# how much teeth showing is normal during play?



## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

As some of you may know, I have two puppies. They play together, as puppies will, but having never had two dogs who play with each other without toys, I'm new to watching dogs play together and wanted to be sure mine are being 'normal'.

Jasper, the older puppy will sometimes snarl in play - show all his baby teeth and gums - while pouncing and tussling with Piper. Piper makes a siniliar noise and might be snarling, but it's hard to tell with her fluffy face. Sometimes the noises get pretty scary and I'm not sure if I should intervene.

Otherwise their play dynamic is great: Jasper almost always lets Piper win despite being nearly twice her weight (in size they're much closer). If someone gets "pinned", they are always still wagging their tail during it, and will start off after the pinner to play more as soon as they are let up. Whenever there's a yelp of "you got me too hard!", the offender lets go immediately and pauses the play until the victim starts it again. Both initiate play equally. Piper, while clearly the dominant one and also the more playful one, will respect a low growl from Jasper when he doesn't want to play and she does. Jasper will usually back off before he irritates Piper to the point of growling.

Basically they play together very well and I have no concerns about them either separately or as a pair, but I wanted to know if the loud snarling and teeth-showing is normal.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Back when Lily and Peeves were young (under a year) I had some friends over for lunch, one dog savvy and one not. It was summer so we were out on the deck and the dogs were playing as you describe. My friend who doesn't know dogs asked why I was letting them fight with each other. My other friend jumped in and said that's not a fight that's play. There was snarling, growling and lots of teeth showing, all very normal.

What you are seeing sounds very normal to me. I would only worry if one of them clearly wants a break from it and the other one won't let it happen.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Sounds normal to me too - as long as they are both having fun it is play fighting. The noise they make when it is for real is quite different - you will know if that happens. They go very still, the growl is low, deep and long with a rising note, and even a human will know that it is time to intervene!


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

Thank you both! I was pretty sure it was normal, but it's difficult to google "how loud should my puppies be while playing" and get a good answer 

the one time i heard something close to what you described, FJM, is when Jasper was chewing a high-value (to both of them) bit of rawhide. As soon as I heard it I grabbed the rawhide out of his mouth (with a "drop it") and put it where neither of them could see/smell it. It seemed like early resource guarding, and since they almost always let the other steal what they're playing with without complaint I wanted to head it off. Other than that, they're great.

Jasper usually has a bit more energy than Piper and wants to play longer, so rather than allow him to pester her I watch them clsoely and start playing with Jasper alone when it seems that Piper is ready to finish playing and nap.


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

For these two buddies, this is play.


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## Naira (Jan 9, 2015)

Wouldn't worry...when I would take Naira to the dog park sometimes she looked a little something like this:


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Yup, totally normal, and you will absolutely know if the tone changes and they get serious - very unlikely with two puppies, but it happens once in awhile if Timi plays too rough with Teaka, and we all know it instantly (and in the most heart melting move I have ever seen, instead of responding similarly, Timi will diffuse the situation by patting Teaka with her hand and then just holding it there until Teaka's anger subsides).


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## glorybeecosta (Nov 11, 2014)

Cayenne doe the something with Bella, when Bella want to quite playing Cayenne will roll over on her back with her paws on Bella's face. It is like "I think I over done it so I better give up".


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Coldbrew said:


> when Jasper was chewing a high-value (to both of them) bit of rawhide.


Don't mean to interfere, but I got worried when I read that Jasper is chewing on rawhide. Please read this 

Dangers of Rawhide and Safe Alternatives | EMBRACE


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

zooeysmom said:


> Don't mean to interfere, but I got worried when I read that Jasper is chewing on rawhide. Please read this
> 
> Dangers of Rawhide and Safe Alternatives | EMBRACE


We don't give rawhide either. I use buffalo ears and salmon skins as chewies instead.


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## deemarie03 (Jul 7, 2014)

Catherine, please share where I can find buffalo ears and fish skin chewies. Thanks


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

You can get buffalo ears through Amazon. I like them better than pig's ears because they are lean.

Amazon.com : Bingo-Lo Buffalo Ears (Natural) 25 Count : Pet Snack Treats : Pet Supplies

Here is where I get the salmon skins. I sometimes see her at agility trials and buy in person, but you can order online. The first time I bought these it was because Lily "stole" one from her display. The fish oils are good for their coats. You can cut them with scissors.

Abel Pet Supply


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## 24953 (Oct 27, 2013)

Coldbrew said:


> As some of you may know, I have two puppies. They play together, as puppies will, but having never had two dogs who play with each other without toys, I'm new to watching dogs play together and wanted to be sure mine are being 'normal'.
> 
> Jasper, the older puppy will sometimes snarl in play - show all his baby teeth and gums - while pouncing and tussling with Piper. Piper makes a siniliar noise and might be snarling, but it's hard to tell with her fluffy face. Sometimes the noises get pretty scary and I'm not sure if I should intervene.
> 
> ...


normal as far as i have seen, find poodles quite like scrapping more than some other breeds ive had, will scrap for hours, inc teeth showing etc. think its just part of the game, they know whats play and whats not, they growl at their toys, most of the time when mine show teeth they are lying down at the same time with bellies showing, if it was a case of hair standing up on the back and full wolf face and standing square growling deeply that would be bad but what you say sounds normal.


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## StormeeK (Aug 3, 2015)

I call Dewey and Rex my alligator dogs when they are playing!


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## Luce (Mar 4, 2013)

Mine do the same! And they grab each others necks like they are going for the jugular vein! 

When Luce was a puppy, I would bring her to her parents for playdates. Talk about rough!! Holy cow it was rough!! But, i wasn't worried because she wasn't crying and kept going back for more


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

zooeysmom said:


> Don't mean to interfere, but I got worried when I read that Jasper is chewing on rawhide. [/url]


Whoops, just saw this now! I totally understand your concern; I should have been more precise in my typing. I wrote rawhide because that's just what we call all their animal-product chew things, but what they actually were tussling over was the last remaining 2 inches of a braided bully stick. Rawhide scares me, and so the puppies only get bully sticks and pig ears (though I'll have to check out buffalo ears like Catherine mentioned and some of the other recommendations in that article!


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## peppersb (Jun 5, 2011)

Here's Cammie playing with Bob when she was a baby.


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

I think you will learn to be very good at telling when things are getting out of hand with your dogs. I can hear the yips escalating to a high pitch and know that it is time to split my guys up... or one dog will give a loud warning bark. You will learn to "read" your own dogs. The toothy, snarly, growly bear wrestling is normal... especially if your dogs remain happy while they are doing it. I say that if I played scary music with mine, they would look like rabid beasts trying to kill each, ha-ha.


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## LEUllman (Feb 1, 2010)

Beau is an only child, um, poodle, but from what I've seen here on the Forum and elsewhere, when standard poodles play with each other (and maybe with other dogs, too), they tend to use a distinctive play style I think of as "bitey face." Always involves lots of teeth, growling, and biting of necks. Frankly, I think it would drive me crazy, but I guess you can get used to anything.


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