There's almost 400 Pounds of dog in my house right now!  

This would be OK if I had two Neapolitan Mastiffs that were sleeping like rugs.

BUT, I have a 1000 sq. ft. California Cottage and, one German Shepherd under the age of 10 months, 1 Border Collie just over a year, a Hound Mix, an AussieX, a Chow/PitX and a 6mo Pittie, plus one very old, slow moving Schnauzer.

Keeping play tame, furniture standing, and knees from being blown out is NOT OPTIONAL!   ...BUT it is simple.

When a new dog is thrown into the mix they get a quick lesson on home-manners. The rules are as simple.  There are 3 obedience phrases and 2 consequences.  I NEVER yell any of these.  I never threaten (everything has a consequence).  I am always right.

Commands:

Yellow Warning Light: "__dog's name__, Cool-it."

Red Light: "Too-bad."

Green Light: "Thank You."

Consequences:  

Errors earn a dog a 10-15 second time-out in a crate, bathroom, or tied to leash.

Compliance earns the dogs Praise & Freedom, maybe a toy tossed to them, perhaps a cookie.

THE RULES:

1. Bump into Kelley, get an automatic time-out:  "Too-bad."
2. Bump into grandma (schnauzer), get an automatic time-out:  "Too-bad."
3. Bump into furniture, get an automatic time-out:  "Too-bad."
4. Get TOO LOUD, get a warning.
5. Head the warning, and become quiet, get a green light to keep playing.
6. Ignore warning, get a time-out:  "Too-bad."
7. Play with anything but a dog toy, get an automatic time-out:  "Too-bad."
8. Go in the no-dog-zone, get an automatic time-out:  "Too-bad."

BONUS:  "PLAY BREAK"

THE TOY THIEF!

WHY DO THEY DO IT?  Because it works. 90% of the time stealing toys is a good way to get chased by either a dog or person.

Is it appropriate?  That depends.  There are lots of ways for play to go badly.  Some things like toy stealing are HUGE GREY AREA.  

In the photo above...

1. The blue-pit ran up to the black pit shook her orange toy and tried to get the black-pittie to chase her.  

2. When it didn't work, she came back, dropped her toy (the orange octopus).  This still did not work, the black-pittie did not drop her toy.

3. The blue-pit grabbed the black-pittie's toy.

4. They tugged and ran parallel to each other each holding on to the red toy.  This happened over and over again for about 20-minutes with the dogs changing roles of thief and victim.  

5. No fights happened and the play did NOT escalate -as play between two bully-breeds often can.  Why not?

THEY HAD A REFEREE!

TEACHING BETTER PLAY-SKILLS

First both dogs had an OUT-command.  This command was taught previous to the dogs playing together.  OUT means that the dogs must spit out the toy.

Second both dogs were TESTED ON THEIR OUTS in play.  

There were 2 versions: 

a) If the black-pittie's toy was grabbed by the blue-pit, the black-pittie was commanded OUT & RECALLED (come!) to the handler.  The black-pittie was learning to avoid a confrontation and run to the handler if a toy was taken.  The blue-pit learned that stealing DID NOT ALWAYS earn a game of chase, so she sometimes tried other things (dropping her toy/shaking her toy and running).

b) The stealer was also sometimes commanded to OUT.  If this was successful they were released to GO PLAY immediately.  If they did not, they were temporarily removed from the play ground (a short time-out).

Once these habits were established the dogs were allowed to steal and play tug for longer periods of time.  These little mini-games were frequently interrupted by OUT and then the dogs released back to play.  After a few sessions the dogs started to OUT on their own, and look for the other toy instead of stealing their playmates toy and tugging until a fight occurred.