Okay so as some of you may know, we just got Marley who is now 8 weeks about 2 weeks ago. She was very sick when we got her and my other dog Pax was very protective of her. If she was sleeping he would walk over check on her every five minutes, if she whined he would come walk one of us to her.

Now Marley is feeling much better and able to walk and even run around. Pax who is 5 months will get in Marley's face and "bite" her ears. (by "bite" I mean open his mouth and put her ears in his mouth, but he doesn't bite down on them.) Then they will both start nipping at each other, but they never actually bite down just kind of put their mouth around each others nose, ears, jaw. Marley will growl, yelp, and bark at Pax, but Pax never makes any noises back at her(he has never been very vocal, Marley on the other hand yelps and grunts when we pick her up sometimes) They will continue to do this back and forth until we stop them. They sometimes ever use their paws to "slap" each other.

My question is do you think they are just play fighting? Could Pax be doing some sort of teaching since he is older? I don't know if I should immediately stop them since Marley does growl and bark, but it doesn't seem like anyone is actually biting. If it is something I should be stopping, should I just separate them and tell them no? I am pretty sure that Pax is playing because he gets down in his play bow and his tail wags. Pax is also use to playing with my parents Rot and Lab. I'm just afraid if its something I shouldn't allow to happen and I keep letting it happen Marley might be aggressive with Pax and other dogs when she gets older. But I don't want to make them stop if it's something dogs should be doing.

Sorry this was so long, as you can probably tell by all the questions this is something that I have been thinking about pretty hard for the past few days. Thanks in advance for all your help.

Do they play like this? https://youtu.be/l97bnaTLiic
My two were just playing in this video, but with Elara being so young and little I never let them play for very long. Just have to be careful about the smaller one getting hurt or the older one getting too rough.

SaraB wrote:

Do they play like this? https://youtu.be/l97bnaTLiic
My two were just playing in this video, but with Elara being so young and little I never let them play for very long. Just have to be careful about the smaller one getting hurt or the older one getting too rough.

OH my goodness your two dogs are calm with each other, mine throw each other into the wall and our little one will pounce our older one they are violent haha.

Yes just like that except she gets very vocal, but like i stated earlier she is a big baby and whines when we pick her up. It just worries me because she growls and barks at him and its constant. From the second they start til I make them stop she is barking at him. She also is a lot smaller so she doesn't get up and jump on him like your little one is doing. She will swat at him though and when he stops and looks away she will start nibbling on his paw. I have caught her actually biting Pax while playing, but Pax doesn't seem like it hurts him. I was told that dogs are taught a lot about biting from their mom around 5-8weeks i believe, but we got her at about 6-7 weeks (she was being so neglected we couldn't let her stay with her breeder any longer) So that's why I though maybe Pax was "teaching" her.
The play never seems too rough besides the few times Marley has actually bit Pax. My only concern is she is barking and growling because she doesn't like it..


Your dogs are the cutest things by the way.

Yep, normal. Sara's Siku is so gentle with Elara in that video. When we brought Kody home at 3months I thought Mya was attacking him, but I learned that it's just playing. Even though she did attack him a few times (still does) it started like this a few days of having him home:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKxCYP8_Mxs

and now looks like this! LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GY9icgZmBk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa9gWrTrB58

haha wow. Those videos were so cute. Well thank you, you all made me feel better about their "fighting". I'll just have to keep an eye on them and make sure they don't get too rough. Marley is still almost all bones from being starved so I don't want Pax to get too rough with her yet. She is just a little over 5lbs and he is a little over 25lbs so I don't want him to break her

Britt09 wrote:

SaraB wrote:

Do they play like this? https://youtu.be/l97bnaTLiic
My two were just playing in this video, but with Elara being so young and little I never let them play for very long. Just have to be careful about the smaller one getting hurt or the older one getting too rough.

OH my goodness your two dogs are calm with each other, mine throw each other into the wall and our little one will pounce our older one they are violent haha.

lol. That was Elara's first day home. They are very rough and tumble now! They both do the grab a leg and flip your sister thing still. I swear their going to break a leg or a tooth one of these times!