Is this a problem or is it OK

Posted by sallysam
Jun 18, 2009
I have a black lab, border collie mix. Pepper is about 1 and a half yrs old. When she plays with other dogs they mouth each other. She does not bite
but when she plays, she is very mouthy. We have trained her not to mouth people and she does prety well with that, but every dog she plays with, it ends up being a mouthing contest. Is this agressive behavior or just how dogs play together. She is great on the lead and is not agressive when we pass other dogs, she is able to ignore or pass by OK. She does not bark at other dogs. Just wondering if I need to address this and how?
Posted by KOPsarah
Jun 19, 2009
hi sallysam and thanks for your post,
Different breeds of dogs play in different ways often related to their original working purposes. In your current situation with your dog showing no aggressive tendencies when walking past other dogs I would recommend just keeping an eye on the situation for now as long as your dog is displaying no dominance signs and is not mouthing humans. Keep up your alpha training and socializing and keep an eye on your dogs interactions with other dogs. If other dogs begin to react aggressively or nervously to your dogs play then you will need to consider modifying your dogs play at this point.