Fezzik the Great Dane was banned from day care for “play biting too hard and aggressively for his age,” which the day care operator attributed to the breeder removing him from his mother and littermates a few days prior to 8 weeks of age. His owner was concerned by the day care operator’s actions and remarks. Therefore, she scheduled a behavioral observation at CPT when Fezzik was approximately 12 weeks of age.
During the evaluation we allowed open play with Kody, one of our service dogs-in-training, who was completing the first board train phase of his three-stage service dog program. As you can see from the videos below, Kody and Fezzik interacted appropriately. We then advised Fezzik’s owner how to select optimal playmates and how to select an ideal day care.
Subsequently, she enrolled Fezzik in a day care that had a better understanding of canine play behavior. About a month later we followed-up by email and received this reply:
“Thanks so much for following up! Fez is doing great! He has actually graduated the nursery school program and plays in Daycare every day just fine! He gets along great with his playmates!”
If you would like to learn more about canine play behavior, we recommend you read the following article entitled “Canine Play Styles.” In the interim, please enjoy the following videos of Fezzik and Kody.
