Following on from my Dog Play post, once you’ve read the explanation with their videos in the linked article you’ll be able to recognise the communication between the dogs in this video.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=292313954509170
Bella (Lab cross) was thrilled to finally be able to play with her usually on-lead friend Chester (bull breed), my old boy who has now passed away. When he was learning how to engage in a variety of activities with other dogs, Bella was his first playmate. He had other friends who he had learnt to zoom around with, forage and train with but none he could trust to safely rough house with.
Lots of prep had lead up to this and I trusted he would cope despite his reactive history. Even so, I watched intently, prepared to advocate for Chester had Bella not curbed her boisterousness and provided space when she did.
See how Chester remembers how to signal his need for space and how Bella acknowledges and grants that?
This wasn’t easy for her to do as the excitement levels were high, even though she is a great communicator and highly sociable dog. Even ‘friendly’ dogs can make mistakes.
Notice how Chester took joy in practising consent by gently asserting his boundary, signalling ‘i need space’ with a head turn, a slow sit, slower body movements entirely. Bella recognises and responds appropriately, signalling her understanding and respect for his needs, and as such Chester feels safe and enthusiastic to continue with their game.
Did you see the tension rise up as their excitement levels increase?
Chester’s body movement suddenly became tense and less fluid, indicating heightened arousal. This is when I chose to positively interrupt their behaviour. Brief playtime is so valuable. Keeping high energy interactions short and joyful prevents miscommunication and mistakes because they’re overstimulated, tired, and need time to process.
By cueing “this way” the dogs switched to a new activity, moving forward and out of stationary play. They remember the larger space around them and as they entered that the tension diffused. I’d do the same between well practised playmates, it’s not something only learners can benefit from. Who hasn’t seen grown adults winding each other up only for one to go over the top? We are not so evolved that positive interruptions and attention-redirections don’t benefit us too 😉
I adore watching this video of Bella and Chester. She taught him how to self handicap and bow (see the IAABC Foundation article), skills he went on to practise with other dogs. He even progressed to allow and invite Bella to chase him, as apposed to him always needing to be the hunter, in control. He felt safe to be the hunted, he learnt that by establishing consent in play that he still had control.
This was made possible by her ability to recognise and respect Chester’s body language, in combination with his ability to signal his needs and trust they would be met, navigated by well-managed interactions. When dogs aren’t well-matched in play it’s easy for that trust to be broken because mistakes are so easily made. Even well-matched dogs have off days (sore muscles, tired, humid air etc), you may have experienced this yourself. It’s all about making accurate judgements based on good education. And like I said, we are all still learning, even I!
Video is on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=292313954509170
