Tuesday, February 9, 2010
So what does this mean?
So I'm confused with dog behavior. Waffle has calmed down now and seems to really enjoy her new squeaky toy. She races to the kennel in the morning to see her, and has been pretty good at teaching her how to play tag. What I don't get is their behavior. Waffle will never be an alpha, she likes to think she is but at heart she is more scared than brave. So she has been putting the baby in her place and she seems to be pretty commanding when she does. The baby backs down but like a boomerang flies right back at her. The majority of the time they are play fighting, I pull the baby off when things get too heated, I allow Waffle to do her big blustery dog thing - because well it is her house. Both of them get placed on time out for being too mean (showing teeth) or when the furicane is just too much to handle.
but what to do the following dog behaviors mean?
*the baby will chew on/bite Waffle's neck skin or lips
*the baby chews on the big girl's ankles
*the baby rolls over and does the submissive thing BUT when the big girl walks away she pulls the sucker move and bites and or jumps on the big girl.
for the most part they seem to enjoy the interaction, and Waffle could escape the sharp puppy teeth but will rarely do so. She seems to be indulging the baby.....at least until it gets out of hand and then she puts the smack down on her.
But what does it all mean?
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5 comments:
In my experiance they are nothing more than play behaviors, puppies seeing they can do with their teeth :)
It sounds like momma dog behavior on Waffle's part. My parents' Setter was exactly like that with her puppies, especially when they got bigger. She would put up with a lot, and then turn around and put them in their place with no questions asked.
Egypt and Bob do the exact same thing - our puppy raising manager said just let them do whatever, even if there is blood lol.. Basically babies have to learn and the big dogs will do it when provoked enough.. so Egypt puts up with some stuff.. but then will turn around and scare the poop out of him in a second when he crosses the line...
Ellie and HOs do the same thing. I was wondering if that was normal. Glad to see it is!
According to Dr. Ian Dunbar, I think he'd say the puppy is learning bite inhibition--learning how much pressure it takes to cause pain. It is very important that puppies learn this when they're little, so that even as adults, they don't harm anyone accidentally. It's great that Truffle has Waffle to use as a learning device!
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