Play Time

Dog Blog Post #141: Puppies love to play.

Big dogs like to play, too.

But how to ensure that big dogs and little dogs play together safely?

I wish that was a rhetorical question, but it isn't, as I really don't have a great answer to that one. Mostly I just sit on the floor and become the Play Police, trying to ensure that  puppy doesn't get squished, overpowered, overlooked, or whipped around at the end of a tug toy.


Uncle Zachary is realizing that "rough" play = separation (and "rough" is a relative term here - he can send Henry flying if he wags his tail too hard) and so he mostly plays while lying on his back, basically allowing Henry to mug him and fending off the worst of the puppy teeth with his own yawning maw.

I do try to save the big dog from the worst of puppy teeth - particularly on those rather poorly protected dangley bits. (Hint: My boys aren't neutered.)

I remember when Zachary was Henry's age, and Beau was in Zachary's place; Beau spent months laying on his back, playing with his tail firmly tucked between his legs - and it had nothing to do with him being frightened! He'd just figured out that the safest way to keep things, well, safe, was to cover them up with his big, fluffy tail.

It seemed to very effective.

Hopefully Zachary will figure that trick out soon, as at the moment he's using a rabbit kick to get Henry to back off and that can't be good!

Zachary has started to bring toys to Henry during play time. I'm not sure if that's to improve play, or to give Henry something to grab onto instead of his ears!

No matter the motive, it's really cute to see Zachary standing there holding the end of a tug toy while Henry is giving it his all - pulling and growling and tugging and tugging, and Zachary's neck isn't even moving. The other day, after 3-4 minutes of this, Zachary started to walk forward as Henry pulled - giving the puppy delusions of grandeur... that he might have caused the big dog to move.

Dream on, little one, dream on!