Is play too rough?

We have had Cincy now for about 4 months now (she is almost 6 months old)and she and Sadie get along great...most of the time. They love to play together and often curl up and sleep together when they are tired out.

What concerns me is that maybe Cincy is too aggressive in her play. Although she is about 25 lbs. lighter and a year younger, she often goes after Sadie, growling and biting. She never seems mean when she does this, mostly it seems like just noise. I have never seen her act like this with any of the other dogs she plays with and she never does it with humans. Sometimes Sadie will put Cincy on her back, but other times, Sadie runs away and will try to hide behind me or Ralph instead of standing up for herself. Sadie will also give up her toys very easily to Cincy, whereas Cincy will growl to defend hers. If we think it is getting to be too much we will tell them "time out" and they take a break...for a minute. I give Sadie the option of going to her bed in our room, so she can get a break, but she wants to be where we are.

I have let this go because I thought it was better to let the dogs work it out for themselves and establish their own order. We have tried to maintian Sadie's dominance by feeding her first, rewarding her first, etc. I jusdt don't want to see this turn into a fight later on and want to make sure we are encouraging a good relationship between the two dogs.

You should honor whoever the dogs decide is alpha. I know its hard since you were expecting Sadie to be alpha, but its looking like Cincy has a much more dominate personality. If this is the case, I'd start feeding, petting, etc Cincy first.

Some dogs have very vocal play. Lolly growls constantly while playing.

It sounds like you guys are doing the right thing by letting them work it out, but if you're worried its not play, try treating Cincy as alpha for awhile. Maybe then she will stop the struggle since she'll have the position she wants.

I agree with Aly 100%.

Thanks for the advice. So far I really think everything is just play, but I wanted to get some ideas before things got out of hand to know what to watch for and how to handle it.
I have also been thinking about treating Cincy as alpha, and I don't know if I am hesitant because I assumed Sadie would be, or why. In watching the dogs more closely, although Sadie is submissive, she does seem to be alpha when she wants to. What I mean by this, is if she wants a toy, bone etc, she will take ot from Cincy. If she doesn't care she will drop it and let Cincy have it. She also tend to lay on the couch with me, whereas Cincy will lay on the floor (Doesn't alpha get higher position?)

I don't know if this is dominance or mothering or just dute, but Cincy will run to the window barking. Sadiw will follow. If she does see anything worth barking at, she will push Cincy away from the window and smack her on the face, as if to say shut up silly! There ain't nothing there. It is really funny to watch.:cool:

That sounds just like my two! Angus is 10 1/2 and Roxey will be 10 mos.! Angus wasn't the Alpha with our Chow and he isn't now either. Roxey does just like you were talking about. She tries so hard to get him to play, and she acts so mean! But she really is playing, she don't hurt him, just really makes Angus mad:mad:
Sometimes she just won't leave him alone, & we have to break it up. So I know exactely what your talking about & I'm glad to get some feedback too!
http://www.netSnapShot.com/users/675...kY_6758_83.jpg

Thanks Anna, It is nice to hear that someelse who has the younger dog as the alpha. With almost everyone I talk to, they say their older dog is the obvious alpha, and everything I have read talked about how to deal with that. I guess it really isn't that difeernt if the puppy is the alpha, just more difficult for the owner to accept.

What part of Ohio are you in?

I live in Piqua, I can't believe all the different places people are from on here! It just amazes me sometimes! Actually, the whole computer thing amazes me (can you tell I've only had it a few months! What a rookie hu?!)

it is amazing what you can find and who you can talk to on the computer. I used to drive through Piqua quite often when I was at school in Cincinnati and heading home to my parents in Findlay or to Toledo to see my at the time, boyfriend, now husband.

You have beautiful dogs!!! I am hoping to get more pictures of my girls on here by the end of the week