still fighting! HELP!

[citybird]

Morning,

Sophie the inlaws dog is now nearly 6 months old. Holly(ours) is 4 months old. During the day while we are at work, Holly goes to the inlaws. Now its never been bared teeth snarling but since day one they have CONSTANTLY (play?!) fought for hours EVERY SINGLE day. Yesterday was one of the worst yet from 8am all the way through til lunchtime, one constant playfight, nipping, rolling around the floor.  The Mother in law is now saying how hard work it is to look after them at their age(in 70's), and we're just dreading them turning round saying they can't cope with them both anymore. Is the fighting normal and how long is it going to go on for? PLEASE HELP! They are both bitches. 
Thanks

[AnnieM]

My two girls play like this and have done since the day we brought them home.   They are 9 months now and had started to calm down just a little bit, with shorter bouts of play fighting, however since our new pup Archie arrived on Saturday they have started again with avengance, only now it is 3 way rolling around and play fighting,  only stopping when Archie has had enough and drops on the spot to sleep.    I never tried to stop them, just let them get on with it, they were having such fun.  Hopefully in a couple of months or so Sophie and Holly  will start to setle down a bit, but that is how dogs play, so I don't think they will ever stop altogether and it is certainly better than them not getting on together.    I do understand how your MIL must feel though as when my mum is here she has to go out of the room after a bit as she can't stand the noise.  I think I have jsut become immune to it.   

[Tasha]

Do they have a time out space? My puppy still gets time outs from my older dog in her crate.

[Colin]

As Tasha says maybe a crate would help - or a playpen, or a child gate separating them. Although it's great that they do get on so well and want to play, it can get annoying after a while for some people, so does no harm to split them up. It is likely that they will calm down and play less eventually - when they are old enough to be walked for longer they will probably save up their energies for that and sleep more at home.

[citybird]

They do stop occasionally to either eat or sleep! Does it definitely only sound like play fighting then? The noise sometimes is horrendous!   

[Nicola]

Alfie and Tilly are one and two years old respectively and they play fight ALL THE TIME! The noise really is incredible, it sounds like they're killing each other. I was talking to my Mum on the phone the other night when they got going and we could barely hear each other until my usual 'OI! Pack it in!' made them tone it down a bit. They do it in the house, on walks... the only time they don't really play fight is in the car thank god because that really would drive me insane! 

[Spangle]

They do stop occasionally to either eat or sleep! Does it definitely only sound like play fighting then? The noise sometimes is horrendous!  

   Definitely sounds like play fighting to me!  Ours are just the same; stopping occasionally to have a power nap    It started 5+ years ago when we got Billy, and got increasingly louder when Ted arrived 3 years ago.  Sophie, now 10 years old is the most vocal, and has never changed so I am of the opinion that none of them ever calm down!!   

[Joelf]

When they were puppies my SIL's lab Oscar & Spike would play-fight constantly,crashing around into chairs,table legs & coffee tables & making the most horrendous noise. Oscar was an only dog whereas at that time Spike had 2 other dogs to play with (& they were fed-up with him!! ) so the novelty did wear off fairly quickly.

Now when we go there Oscar would still like to play but boring old Spike just wants to lie on their sofa & sleep!