Household WWF

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Postby call2arms » January 31st, 2013, 1:21 pm

We've decided that wrestling (running like banshees, biting each other, jumping everywhere and knocking furniture down) is not acceptable in the house, a long time ago.

The issue is, that when they're bored they do it all the time, I have to separate them or put them in a down-stay, otherwise they will not stop if I ask. I do recalls, Iggy comes very quickly,and then resumes the playfight as soon as I release him.

Sometimes I think they start it for attention, obviously if I'm paying attention to them they are not doing it. But whenever i'm busy I have to stop whatever I'm doing to stop them...

If I send them in the yard, where they're allowed to do whatever, they sniff around and eat stuff... Grrr!

Any suggestions on how to stop this situation? Whatever I'm doing is not working... and separating them every time and giving them a toy would pretty much result in less contact between them, and possibly more excitement when they see each other? I know playfighting can be a healthy thing and don't want to stop it altogether, just in the house.
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » January 31st, 2013, 6:05 pm

Perhaps if you give them a warning word so they know to tone it down? When they get too rowdy, tell them "that's enough" (or whatever) in a cheerful tone, and when they don't stop playing, separate them for a couple minutes. If you do that enough times they will figure out that "that's enough" means take it down a notch.
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Postby call2arms » February 4th, 2013, 9:17 pm

Good idea. Sounds better than putting them in a down - Jack does fine but Iggy just starts rolling around like a silly clown. Eventually I just want to strangle him. He's like, ha ha, I'm in a down but on my back! Now on my side! Tee hee!

How long do you separate them for? In my household this would be one of them going in the dog room, gated off.
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » February 5th, 2013, 10:11 am

Just a minute or two. Enough to make a point. And this is better than a down - this is teaching them a word that is use-able in many situations when they start getting over-aroused. :)
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Postby Tubular Toby » February 5th, 2013, 12:17 pm

I like this idea! I'm going to start using it too!
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Postby Hundilein » February 5th, 2013, 9:38 pm

My roommate's dog had to learn a "tone it down" word. Now I think it's hilarious when he tries to play with Renee and his mom tells him "easy". He immediately goes from trying to jump around and play bitey face with her to "flea biting" her neck while looking at his mom out of the corner of his eye to make sure it's okay.
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Postby call2arms » March 20th, 2013, 10:57 pm

Not getting the point. It seemed to work well initially...

Usually I say 'tranquille' (quiet in french), and if they don't stop I just grab one of them and put him in the gated room for a few minutes.

At this point, normally if he's in the quiet room, Jack goes in the bed, but Iggy is still all riled up and rustles up the bed and eventually sits in front of the gate.

As soon as they get back together... They're back at it. Constantly. So any time they're loose, they're in a rotation which is kind of annoying since they just get along a little too well, not even due to actual fighting.

And obviously when they"re in the yard they just walk around, looking for a branch to chew on, or having zoomies, but no playfighting, or if there is, Jack is usually not very receptive and ignores Iggy after a few seconds.

Right now the only reason they're not on top of each other is that Jack is in a down stay and Iggy is walking around looking for something to do. I had to tell him to stop licking Jack's ears to invite him to play subtly.

I'm guessing they might be bored - but it's not like I can leave toys on the floor... It's like I have to entertain them or they start their own circus. I need to get them a treadmill and run them to sleep.
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » March 21st, 2013, 5:58 am

How old are they, remind me?
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Postby call2arms » March 21st, 2013, 11:00 am

Jack is 11, but as excited as a 3 year old. Seriously.
And Iggy is 3.

They really do seem to enjoy each other's presence, they snuggle in the same bed and generally want to be in the same room.

I'm not sure they are doing anything else than playing - just now before I separated em Jack humped Iggy, but often it's Iggy on top. I would say that when they playfight, Iggy is the more rough one (he's younger and stronger), sometimes he bites Jack a little hard (and I stop them of course), Jack really barely bites Iggy, but even after I stop them Jack does come back for more. It has happened once or twice where Jack has had enoughof the rough play (last summer in the yard) and he let Iggy know with a hard stare or a slight lip curl, and Iggy backed off immediately.

If they play with toys, Jack will tolerate a little tug of war, and Iggy being excited around him (he doesn't really want to share) but eventually he gives him the look, and then Iggy leaves him alone and goes to play with his own toy or does something else.

That's pretty much how they interact.
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » March 21st, 2013, 2:15 pm

I think you're just going to need to be consistent with separating them cheerfully after your warning word. They'll get it eventually. :-)
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Postby call2arms » March 23rd, 2013, 7:14 pm

My sanity might not hold for that long. :wink:

Thanks for the help!!
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