Teaching Dogs Good Play

It’s important to remember that what our dogs practice they get better at. Interrupting undesirable behaviors by using consequences and/or management helps them learn what is acceptable and what is not. In the context of play it’s important to remember there should be interruptions in play, things like pauses, shake offs and role reversals. If anyone is dominating the play or it is getting to wild it’s good to step in and interrupt with a well trained recall or manually catching up your dog. Less is always more with dog play. Too many dogs makes it harder for dogs to read body language from everyone and play tends to be more aroused and definitely harder to manage. One on one is my favorite number for a play date. Size, breeds and age can matter on pairing of the dogs.