[Dailydrool] RE" Rough-Housing Question

[Sylvie McGee]

Hi, Sarah,

 

A certain amount of play is a good thing, but I would keep in mind the very
great size difference between these two. When my bitches have played with
their pups at this age, there's definitely a lot of noise and a lot of
"mouthing", but one of the things that gets moderated quite a bit is the
body slamming - as an adult Basset, even a young adult Basset, can really do
some damage to an 11 week old pup. Usually you can see the adults staying up
on their feet, or if they roll, being pretty careful not to roll on the pup.
But a bitch who has not had her own pups may not be as careful, and I'm
assuming that Rosie has not...

 

Rosie needs some supervision during these play sessions to make sure they
are not getting too rough for the puppy. Generally the puppy will make a
fuss if it gets hurt, but you don't want to let it get that far. As long as
Rosie is not landing on Toby, it sounds like she's doing a good job, but
just like Grandma keeping an eye on New Mom with the New Baby, keep an eye
on her.

 

She will let Toby know in no uncertain terms if he gets too rough with her.
Remember that Basset skin is really loose and tough for a reason. It's not
uncommon for puppies to play and bite hard at that age. When he gets too
rough, she will let him know and there will be a lot of squealing and drama,
but you will find that he's not hurt - just his dignity offended. This is a
critical lesson for him in learning good dog-manners, so while you should
break up that session at taht point and give everyone a break, don't give
Rosie a hard time about it - she's doing the puppy a favor by teaching him
good manners that will help him stay out of trouble with dogs for his
lifetime. I would not expect that discipline, though, for a couple of
months, because most adult Bassets are pretty tolerant of the youngster's
play fighting...

 

Hope this is helpful.

 

Sylvie McGee
HeavenScent Bassets
Olympia, WA

This message is copyright, and may not be forwarded or cross-posted without
my explicit permission.

 

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