Playing Dogs, Play-fighting, Play-fleeing, Play-feeding & Play-courting

It’s true that dogs can have a lot of fun roughhousing with each other. But play is way more important to dogs than many of us realize.

Play gives dogs the chance to practice their manners and keep their social skills polished. As puppies, it’s believed they learn the lifelong skill of biting softly through play! Basically, all of the important behaviors dogs need to survive as a species are expressed through:

Play-fighting​
Play-fleeing
Play-feeding
Play-courting

Dogs take turns mouthing each other’s faces and necks, jumping on top of one another, chasing and running away, and, yes, even mounting and humping each other.