Sibling rough play

[Kelly524]

Just curious if anyone here has experience with having sibling puppies. My mom has Molly's sister, Coco. When we get them together, they play extremely rough. They sound like they are going to kill each other, and it's constant, from the time we get there until we leave. There's no down time when they are together.

Someone told my mom this is normal because they are siblings, and they remember each other. They were apart about 2 weeks before the first time we got them back together.

Today when Molly and I were there, I noticed her mouth was bleeding. I'm not sure if she lost a tooth (goodbye razor teeth!!) or bit her tongue at some point when they were rough housing, but it scared me half to death.

Is it normal? And will it ever stop?

[kelsyg]

My girls used to play a lot of biteyface. As they get older they play much less and for shorter durations. Yes, it used to sound scary, but as long as neither got hurt, they took turns being top dog and would return for more and more, it was their fun. If one had gotten hurt, I would have broken it up and discouraged future biteyface.

[Tanya]

I think it's normal not just between littermates, but two dogs of similar energy/play style of the same age. Teenagers (4-15 or so months) can be terrible during play (meaning rough, hard). I had one foster that was 6mts or so that played with her BFF (a husky of the same age) and they played soooo rough we eventually started finding scratches and scabs on them.

What I would do is just make them take breaks. Bring down the energy. it's not a big deal to let them go but it's also not a bad thing to give them breathers to tone it down.

[Snowshoe]

Cousins are just as bad. Jet and her cousin, my sister's English Shepherd, played like that. I wonder that we never saw blood or injury but I sure heard teeth clacking together often enough. As they got older the play lessened in intensity and duration, say, oh when they were about 10 and 11. Sis and I are sorry our current two don't do that, also a Lab and ES about a year apart in age.

[barry581]

Because of the size difference between Sophie and Bruce I control the bitey face play. As long as Sophie is being gentle with him, I let them play, the minute she gets the least bit rough, I stop them. I also stop them when I can tell Sophie has had enough. I tell the both enough, just to make sure they know who's in charge.

[ZoeysMommy]

Zoey and my corgi sound like they are killing each other. I have to save Zoey from my corgi quite frequently. Daisee is a looney toon and actually over powers Zoey who is 50 pounds heavier

If it bothers you, stop it when you feel uncomfortable, its normal though, dogs just play rough. Im used to it and I know when its time for me to step in

[DuryLane]

I think the non-stop rough play is mostly because of their age. They're puppies aren't they? As they grow up, they'll settle down with the roughness and the play periods will slow down as they discover there is more to life than play, play, play. It's called "maturity".