When do we intervene with play biting?

[Jenny and Cooper]

Cooper just turned 1 on the 10th. He goes to the dog park once a week and plays well with others. We rarely have to stop him from his play. His problem sometimes is barking at other dogs to play with him, and of course leashimg him when it's time to go.

He has a lab friend (Toby) who he plays with about 4 times a week. For some reason Cooper likes to nip at his skin, near the cheek area or sometimes his ears. I don't like that and neither does the lab's owner. Toby never yelps so I'm wondering if he just has thick skin and it doesn't hurt??? I always have to squeak a ball to break it up and Toby will instantly stop playing and wait for me to throw the ball. Cooper would either run after Toby or just wait until Toby comes back to play with him. They both love to play with each other and seems like BFF.

So my question is how do your dogs play??? Is biting and pulling skin involved? How to I stop Cooper from doing that? He doesn't do it to all dogs, or maybe other dogs doesn't allow him to? I'm not quite sure and have a hard time reading into their plays!

Thanks in advance!

[Missy]

I can see your point here!!  from my experience, my dog won't always play fetch, but if there is competition, he is all about retrieving!!  he loves to show off how fast he is!! so I throw two so the other dog has a chance.

[Jenny and Cooper]

Thanks for sharing your story Missy. It's still a learning experience each day! I will discuss this with Toby's owner. She's a very nice lady and of course loves her dog dearly. I'll see if she is comfortable letting Toby tell Cooper himself if he doesn't like all that nipping. I see Toby does it too but Cooper has so much fur, all you see is his mouth over it, not gripping it. Lol. I know Cooper will yelp if it hurts him. Once in a while I would hear it but very rarely.

I wish Cooper would have more retreiver in him! Unfortunately if I throw two balls, Toby will try to get both and Cooper will just watch! Lol Game of fetch is not his cup of tea unless I have treats. But with Toby around, I highly doubt he'll be that interested.

[Cathy, Josie and Piper]

I have a 3 yr old doodle and 11 month old whoodle that play like this too. The whoodle is usually the initiator, she bites Josie's ears, sides, cheeks and her legs. When they are running together side by side, Piper grabs Josie's ear and hangs on. It doesn't seem to bother Josie, she keeps playing. Once she's had enough or Piper gets out of hand Josie will snap back and put Piper back in her place. It's hard not to intervene, I still do on occasion, but it doesn't stop them for long. I figure that if Josie didn't like it she would make it clear to Piper to lay off.

[Jenny and Cooper]

Thanks for your input Cathy. Can you share a video of your dogs playing? :D It might help us, especially Toby's owner. Maybe we are being helicopter moms when we might always need to? Lol I really prefer Cooper not gripping a hold of his skin or ear, but if it's ok for both dogs and is a normal play then it might be easier to accept.

Thanks everyone for all your input!

[Helga, Nimbus, Sierra, Clooney]

Here's the doggy dan video
Sorry. It's too long.

[Jenny and Cooper]

Update: we had a play date today and Toby's mom agreed to let them play so I can video tape them. I have to say there was less pulling of the skin now that we didn't intervene. You can see from the video Cooper got a hold of his skin a few times. They both seem so happy together. Oops video didn't upload.