog on a lead and one dog off--kind of what like Nina said above--but I have to say that makes me nervous...