The oddest thing happened..

[K9soul]

On Christmas eve, I was downstairs in the den with the dogs and my husband just taking it easy. I was playing with the dogs for awhile, and after Tasha got tired of playing she curled up on the couch by David (the one piece of furniture she's really allowed on). So I continued messing with Tommy, and as usual he makes his play growls, and he got a little overzealous/excited and grabbed at my hand instead of what I was holding. He didn't bite down at all and I wasn't hurt at all, but Tasha... she went berzerk.

She leaped down and lit into him, grabbing his muzzle. We intervened, moving her away more but she jumped at him a couple more times, trying to grab his muzzle. Ever since then, whenever me and Tommy start to play and he does his play growl, she runs over with her lips curled back at him. I tell her it's ok and then she goes back to what she was doing but she watches him like a hawk, and gives him the evil eye as soon as he starts doing his play growl. As for when the two of them play, nothing has changed, and when Tommy plays with David, she's fine.

It's pretty obvious she saw some threat to me from Tommy and now considers it her job to monitor things when we play. It's somehow oddly flattering to me, but at the same time I'd rather be able to play without worrying about her going after him too .

[pitc9]

Ahh, she's protecting her mommy!
(Buddy feels the need to protect me from anything and everything that comes within 2 feet of me!!)

But I can understand wanted her not to do it so you can play with Tommy!! Maybe after a little while of seeing they you don't get hurt, she'll settle down a little?

But it is nice to know that you have a body guard!!!

[Pam]

I am not a behaviorist by any stretch of the imagination, but I am sure this sort of thing is completely normal and probably happens a lot. Knowing how the play growl upsets Tasha, I guess it will put a little bit of a damper on your play sessions with Tommy and you will need to be careful from now on. I really wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. My Ripley feels very protective of me when he is on my lap and his Big Cousin Dale comes over to see me. He will show Dale his entire set of upper teeth although that's about as far as it goes and Dale backs up. Actually it is quite funny when it happens, since Dale is about 75 lbs. now and Ripley is 15 lbs. and Dale really respects the little guy. When they are both down on the floor together they are fine - it's just when Ripley is on my lap and he feels the need to *protect* me.