Friday, January 28, 2011

Playtime!

Supervised, calm play between Luca the senior AmStaff and Sedona who is a bust dog. Luca is a little unsure of Sedona's energetic play style but he wants to engage and she is respecting his boundaries after he gives a little "that's rude" growl early in the vid. Notice that Luca "shakes off" at one point. That is an indicator of mild stress (not all stress is bad, remember) but since his overall demeanor is relaxed with a softly wagging tail and overall inquisitive attitude, and Sedona is not overwhelming him, I allow the play to continue.

Shortly after the video ends, I break the dogs and let them take a time-out. Even though this session went beautifully and both dogs were appropriate, I chose to interrupt them after a short while to "end on a good note". This is opposed to allowing them to continue on until someone gets tired and cranky, and hurt feelings ensue.

(Ignore my "omg" in the background - I was responding to someone I was talking to on the phone while taking this video ;-) )

5 comments:

JR said...

Cool. I didn't know that about the 'shaking off' and my AmStaff does that a lot!

Angela said...

I freaking LOVE this!!!!!! I love her and your other one is sooooo handsome!
I miss her. Give her a big squeeze for me ans I love seeing her play.

Anonymous said...

Adorable! What a handsome dog!

Julia said...

What good playmates they are! And it's great to know they have a smart human supervising :) You really explained what was going on in the video beautifully. I just wrote a blog post about Breed Specific Legislation and was doing some research online about pit bull breeds. It’s pretty terrifying how quickly the reputation of a type of dog can change and that we’re looking to stereotypes to determine the future of these dogs. Keep up the good work!

Dave said...

I can't tell you how many times I've watched this video. luca reminds me of my old Jackson. I think he and Sedona would have been really good friends!