Which Playstyles Work Best Together?

Understanding playstyles helps to match the right dog’s together. This month’s bonus Playstyle Management Chart provides you with an overview of some of the common breed types, what playstyle they most frequently present, and management tips for supervising them. Continue reading to find out how to use the Playstyle Management Chart which was included to members in the post, “Are You Putting the Right Dogs Together.”

Use the Playstyle Management Chart for Staff Engagement

A great way to generate discussion and engagement among the staff is to discuss dogs in your facility and have each person identify the different breeds and playstyles. When you have mix breeds, this type of discussion is especially helpful in trying to determine a dog’s fit in your groups. You’ll also note that the chart uses the traffic management signal to classify dogs as green, yellow, or red. This can help you identify potential problem areas in your groups and will help the staff make some better assumptions about their own supervision of the dogs. You may want to use this Playstyle Mix Chart to keep track of each playgroup. Remember that if you have 3 or more different playstyles in a single group, you may need to supervise more closely or even rotate dogs in and out of the play session.

Which Playstyles Work Best Together?

• Neck-biters – generally do well with other neck-biters and often with calm, cat-like players.  They are often not a good match with chasing dogs because the neck-biters will sometimes get too revved while running and may chase and grab a little too hard.
• Chasers – generally do well in groups with a mix of dogs who like chasing and dogs who like to be chased. Chasers don’t always care who they chase and will easily chase a dog that is running out of fear. For this reason, they aren’t suitable with dogs who get scared by the chasing behaviors. Dogs that are scared are likely to defend themselves from the chaser by showing defensive aggression.
• Body-slammers – they typically do best with other body slammers.  When they are tired, it’s not uncommon for them to do neck-biting as well so they can sometimes be mixed with that playstyle.  Body slammers are generally not good with cat-like playstyles because they are too rough for the calmer play.
• Cat-like – do best with other dogs that are cat-like in their play. Sometimes they also enjoy chasing games if the dogs are of a similar size.  The cat-like playstlye is not a good match with body-slammers.

Even the best-matched groups require supervision, and there are some specific management concerns related to playstyles.

• Balanced play – dogs of similar playstyles still need to take turns in playing. The best playgroups occur when dogs take turns. So dogs take turns body-slamming each other or chasing each other. The play is balanced and fun between the dogs playing.  Interrupt the dogs and give them breaks if this isn’t happening.
• Over-arousal – The high-energy playstyles such as body slamming and chasing can lead to over-arousal in all the dogs in the playgroup. Interrupt chasing every 30-60 seconds.
• Barking – This can become a sign of over-arousal that can occur in the high energy playstyles. Intervene to help calm down the energy in the room.
• Stalking – Dogs that like to chase will sometimes stalk dogs who don’t enjoy being chased. Interrupt this behavior if the stalking is causing stress in dogs who are trying to avoid it.
• Predatory Drift – Everyone supervising off-leash playgroups needs to understand that a dog’s instincts can lead to dangerous (sometimes fatal) outcomes.  Predatory drift can occur during chasing games when the quick motion of a running dog triggers the chaser to attack. It can also occur when a dog begins making a high pitched yelping sound causing another dog to attack. When playgroups include dogs of all sizes, the outcome of these situations can be deadly.  Typically, a smaller dog is the victim of an attack by a larger dog.  For this reason, we recommend separating dogs by size as well as by playstyle.

In upcoming blogs we’ll talk about size and will go into more detail about the issue of predatory drift.