By: Lindsey D. Brown
I have an 8-month old female Golden Retriever named Gabby, and a 3-year old male Golden Retriever named Max. They love each other, but they also love to rough house. They will play around the house and knock things over in the process. They even go as far as to stand on their hind legs and play-fight. It drives my family crazy. It is really hard to spend time with them separately all of the time. Gabby seems to be the instigator in the play fights most of the time. She is an 8 month old puppy, so she is not matured entirely. However, despite the fact that Max is 3 years old, he becomes a puppy as soon as Gabby starts playing with him. Gabby even tries this play on my 8 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, named Marley. He is a smaller breed, and a bit of a drama king. He is not a fan of the play fighting, he will even go as far as to give a warning bark at Gabby. She just thinks he’s playing hard to get, so I have to separate them. Marley and Max used to have this same issue when Max was a pup. Max still gets excited and scares Marley at times, but they are best buds now.
So we have tried to get the dogs to stop play fighting all of the time, by scolding them. They will stop for a bit, but they go right back into fighting. We have tried to get them to sit, and stay, but their attention is short-lived once one of them decides to stop listening. Max went to doggie boot camp over the summer, so he has some training. He is also neutered, and Gabby is not yet. We are still toying with the idea of breeding her once. However, we have decided to go all out and get these dogs trained to stop. I have decided that even though I am going to be working with both dogs with the training, I am going to focus on Gabby mostly. Since, she is still a puppy and the instigator, it might be easier to break her of the rough housing now. I want to train them to stop doing this. I want them to be around each other, play nice, and even take naps together.
So in the past, we have used collars that beep to warn the dog to stop whatever they are doing. When they would start fighting, we would beep their collars. Sometimes, they would be so into their play fight, that the beep did not even phase them. We would then have to say their names loudly, and continue beeping their collars. When they did finally separate, it was only for a few minutes before they would start play fighting again.
The training methods I’ve decided to use are those of Cesar Millan. I am choosing to follow his methods because I like the way he trains dogs, and he is very successful in doing so. It is not just his success that drew me to his methods, it is the fact that he focuses on love, respect, and trust when working with dogs. I consider my dogs part of the family, and Milan has the same values. I also grew up watching his show, so I have always admired his teachings. These are all the reasons I chose to follow his teaching methods. According to his website Cesar’s Way, “When dogs play too rough” by Ashley Bennett there are few different things dog owners can do to resolve the issue. One suggestion in the article mentions to neuter/spay your dog. As I mentioned before, Gabby is not spayed, but Max is neutered. This may be one of the big reasons they are still play fighting. They are family dogs, so I do not have control over this issue. Another suggestion in the article, is to discourage rough behavior. The article explains that it is important to behave in a gentle manner with your dog. Bennett also states that you should not play tug-of war with your dog. It encourages the dog to have dominance over the owner if they let the dog win. The other thing I will be trying with dogs, is to stop the behavior before it even starts.
So I have applied these changes when working with my dogs. I am being more gentle with them, and have eliminated any kind of dominance related situations. As soon as Gabby gets ready to pounce on Max, I scold her calmly, and tell her to sit. I do the same with Max. I will be working with both dogs for a couple hours, for three days in three weeks.
Week One: Short-lived Peace
The first week I took Gabby out first, and got her settled with a toy on her bed. I told her to stay there, while I got Max out of his crate. Gabby followed me, and immediately started fighting with Max. I pulled them apart, and scolded them. I got them to lay in their beds for a few minutes, but the peace did not last long. They started fighting again. I kept them out for a couple hours while I did a few things around the house, and homework. They seemed to take advantage of the times when I was not paying attention, by fighting when I would leave the room. They made progress by the end of the week, because they stayed in their beds longer, and stopped using every opportunity when I wasn’t looking to fight. The key was to stay persistent in what I wanted the dogs to do. Before, I was too relaxed and the dogs seemed to pick up on that. They would watch me intently, and jump into action when I was not giving them my full attention. I was gentle, yet stern, and they responded really well to that.
Week Two: Playing Favorites
The second week started out really well. My mom started working with me this week, and it seemed to help, since the dogs see her as a pack leader. It seemed that they were both really responding to the training. The training that I was applying was keeping both dogs in their beds in the front of the living room. I asked the to sit, then lay down, and then I would tell them to stay, while I would walk away, but continue to keep them looking at me. Gabby would get up occasionally to come see me, and check in with me or my mom. Max would then get up and want attention too. I was able to keep them from fighting by having my mom give attention to Max, while I gave attention to Gabby.
This went well at first, but by the second day, they played favorites. If my mom was petting Max, Gabby wanted attention too, even if I was giving her attention. This started a little fight again, that I had to break up. So I decided to make them stay in their beds, if they wanted to get up, we would call them to us. If they got up from their beds without being asked, we would tell them no, and take them back. We would tell them to sit, lay down, and stay. It was hard to scold them for wanting to come see us, but we had to keep up with their training. This was a process at first, but they eventually got it.
Week Three: Wanting to Please
By the third week, I was able to keep the dogs from fighting almost entirely. They seemed to understand what we wanted them to do. After many times of taking them back to their beds, having them sit, lay down, and stay the weeks before taught them the rules. Persistence was key in this entire training setting. Golden Retrievers are known for being fast learners. They would lay in their beds in front of the television. We would direct them to their beds, go through the commands, and they would listen. If they were to get attention, they were to be called first. And they would get attention at the same time, so that they would not get jealous. We even kept them out during meals, and they laid in their beds like we told them to. They still play fight when they go outside together, but it is easier to separate them. Gabby wants to please, so she comes right to me when I call her away from Max. This came from her personality, Max is a bit more of a trouble-maker. I did nothing different with her than Max in order to get her to come to me.
Even though the training worked, and has kept the dogs from fighting. I still wanted to know what provokes them to do it in the first place. According to an article on Mother Nature Network called, “The science behind how dogs play” written by Lauren Moss, the play behavior that a dog shows, all has meanings. When a dog puts its hind end in the air means that they want to play, and it is not a sign of aggression. When a dog exposes its belly, or rolls over when play fighting, it means that the fight is a submissive one. The article also touched on the fact that male dogs will let the female dog win the fight even when they are stronger. I thought about Max and Gabby, and I realized that Max does let Gabby win the fights most of the time. While it is good to know what is behind the play fight behavior from my dogs, and that they are not being mean to each other; I still do not want them doing it. And it is not because I do not want my dogs to not have fun, or be dogs. They do not know when to stop, and they will fight until they are separated. That is why I chose to apply a training method for them. It was all or nothing with the play fighting, and I had to choose nothing so that there could be order in my household.
Links to Articles Referenced: https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-training/socialization/what-to-do-when-dogs-play-too-rough
https://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/science-behind-how-dogs-play