Dog play what's ok?

1 April 2026

Dog play what’s okay?

You may have heard that you can be over zealous and you should leave dogs to work it out themselves but this is poor advice. Sometimes play can turn into something else so it’s important to be mindful of play signals. When a dog goes rushing over to another head on it can feel threatening – even if the intention is play. It can be hard to assess intention as the dog is likely to be moving very fast.


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Here are some red flags in play

Tense postures

Head turned away

One dog doing all the chasing, sparing 

Bites on the tail and ears 

Mouth clamped shut

Low tail


Head over the dogs back

Here are some green flags during play/ interactions

Mirroring each others body language

Pausing when the other dog pauses

Soft wiggly body language 

Soft eyes

Mouth open


If you would like support please reach out and remember there are podcasts on dog topics too. 


Reference : Whitehead, Sarah, (2018), He’s Only Playing 


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