Rough play!

Ok so Poppy is my first ever puppy hence the amount of questions i have posted on here

The thing is shes always been quite mouthy/bitey since we first got her at 9 weeks! I have worked on it and she has gradually lessened in this behaviour although not completely! I understand her getting older is of significance also.

The thing is she is now 5 and a 1/2 months and occasionally still nips as the kids....to be fair its not in an aggresive way, its more shes tryin to get their attention or play. I dont like this behaviour tho so she gets into trouble for it

Ok so i'm waffling on....my question is this....My partner plays with her quite roughly sometimes and Poppy gets worked up and starts mouthing/biting. She doesn't behave like this with me because she knows not to! My partner seems to think its ok because shes only playing but i disagree....she needs to know biting is not acceptable in any form (don't get me wrong she never draws blood but still...) So whos right?

All advice welcome thanks x

You are both right. It's a much safer approach if she doesn't play rough with anyone to ensure that she won't bite or nip to try to start play.

That being said I play rough with Suki almost every day. She will cause a bruise and draw blood on occassion but I'm fine with it. I also made sure that she will only do this with me and than only when I initiate the play and end it on my terms. Also please make sure your OH realizes that she will get alot bigger and stronger and if he plays rough when she is a pup she will expect to keep doing so as an adult

I think its ok for a bit of rough play, they love it but they need to know when the game is finnished!! Katy tends to get over excited when playing with OH & continues to bite him. We keep a spray bottle of water to hand & only have to show it to her now & she calms down

jstaff wrote:You are both right. It's a much safer approach if she doesn't play rough with anyone to ensure that she won't bite or nip to try to start play.

That being said I play rough with Suki almost every day. She will cause a bruise and draw blood on occassion but I'm fine with it. I also made sure that she will only do this with me and than only when I initiate the play and end it on my terms. Also please make sure your OH realizes that she will get alot bigger and stronger and if he plays rough when she is a pup she will expect to keep doing so as an adult

I'm the exact same with Zeus as Jstaff, Zeus only plays rough with me, and not my Mum or Sister. He does need to be disciplined not to bite/nip, and the most effective way for me was to pick him up and put him in another room as a form of punishment, then let him back in after a minute or so. I used this technique for almost all unwanted behaviour that Zeus had and it worked really well. He now knows that we only play rough when I initiate it, not when he does.