Labradoodle Wrestling

[Faith]

My two labradoodles love to fight and wrestle. They are only play fighting but they both really snarl at each other. Straight after the game they are best friends again. Usually it means they just have too much energy and need a walk but I was wondering is this type of playing common for labradoodles? Is anyone experienced the same thing?

I was never worried about it until I took the little one to puppy school and she went to play fight with another poodle. When the teacher saw her raise her lip, she over-reacted and made out like she is a dog with behavioural 'issues'. I said that is just how she play fights with her brother at home, but she said its because she's not socialised. Which I know is not true because she is a very friendly dog normally.

I would love to hear from others who have seen this behaviour. What do you do when they start fighting? Or do you just think it is amusing like we do?

[Stella]

Our two doodles wrestle all the time. We are trying to institute a no wrestling in the house rule, as it can get out of hand! We just open the back door and let them go! They are both boys, and I don't know if this affects how they play because they are really rough with each other, and the puppy growls the whole time. If you didn't know about dogs (or doodles) you'd think they were trying to kill each other! They both know when it is appropriate to play like that though, and don't do it with other dogs unless they also want to!

[Michelle]

Jake and Hannah are litter mates and on occassion outside in our backyard they will wrestle. As long as they keep it at a low level, I'm ok, otherwise I distract them with a game of ball or I tell them to play "nice". or say "find a toy".No one at doggy day care has ever mentioned them wrestling there, I think its normal as long as it does not turn into agression!

[Lorraine Bromley]

My Neely loves to wrestle! They have a blast. Tends to be puppy with puppy though. He has his friends that act this way with not just random dogs. It is funny to watch. They keep opening their lips and showing teeth to get breath for one thing as they do get huffing and puffing. They like to play bite too. they don't clamp down at all. Your trainer is out of it. It is not aggression it is rough houseing. This reminds me of people who always thought my boys were going to kill each other or tear the house down. These people usually had no boys, just girls. Now one of those people has recently said oh now I get it. We have a boy now. My sister has three girls, she always says about how different boys are. Its like the saying boys have behaviour issues. Apparently she hasn't ever enjoyed watching some playful doodle play. Its what they do..doodle

[Joyce & Wilson]

I have noticed that at the dog park..Wilson only plays this way with other doods..its funny to see with all the other dogs there..the doods tend to gravitate to each other!! My dood also likes to rough play with Jack the cat..who can hold his own and is quite muscular thanks to Wilson!

[GBK]

Even with the size difference, they get WILD.... You are not alone, I would wonder if the trainer can't tell play from "behavioural issues"

It's now just one either, they take turns :)

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Samantha is not a 'dog's dog'. All she wants t do at the park is to play ball- never with another dog. Then came Mickey. She started to play like a dog! wrestling, teasing with a stick or ball in her mouth so he would chase her! It was so wonderful to see her being a dog!
When it was time for Mickey to go to his forever home, we decided Samantha needed a sibling - hence, Charli. At first, I was concerned that Samantha was being 'alpha' strong with Charli. I tried to intervene and stop it. I spoke with friend/trainer, Debbie, who told me to back off and just watch and stop only if it got truly aggressive. It never did. Now that Charli is older and taller, I see that it was always play. Charli is always grabbing Samanthas ears and face and just holds on. I think it hurts Samantha but she doesn't show that she is distressed in any way so I just bite my tongue and let it go. I know when Samantha has had enough she puts Charli on her back, holds her neck in her mouth and snarls at Charli. Charli will then lay there for 1 full second and then off she goes again.
When the 3 of them are together Samantha gets a bit of a break from Charli. Mickey and Charli go at it for hours on end. Charli then slinks off to find a quiet place for a nap then it is Samantha's turn. When they are done all 3 doodles nap for hours.
They used to wrestle with lots of vocalization which drove me crazy. Now they wrestle much more quiet.
I LOVE watching them play - at the end of the evening their play tires them out for a good nights sleep - for all of us!
I would post my pictures of their wrestling but there are just too many. I do have videos on my page if anyone is interested in seeing just how rough they can get and have the time of their doodle lives!

[Hunter and Daisy's Doodle Mom]

Yeah! Now I don't feel like a loser doodle mom! I have litter mates, Hunter and Daisy, and they play like that ALL THE TIME! We used to have littermates before (2 female Shepherd/Husky mix) and they never played like that. If that biting was going on, they were actually fighting. I don't know how many other dood parents are Cesar Millan fans, but we are. I was always stopping them, thinking that it is getting to a high level of excitement and could lead to aggression. But, when they went to puppy obedience, they did not play like that with the other puppies. I even brought a video of them doing it to the trainer to show her what was going on at home because she didn't believe me...they were star students at class! She was stumped and said it did look like they were playing, but to keep an eye on them to make sure it doesn't go to a higher level than what she was watching. Then, I began to think it was because of their own "rules" between themselves as a pack. When they go over and play with their cousins, my sister's Australian Labradoodles, they don't do that either. They just run all over the place and chase each other around and do what other dogs do when they play. I feel so much better knowing it's not just my two - I seriously was starting to doubt my pack leader skills!

[Leslie and Halas]

Halas does this same thing. He's not a huge fan of wrestling, but if a little dog wants to wrestle with him at the dog park, he'll roll on his back and just make that face. Sometimes, the other owner gets a little nervous and thinks it's a signal that he doesn't want to play, but I tell them that he'd run away if he wasn't enjoying it. There's a toy goldendoodle that comes to the park, and she and Halas will run around, wrestle a little, and just make that ferocious looking face. He also does the alligator chomp when wrestling with his favorite human wrestling partner.

[Dan, Judi, & Timbow]

Totally normal. This is how Timbow plays with other dogs at the dog park!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

By the way, I love this photo!!!