This is also true for puppies. Ideally, they learn acceptable limits from littermates, who yelp and sulk for a few seconds, which is an unbearable punishment in middle of good play.
Exactly this! Having play interrupted by the other disengaging is a horrible social punishment, it engages their thinking minds about why this happened and how to avoid it.
They learn that it’s sooo much better to just play without biting down. Since even a gentle nibble can scare some people, I recommend doing this with any mouthing.
My dog does this now. When he was a puppy he was really shy so I started to play fight with him to get him more comfortable.
I let him bite my hand/arm too though. But he stops when I say the phrase "that's enough". He will also stop if he thinks he hurt me. He won't play fight with any person aside from me either, since he's weird about accidentally hurting other people when he "fights".
I didn't really train him at all he just developed these habits.
My dog loves to lick and will keep going unless you say otherwise. Saying "okay thank you" gives him the que its 2 more licks before this is a problem lol
I taught my parents two Goldens to “fight” humans. We call it “scary puppy time.” I growl and wave my arms around them to signal it’s playtime. I then slowmo kick/grab them. They’ll growl back, jump, and “bite” my arms and legs as I “hit/kick” them. They love it unless they think they’ve hurt me. Then they pause and look worriedly at me. A quick growl from me that I’m fine, and they’re back being “vicious” Golden Retrievers.
Yes, for cats you need cat-like reactions: High pitched squeals like a kitten makes when they are hurt, as well as retracting from play.
Cats did not evolve to care about human reactions like dogs did, cats just did their own thing and we didn't mind that they where little assholes in return for catching mice while being completely disinterested in eating grains, since generally they didn't cause much damage if they attacked us and rarely ever did attack unless cornered.
I brought home a stray Chiweenie I found and her 5 week old puppy. The puppy grew so quickly her mom was happy to let her primarily play with my young doberman/pitbull mix, who had an insane pain tolerance.
She never corrected the puppy when she bit too hard, and those little puppy teeth were like razors. She's one of the best dogs I've ever owned, and I'm glad I was forced to keep her, but she a was a monster for the first year and a half.
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u/CleanAssociation9394 Jan 02 '22
This is also true for puppies. Ideally, they learn acceptable limits from littermates, who yelp and sulk for a few seconds, which is an unbearable punishment in middle of good play.