Balancing Play And Roughhousing With Your Japanese Chin

Some chin owners enjoy roughhousing, teasing, and manhandling their puppies. Puppies either enjoy roughhousing and teasing or they are frightened and scared by it. Non-threatening teasing can desensitize a puppy to the weird things people, especially kids, do. It gradually and progressively helps build his confidence around people who act strange or other kids that want to play with him. On the flip side of the coin, relentless teasing and roughhousing frustrates your puppy and damages his personality. It's not teasing, it's abusing your puppy.

Train your puppy to accept different human actions by teasingly withholding their treats and toys, hugging or restraining the puppy, make strange noises, mildly scary faces, or odd body movements, and praising your puppy and offering a treat afterwards. Always remember to do it for only a short period of time. Every time you do it you might act a little more weird or scarier before you give him a treat. With time he will confidently accept any human action or mannerism. Don't overdo it, remember you are playing with your puppy. If your puppy refuses a treat you have overdone it and should stop for the day. Also keep in mind this is different from trying to scare him when you catch him being naughty.

For a Japanese chin puppy that hasn't been trained to enjoy teasing, having a child relentlessly chase him can be the scariest thing on earth. But being chased around the living room by his owner doing the monster-walk is a fun and exciting game for a puppy who has learned to enjoy it. Most dogs love attention and they also love being chased if you have made a game out of it with them and have taught them to enjoy it. On the other hand, teasing your puppy to frighten or annoy him is just cruel and stupid. Intentionally causing discomfort or making him afraid is definitely not funny. Your puppy is learning to distrust people and if, as an adult, he reacts defensively, it is your fault. Unfortunately the dog gets into trouble, not the person who misused him. Please be careful and don't allow this to happen.

If you want to find out if your puppy finds teasing enjoyable or not, use this simple test. Stop your game, back away from your puppy, and ask him to come and sit. If the puppy comes promptly and confidently with a wagging tail and sits with his head held high, that's a good sign that he's having as much fun as you are. You may continue playing and having fun with your puppy. If the puppy comes crouching or almost crawling, making excessive licking motions, and won't look you in the eye, you have pushed your puppy to far and he doesn't trust you any more.

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