How much play do you all allow 5 month old pups ? Just two of them. Freedom to play as rough as they want with each other ? Running on long walks ? Jumping down a short step ? Do you leave them together to play as they are growing ? I know to separate them some as they grow. But day to day.

Having two 6 month-old pups, I too am interested in any answers from those who are more experienced with rearing pups together. Especially how much rough-housing is the norm in these cases, and how strenuous should excercise be at this age?

We've always let our pups intermingle with the adult dogs and with each other as puppies but it is supervised.

If we keep puppies say..8 weeks old and older away from the rest of the dogs in the kennel and or household, how else will they learn to socialize and learn how to respect the older dogs in the family ?

It's always a risk to let an active breed puppy out in the yard by itself or with other dogs it's size or much bigger dogs. My litter of pups scare me to death once I allow them access to our various yards to play. They are jumping off cement stairs and off the retaining walls, jumping and rolling over each other, running at top speeds and slamming into each other.

Keeping our young dogs in a safety bubble sounds like a good solution but it's not good for the young puppy or young dog emotionally or physically.

If you want to test your breeding stock out for structural soundess, allowing them more freedom to play with one another is a sure way to find out. It also tests their temperaments in a dog pack situation and allows plenty of opportunities for you to correct the dogs who are being a bully.

My younger dogs all get some down time during the day so the more active ones are not wearing the older or more laid back dogs out. If I have a puppy who I am growing up, I won't let that puppy alone for long with the older dogs to be chewed on with those sharp teeth but they do get some interaction time with the older dogs, with me supervising every day.

Then when the puppy is around 6 to 8 months old and can hold it's own out in the yard with the older dogs, I allow short periods of free running and playing with supervision. If I have to leave the house for a long time, I leave the older ones in the house and put ones under age 2 out in their play yards but pair them off in 2's per yard or kennel area, depending on the weather.

Thanks so much for your response Joy. The information you provided is very helpful and exactly what I wanted to know. Our two pups run and slam into eachother regularly, along with all the other things you described and I was a bit worried that their behaviour was 'over the top', but I feel very reassured now.

Also, you asked about how much strenuous exercise which reminded me of how my daughter and I took our Black Betty (5 months old) for an 8 mile walk on soos creek trail last week. We didn't mean to walk that long but it was a beautiful evening out and time got away with us. Later that evening, Betty starts to go lame on her right rear leg. We over did it for her for sure since she wasn't used to that long of a walk.

The biggest risk for any dog of any age playing too rough with the body slamming is a torn or ruptured cruicate. Big pot holes in the dog yard will cause torn cruciates if the dog is running at full speed and hits the pot hole just right. I try keeping extra bags of soil handy to fill up the pot holes.