[Mr. Ham]

Hello, new guy on the block… I have a question regarding my two dogs. One is a female 1.5 year old Cur breed and the other is 1 year old male Staffy Bull mix. Both dogs are fixed… The Staffy loves to wrestling with other dogs (like most puppies do) Both dogs wrestle together at the house with no problems. The problem is when I’m at a dog park the male Staffy will fine some dog to play with the female always jumps in a creates a 2 on 1. It looks bad and I know they aren’t fighting by their body language. The male wrestles in the typical “open month” teeth sparing but the female does this full body checks with her month that almost looks like head-butting. After a few head-butts the other dog tries to run off but is either chased down by both dogs or I’m able to grab one of the dogs so its creates a 1 on 1 wrestling match. If I grab the male the female loses interest and stops wrestling but if I grab the female she and let the male and the other dog continue to wrestle the female barks and cries and tries to get back into it.
Question: why does the female act that why? The female doesn’t engage other dogs to play with. She waits until the male starts and then she “jumps in”. Could she be “protecting” the male? But they aren’t fighting. It’s weird!!!

[cigwyllt]

There are others more qualified to answer than I am but my thoughts would be that she is trying to protect him. My oldest dog isn't much of a one for playing with other dogs but she will wade in and try to break up games between the other two.

[Mr. Ham]

thanks for the reply, now how do I get her to stop that behavior?

[lange]

This is interesting and I personally don't know. The only thing I can think is she probably feels confident only around your boy so she only feels she can play when he's in the mix. Did she grow up with other dogs around her? did she have litter mates?