Dog Play Position or Play Stance
Identifying Play Position
Recognizing play position is relatively easy while recognizing the pre play signals may not be. The standard dog play position looks very similar to the canine equivalent of taking a bow. The dog will be down on its chest and elbows with its ears flattened and its rear end in the air either wagging or not wagging its tail. A dog that merely wants to play may also jump excitedly and bark, grin and wag its tail, run around in circles, and roll over.
The more difficult part is recognizing pre play stance behavior which looks to very similar to the aggressive pre fight posture. The pre play stance will generally take place when dogs meet each other for the first time, head and body will be erect, hackles will be down or partially up, ears back and the tail will be at a near vertical but with a slight arch and the wagging will be rapid short strokes.
They may stand parallel to each other and nose to tail with each dogs head close to the others rear, which is in stark contrast to the aggressive where the heads will be close together and they will be staring each other in the eyes. The facial expressions will be excited and soft, not hard and cold. They may sniff each other belly’s or attempt to lick the genitals of the other. Then suddenly instead of fighting one will jump down into a play stance and the fun will be on.
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