I want to talk about dog body language for a second. How you can tell if it's play or actual fighting, and why videos can be more useful than pictures.
Attached is a video of my two girls, Rigby (darker red) and Lila (lighter yellow and white). This is a typical night at my house. The bed becomes a WWE smack smackdown arena. Teeth are bared, growling commences, there's a lot of growls. Now, if you were to look at a single picture of the girls playing, it would look scary! Lila and Rigby flashing those pearly whites. But when watching the video, some important things can be noted.
One is how bouncy Lila is. She comes in, wrestles, then bounces away. They each get a small reset.
Two is Rigby's positioning. While she may be laying down the entirety of their wrestling, she instigated multiple times. Lila walks away, and Rigby nips at her to keep playing.
Three is where, even though they're both laying down at one point, they're taking turns of who is the "wrestler". And when Rigby is a little too rough and Lila yips, Rigby lets go.
All of these are major signs that it's all play. There's no stiffness in their body language, they both keep coming back, and most of their vocalizations are what I would deem over the top for them.
This is how they communicate, and it's how I ensure that everything is still well between them. If you ever have questions about your dog's body language, please ask!
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