Many a trips to the local dog park later, and Ne will still not "play" with the other dogs. He will run around with them, but when one of the other dogs try to play with him, he acts like he doesnt know what to do! He just stands there and sometimes will try to push them with his chest, but thats it. I dont think he was ever around any other dogs untill we got him. His old owner drove a truck, and had him with him all the time. He wont play with our other dog either, but i always thought it was because the lab was old and ornery, and didnt want to have anything to do with him. I want him to play, I know he would have tons of fun, but he acts like he just doesnt know how. I guess it could be he is just a snotty dog, and thinks hes better than the other dogs, but jeez. ahhhhhhh just play! Thats all I want!

Chili did the same thing - I don't think he grew up with other huskies or any other large dog that played. We'd take him to dog parks, introduce him to other dogs...nothing. He wasn't interested.

However, once we got our 2nd husky (and he stopped pouting over it), she started initiating play with him. We had to tell him it's ok, good boy...it's like he didn't think it was allowed. Now we can initiate it by pretending to play bow with our arms in front of Frosti - and then we redirect her play to him. Voila - play!

He may just need to feel comfortable with a dog and feel like there's no danger of a fight starting up. Perhaps set up some play dates with dogs he feels comfortable with. We also take them to doggie day care where they have some safe buddies to play with. He doesn't play with all of them, just the ones that are submissive and no threat to him. It made us soooo happy to see him play after having him a year and not seeing him play!

have you gotten him together with another husky yet? that might work. the chest move is a dominance thing. just keep taking him and he is bound to "get it" or find a friend that he does want to play with.

^ What Jennifer said - he'll find someone eventually. It may be less overwhelming to go when there are less dogs.

We have met many other Huskies on our trips. Once there was a grown husky female and a a husky pup, and just yesterday there was another husky male and a malamute. We have been when there are 2 dogs and have been when there are 20. The first time I took him, there was a little yappy white dog that after an hour he did jump around a bit with, but thats it. He might just not be interested in other dogs, but it sure would make me happy to see him act like he is having fun! I should go get that husky thats down the road and bring him/her to come play. It seems kind of mean though. I would be too though if I was a high energy dog and I was tied with a 10 foot lead to a tree above my head. Poor thing.

bringing a dog to your home or even start maybe setting up walking dates for them to get to know each other and then move it to a back yard play date might be the key, maybe he has to many options at the park and if you say here's a friend it might work. go get that poor husky up the road

I almost don't even want to bother taking Koda to dog parks anymore (aside from the Fairgrounds since it doesn't get busy) because he literally just wanders around like a lone wolf. He will maybe show interest in other dogs for 30 seconds when he sees them running but stops after a second. He much prefers just to explore and walk around. He doesn't play much in large groups at all. If I take him to the husky huddle, he maybe will play a combined total of 5 minutes(adding up all the small little sessions) in a 2 hour period. When I go visit Claudia, he plays with Storm almost the entire time until they all take naps. When I go to the Fairgrounds park, which usually only has maybe 7 other dogs, he will actually engage in chase and stick to it and wrestle here and there. I think some dogs just prefer smaller groups, though oddly enough at daycare he can play nonstop but that's probably because there isn't anything to explore.

hollywoodhuskies wrote:

Chili did the same thing - I don't think he grew up with other huskies or any other large dog that played. We'd take him to dog parks, introduce him to other dogs...nothing. He wasn't interested.

However, once we got our 2nd husky (and he stopped pouting over it), she started initiating play with him. We had to tell him it's ok, good boy...it's like he didn't think it was allowed. Now we can initiate it by pretending to play bow with our arms in front of Frosti - and then we redirect her play to him. Voila - play!

He may just need to feel comfortable with a dog and feel like there's no danger of a fight starting up. Perhaps set up some play dates with dogs he feels comfortable with. We also take them to doggie day care where they have some safe buddies to play with. He doesn't play with all of them, just the ones that are submissive and no threat to him. It made us soooo happy to see him play after having him a year and not seeing him play!

Same exact thing with Mya. Will WILL NOT play with any other dogs except for Kody. She even initiates play with him now. It's so cute. Put another dog in front of her though and she's not a happy camper..lol

It took a while before Ghost would play with other dogs, and even now he doesn't much. There is a neighbour's dog (some kind of terrier/lab cross) that he plays with in their yard, but it's like Sam said above, we had to let him know that it was allowed.

At the dog park, once he's done checking there isn't a gap in the fence, he plays a bit with the other dogs then wanders off on his own. He likes to say hello to all the other people, and especially to any children, and he will run after balls, but a lot of the time he's on his own. He likes it best when other dogs are running fast and then he runs with them.

Yesterday we watched our floppy-eared dog teaching a puppy to play. The puppy wasn't sure at first, and we had to call our dog off a couple of times for being too boisterous, but it was nice to see. You might just need to find a playful dog of the right size to show him.