Silly Doodle/Human Play

[Frannie & Callie]

Callie and I play a very silly game on the stairs where she runs up and stands on the landing and I come up the stairs on all fours and wrestle with her at the top. It seemed very normal/harmless to me until I was keeping a friend's elderly dog for the weekend...Callie "attacked" the dog at the top of the stairs and the "old lady" freaked out and slid back a few steps.

 

The whole thing has me curious if anyone else has a silly game they play with their doods that might make them feel slightly sheepish around non doodle-crazed folks, or that really just turned out to be a not-so-great idea.

[Melissa]

I had never thought of any "consequences" of the stair play. When we walk up the stairs Buddy always beats us to the top and sometimes I crawl up or raise my hands a bit and he likes to raise his paws and we kind of bat at each other. I don't do it all the time, but once in awhile. He doesn't automatically try to play rough everytime we go up the stairs so it doesn't seem to be a "habit".

[Frannie & Callie]

I never thought about it either, until I saw poor old Sydney backsliding!

[Kevin Poole, Penny & Ozzy]

I was always taught that humans should go first, whether it's through a door, a gate. or a stairway, otherwise the dog is asserting their authority over you. Saying that, usually I go first through doors and gates, but the only steps we have is off our back deck, and Penny often races up in front of me, I'm still trying to stop her doing that, because I've nearly tripped over her. I generally keep our rough-housing on flat terrain, in the back yard or the living room floor.

[Frannie & Callie]

I've heard the same thing Kevin, but since we have no question in our house about who is charge (and it is actually me), I just don't worry about it. Callie is faster than I am and I'm generally happy to have her off the stairs when I'm on them! I nearly killed myself with Bentley Foster Schnoodle - he liked to lick my heels as I was walking down the stairs.

[Jenifer Gray]

I make Sienna "Wait" at the stairs all the time, not because of any leadership concerns , but definitely for safety. I have an 84 year old mother and a 2 year old grandson. Both of them could be endangered by a dog dashing up the stairs by them. It took no time at all for her to learn to wait. Then she can dash up and play games. Jenifer

[Robyn, Greg and Snickers]

My DH and I play the "paws" game with Snickers he gets down paws extended and we place our "paws" on top of his he moves his on top etc until it resembles a slapjack game the whole time he is play barking and his tail is way up. Sometimes my DH even barks back. I am sure anyone who saw it would think we are nuts!

[Lorraine Bromley]

Ok so my son who is 6ft 4in gets crouched down with his arms outstretched like he is going to corral Neely in the yard and he will play tag with him. My husband does it too. Neely dodges them and runs around our one tree reversing on a dime when they go one way he goes the other Neely will come up closer to them and try and poke them in the air if they aren't being aggressive enough. He goes full out but can change direction so quickly and jumps and his hair is flying then when he is pooped he plops down and smiles and pants. It doesn't last long at all but it is so fun to watch.

[Frannie & Callie]

I LOVE these stories!!!

[Adina P]

I play a "I'm Gonna Getchyoo" outside. If Rosco is carrying his favorite squeaker he'll dart away and wait for me to catch up and then dart away again. I say "IIIII'm gonna GETCHYOOOO" with my arms raised high and chase him over and over. He always dodges just in time. It's great fun and doesn't affect his recall in any way.

[Leslie and Halas]

We play this, too, but it's inside most of the time. It usually leads to the zoomies, and during the zoomies, Halas kind of launches himself into the back cushions of the couch, which lifts it off the ground a little bit. He's only 29 lbs. If he were much bigger, he'd probably knock the couch into the wall.

[Frannie & Callie]

Funny, I do "I'm Gonna Getchyoo" when I babysit a friend's daughter (of the human variety). 30 or so minutes of it wear her out! Last time we played it, she marched up the stairs at 6:30 (a full hour before her bedtime) chanting "nite nite time...it's nite nite time" and insisted on going to bed! It was so cute! (my general babysitting tactic is to just get them tired so they will go to bed more willingly, but I wasn't aiming for an hour short!)

[Camilla and Darwin]

I do this too, and it's one of my younger siblings favorite games to play with him. They will give him a glove or ball or something, then chase him around the yard. He loves it, and you can definitely tell he isn't going as fast as he actually could be. He will let himself get caught every now and then so they can pet and love on him. It doesn't affect his recall either.