Fight or play?

Yesterday’s photo asked the question, ‘Is this a photo of aggression or play?’ If you guessed that this was a trick question then you guessed correctly!

Each dog has a unique style of play. My dog, a 5-year-old Border Collie/Australian Cattle dog mix, plays like herding dogs tend to do. She likes games involving chasing and herding behaviors, but she doesn’t like to be touched or controlled. Herding breeds (or mixes) like to be the controllers and don’t feel comfortable when things get out of their control. All dogs have a natural instinct of ‘fight or flight’ and will respond to that over any typical breed behavior.

My dog is fast on her feet but Rooney is faster! That’s because Rooney is a young Scottish Deerhound. Deerhounds were originally bred to take down stags (sometimes weighing 350 pounds or more) by chasing, grabbing and forcing them to the ground, where their necks were often broken. Rooney is less than two-years-old, and like many young dogs, his conduct is considered “rude” by older dogs. If you look closely at the picture, you will see that he appears to be biting Charlee near her vulnerable kidney area. Had this been a real attack, my dog would have been seriously or even possibly fatally wounded. Most dogs will automatically protect these vulnerable spots. When you factor in Rooney’s size and lightning speed, it’s easy to see why any dog would be afraid if they believed they had no escape. Dogs do not appreciate being treated like prey (even in play). This situation could easily have escalated into a full blown dog fight if their humans had not intervened - which is just what we did.

Rooney is a very large, strong, adolescent dog who would benefit from an education in manners from a “seasoned bitch”- an older dog to show him the ropes of proper dog interaction. But he hasn’t met his match yet. His size allows him to easily out-maneuver other dogs and this factor also contributes to his overall bad manners. He does take direction well from his owners and they are working on teaching him to be less intrusive with other dogs, coupled with lots of timeouts for engaging in overly rough play and continued playtime for exhibiting good behavior.

So what does all this mean for you and your dog? You will find that dogs who play in similar ways will generally get along better together. It’s in their play interactions that a dog’s intrinsic behaviors will become evident. Dogs have huge issues regarding “personal space”. Young dogs often invade this space, which can lead to aggression displays by the dog whose space they’ve blundered into. If my dog was “a seasoned bitch”, she would have let Rooney have it. But she isn’t so they have formed a hot and cold relationship in which Charlee tolerates him, but is often annoyed when he acts out. This is where humans must intervene. If you are the owner of a rude dog, then you must step in and appropriately correct your dog for his (mis)behavior. If your dog doesn’t respond well to ‘rude’ dogs, is elderly or physically unable to be part of rough play then DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO INTERACT. In our situation, the dogs came together as the result of their humans’ friendship (though maybe not after Rooney’s owner reads this!) and they are together on a regular basis. We are working on modifying Rooney’s play style by not allowing him to engage in rude behavior. Some human friendships suffer because their dogs can’t get along, but it’s unfair to subject your dog to encounters in which they are antagonized and uncomfortable.

Our dogs learn continuously, so don’t allow them to practice behaviors you don’t want them to repeat, or they will continue to do so. If Charlee could talk, I think she would tell me that she thinks Rooney is alright, but she doesn’t like it when he’s rude. I think she is grateful that we stopped him before things got out of hand. How do I know this? Because she runs back to me if she can’t calm him down and “asks” me to step between them for her. They both appreciate the intervention. Like children, dogs need time to chill out and regroup. And Rooney, like all young dogs (and most people!) is still learning self-control and how to live in our world.

Charlee chooses flight into the water

Charlee comes to me for protection