My dog walks up to play fight with me all the time. It’s always fun for both of us. It’s literally how she learned to control her bite. No way either if us would want to give it up.
Great point! Willa controls her bite so well too, I agree the play fighting between us also allowed me to train her to be gentle with me and not treat me the same as other dogs.
First time seeing one of your videos, so here's my feedback. The video itself is nice and I do not feel bad for watching it. I do feel however that the title isn't right. The video is mostly about how to play and not why.that makes it a bit misleading. Regarding play fighting, people go do all sorts of dangerous fun activities (diving, rock climbing, many others just take your pick). It's all a matter of risk management. I wouldn't play fight with a dog I don't know well enough and no one should, especially with a rescue. You know your dog, you know she trust you and she has good bite control. You know the risks and I feel it's perfectly fine to engage in that type of play with that in mind
For the play wrestling, I definitely think it depends on the dog. I highly doubt it’s something that would affect all dogs the same way. I’ve play wrestled with my dog before and she bit too hard. I don’t think it was on purpose but I don’t want to encourage the behavior, we don’t play wrestle anymore and I think it’s best for both her and me.
I disagree with the play fighting. While i think overall it is probably a good thing to encourage and educate people about, I do think it comes down to the dog and its history. Dogs learn bite inhibition when they are very young, and due to various circumstances they may not. With how my dog was raised and socialized, as well as her natural demeanor, her bite force control is incredible. I have zero concern that she will ever take things too far. It's a tricky matter for sure.
The only thing I would say be wary of is making sure your dog ONLY associates playfighting with you exclusively. If say your dog initiated this behaviour through misread signals at the park with the wrong person that could be an issue - especially old people which have very thin skin that can break easily. This looks like very gentle playfighting - very sweet, and vizslas are not known for aggression anyway.
I personally have never wrestled or play fought with any dogs. I don't even like tug of war. It just boils down to encouraging an aggressive behavior towards you, her pack leader. I think the #1 most important thing to teach your dog is to respect you as much as you respect them. Not sure how long you can continue that play w/her before her reaction changes. Also considering she's a V, her reaction could go the complete opposite direction where she's afraid of you. That's the last thing you need to have to course correct. Also what if there comes a time she thinks it's acceptable to do that with other people? That would make it very difficult to find someone willing to watch her for you if need be.
