Ruby and Chester have been getting along very well since we allowed them to interact with no baby-gate or barriers.
They are always supervised at this stage because she is still twice his weight and size, but their play can get reasonably rough and I wondered at what point do we stop them?
Ruby is obviously establishing her dominance with Chester, she stands over him, knocks him over (he spends most of his time with her on his back fending her off with his legs in the air!!) but whenever we take her away from him he follows after for more.
He also stands on her shoulders (trying to get higher, I guess), and chases her around a lot.
There has been no biting or aggression, their tails are always wagging like mad, but once or twice he has growled at her (but he does this to his toys, too, when he gets excited) and he barks at her sometimes, too.
But the thing that does concern me is that they mouth at each other a lot, and I'm scared she will get too rough and hurt him. Last night they lay on the lounge room floor with their legs entwined together, chewing on each other's faces. It was actually very cute and neither was getting hurt, but then it started to get very boisterous and Ruby started to get very physical, and it was at that point she was told `Too rough!' and put in the bathroom for two minutes of time-out.
The other thing they do is steal whatever the other dog has out of it's mouth and run away with it - although the moment the chase stops, either of them will stand still until the other pup can get a grip on whatever they're holding and then they're off again - is this their way of playing? They seem to thoroughly enjoy tug-of-war with each other and I have seen Ruby let him win the toy quite a few times, and then she just goes and grabs it off him. They have actually ripped two of their favourite toys apart doing this.
Also, I will give them a bone each to keep them quiet, but they will always go after the other's bone, even though they have one each to themselves??
Sorry this is long, but I had a few questions!
They are always supervised at this stage because she is still twice his weight and size, but their play can get reasonably rough and I wondered at what point do we stop them?
Ruby is obviously establishing her dominance with Chester, she stands over him, knocks him over (he spends most of his time with her on his back fending her off with his legs in the air!!) but whenever we take her away from him he follows after for more.
He also stands on her shoulders (trying to get higher, I guess), and chases her around a lot.
There has been no biting or aggression, their tails are always wagging like mad, but once or twice he has growled at her (but he does this to his toys, too, when he gets excited) and he barks at her sometimes, too.
But the thing that does concern me is that they mouth at each other a lot, and I'm scared she will get too rough and hurt him. Last night they lay on the lounge room floor with their legs entwined together, chewing on each other's faces. It was actually very cute and neither was getting hurt, but then it started to get very boisterous and Ruby started to get very physical, and it was at that point she was told `Too rough!' and put in the bathroom for two minutes of time-out.
The other thing they do is steal whatever the other dog has out of it's mouth and run away with it - although the moment the chase stops, either of them will stand still until the other pup can get a grip on whatever they're holding and then they're off again - is this their way of playing? They seem to thoroughly enjoy tug-of-war with each other and I have seen Ruby let him win the toy quite a few times, and then she just goes and grabs it off him. They have actually ripped two of their favourite toys apart doing this.
Also, I will give them a bone each to keep them quiet, but they will always go after the other's bone, even though they have one each to themselves??
Sorry this is long, but I had a few questions!
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