Rough play

So Harley has lots of friends in the park now which is great, and he plays wonderfully with everyone. But there's a few who he loves wrestling with, which is great - although one particular dog they end up getting super rough and I feel like Harley gets fed up - he's had a few cuts now, sometimes his mouth/tongue gets cut too. He starts baring his teeth and we pull them away from each other and let them calm down and usually we're all walking as a group so we can begin walking again and they're fine again. I was just wondering if we're doing right by intervening! Any thoughts or advice on 'rough play' etc would be wonderful.

It sounds to me like you're judging it about right. If one or the other is getting injuries then it's probably going a touch too far, for no other reason than that bite wounds are very prone to infection.

Rather than pulling them apart, which risks tearing and can also make a dog want to go forwards more, I'd teach them both 'enough', said in a nice cheery voice, which gets a yummy treat for each dog when they do. To start off with you might need to waft treats under noses, and possibly guide them apart with your bodies/hands, but they should soon learn that 'enough' means come over here and get a treat.

Excellent news that he's so dog friendly, you've set him up well there.

LizP wrote:It sounds to me like you're judging it about right. If one or the other is getting injuries then it's probably going a touch too far, for no other reason than that bite wounds are very prone to infection.

Rather than pulling them apart, which risks tearing and can also make a dog want to go forwards more, I'd teach them both 'enough', said in a nice cheery voice, which gets a yummy treat for each dog when they do. To start off with you might need to waft treats under noses, and possibly guide them apart with your bodies/hands, but they should soon learn that 'enough' means come over here and get a treat.

Excellent news that he's so dog friendly, you've set him up well there.

I agree. A can of pet corrector may also help