Playing Rough

After two recent trips to the dog park where there were young German Shepherds playing rough with smaller dogs, I feel like this needs to be said-

I don’t care that you are fine with the dogs playing rough. Your dog is 60-70lbs. My dog is 23lbs. The size difference should be obvious. You can be as fine as you want with your dog playing rough with my dog. But how fine would you be with it if a 150lb+ dog was playing rough with yours?

I break up the play not because your dog is doing anything wrong. I’ve got a good sense of dog body language. He’s young, he’s a little over zealous in his play, doesn’t quite understand his own strength. That’s fine. That’s part of being a puppy, and I’m not telling your dog no or asking you to do anything about your dog.

I am, however, choosing to have my dog disengage.

You see, my little dog is also over zealous, and completely unaware of his own strength (or lack thereof in comparison to your dog), and if your dog were to accidentally hurt mine (I do trust it would be an accident), my dog would not respond with play.

So I am being a responsible dog owner by knowing my dog’s tendencies and disengaging from the situation when I feel its appropriate. This is not meant as a criticism of your dog or your dog parenting skills. It is done solely to avoid having any dog get hurt.

However, next time you tell me your fine with the dogs playing rough, please take a closer look, and tell me, honestly, would you still be fine with it if the German Shepherd puppy were mine and little terrier were yours?