Chuck has traditionally been great at the dog park or doggy daycare - adjusting his play style to the size and play style of other dogs - running, wrestling, being mouthy - whatever fits.

Increasingly he's getting more mouthy with more dogs, to the point where other dogs aren't enjoying it maybe 25% of the time. He scrunches his nose sometimes and will show his teeth during play - but then again I've seen him do that in play with other mouthy dogs and it seemed fine. He hasn't ever escalated to a full on attack, but I'm concerned it's something that could lead to a problem.

What say you - something to address or just typical husky rough play? My current 'boundary' for when I intervene with Chuck is sustained painful yelping by either dog or growling from either dog. The mouthiness I'm describing obviously falls below that threshold, but the overall increasing trend of the mouthiness makes me wonder. I'm leaning towards the fact that healthy dog play can be pretty mouthy and it doesn't require intervention -eager to hear other opinions.

Ya'll rule, thanks!

My male who is 2 also does this. He talks a lot and it typically the dominant one at the dog park, he lets the new dogs know that he's dominant. However lately, he's been getting mouthy and ticking off a lot of dogs which ends up us pulling the dogs apart. I think a lot of his problem is that he doesn't get to go as often anymore and isn't as socialized. But it's really annoying and is getting to the point where other owners don't want him there.

Rob, its pretty typical. You should see when we get link:korra:arya:baon together. I swear the other people at the park think we hosting a dog fight. Huskies just tend to play rougher. I am very cautious around new parks and dogs i dont recognize because i dont want to cause any drama between the owners. I just make sure to bring treats and praise when Arya comes or leaves the situation alone.

And its always puppies or smaller breed dogs she likes to torment. But a firm "leave it" or walking her away for a bit seems to calm her down.

How old is your little guy now?
Korra went through a really obnoxious phase. I had even less tolerance for her rough play than I normally do, just because it was nonstop. With every dog. Even if they didn't want to play. I try to stop play before it gets to yelping or growling- that's already too far for me. Stop things before they cross the line, not after. Redirect and have him chase you. I also worked on "leave-it" with other dogs. She has been a huge brat recently though, I haven't been keeping up with the training...grr. But she got a gold star from daycare today for her leave-it with the new GSD puppy, so she must be better when I'm not there haha.
If you have a teenager on your hands, put in the work now..they're like puppies again and it's exhausting, but once they're out of that phase their behaviors are set pretty well. Make sure they're good ones!
Also, we should meet up soon!

I've been back to the park a few times since posting - I think that showing teeth during normal play I'm going to be okay with. Seems like they just want to chew on each other during play sometimes.

Thanks friends.

Yeah, Dizzy can be really obnoxious at the dog park too. If he's super high energy, I'll actually take him for a run/walk before we go to take the edge off. It also helps to do a brief training session, 15-20 min before we go in because that can also calm his brain down. Sometimes he just gets into that tazmanian devil type headspace and I have to rein that in before we can go otherwise he instigates, starts, or attracts trouble.

Also, Rhia gave me a tip once to do brief time outs/breaks if he's too over the top. Just grab him and hold him for a few minutes until he calms down. It definitely helps sometimes, other times, he's just too much of a jerk to stay so we have to go. I think every husky is 'that dog' at the dog park sometimes.

Yeah, Arya has been "that dog", Brief walks/and training sessions before hand are excellent.