Most people assume the pooches love playing with each other.
But really...they never do.
And we love that they rarely interact.
When we were first looking for a second dog, we thought that we needed a dog that would play with Miss M all day long.
Little did we realize that all day would mean all night, all morning, all afternoon, all evening and then back to all night.
The first dog we were considering adopting turned our life upside down during the foster-to-adopt period. Miss M and the foster would rough house at all time of the day and night. We would wake up to the dogs slamming against the bed, running up and down the hall and wrestling on the floor. After three weeks of sleepless nights, we finally decided that this was not the life for us and we had to find a dog that would tolerate but could careless about Miss M.
Sure enough, we found the perfect dog for our lifestyle, Mr. B. Though Miss M loves to provoke Mr. B by chewing on his hind legs, shoving a tug toy into his face and even taking hostage a beloved stuffy, Mr. B will either ignore her instigation or save his stuffy and run to his safe place, his tepee.
When needed, he is quick to oblige and become her favorite pillow and chair.
Do other people have pups that love to play? Or are happy just co-existing as roommates?
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13 comments:
The birthday hat photo is awesome! We are a co-existing household also! They played twice and it was terrible (for them and to watch). Melvin is not really a playing sort of dog. Jake's idea of playing is to bite at Melvin's legs and face -- good times! Melvin put an end to that pretty early on so now they just do drive-bys and sometimes touch when laying down. I'll take it!
Our two boys are pretty young (1year5months and 1year3months) so they do a lot of playing in the backyard which is awesome for tiring out the pups. When we first got Odin he was a stray and had not been around other dogs. Duke was only 7 months old at the time so all he wanted to do was play. He would chomp on Odin's hind legs, butt up in the air, and Odin would look at him like he was nuts. Odin still takes a bit of provoking from Duke but he will eventually get into it :)
My dog Molly is dog tolerant so we try and keep her away from dogs who like nothing more than to rough house. Too much high energy play incites the behaviour she was dumped at the SPCA in the first place for! If we ever adopt a second dog, it'll have to be our own version of Mr. B.
We adopted our first dog, Lumen, in September of 2011 and our second, Dexter, in January of 2013. They were both puppies when we adopted them. We had a LONG foster period with Dexter because they played so rough we were afraid they were never going to settle down and get along. Eventually, of course, they did settle down - to an extent! They don't play as often or as rough as they did when they were little, but they still have a lot of puppy in them and run laps in the backyard together. Several of our neighbors have told us they get a huge kick of watching them tumble around the backyard chasing each other and playing. Which is great, because when you have two pittie mixes it good to be surrounded by neighbors who adore them! Dexter can get a little toy possessive so we have to supervise them pretty closely when toys or bones are involved. Despite their rough start, they seem to be the best of friends now! They are the cutest when they get all cuddled up on the couch and sometimes Dexter will go and nudge Lumen awake when he wants her to play! When Dexter was sick and I had to take him to the vet without Lumen she would break my heart with her crying (sometimes nearer to screaming than crying - absolutely the most awful sound I've ever heard!) when she realized we were leaving without her.
Correction, January of 2012!
Oh, man. Lucas and Cooper... those two go at it like a couple of maniacs. Oddly enough, though, they only do it twice a day, once in the afternoon and once after dinner. It's bonkers. They rip around the house, pummel each other, leap over furniture, dive bomb around corners, bite each other's faces, and let loose with the meanest sounding barks and growls. Total chaos. Then it ends and they move on. Meanwhile, Emmett sits calmly in the middle of the storm, unflinching...
Oh, they may not play together, but they sure are sweet together! Kaya and Norman love to play together but they're only allowed to do it outside. I assumed, at first, that they would want to play 24/7 but it turned out to be just once in a while. Though they always wrestle and chase in our hikes so maybe that fills their need. The rest of the time they look a lot like Mrs M & Mr B :)
Boomer and Dottie like to play and when they do it shakes the house so we try to keep that to a minimum. But most of the time they are hanging out in their own places in the house taking a nap or looking out the window.
It depends, Annie loves to play pick on Paul when we're crossing the street (ah yes, because this is the optimal place to play pick on Paul: with cars coming at you (please note very deep sarcastic tones)). There have been times I have come home to find holes in our wall (shaped like Paul's head). There are also lots of times they just lay there looking at me and not moving. Awake sleeping.
Koly & Fe rarely play together and haven't much since Kol outgrew his puppy years. It happens, but it's rare. Usually once or twice a week they'll run figure eights around our living room (a race that Kol lets Fe win).
Koly & Lu on the other hand? TOTAL CHAOS. We actually have to enforce time outs to keep them from running, barking and rough housing for hours on end.
Mine play, but since one is a greyhound, they don't play more than 5 minutes at a time!!! They do zoomies around the living room or around our small yard, and they sometimes play tug,but Barbie comes up on the couch next to me when she has had enough.
When my dog Henry lived with his litter mate, Cali, they roughhoused most of the day (they were also puppies). But now he lives with a elderly black lab and they very much just coexist. Hardly interacting at all except to sometimes bark at the same cat. I guess dog relationships really are like human relationships - different people bring out different sides of your personality.
Turk and Rufus just co-exist also. It is so calm and wonderful. The fosters though, Rufus enjoys playing with them - or barking smack at them!
Emily @ Our Waldo Bungie
www.ourwaldobungie.com
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