toot.wales is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
We are the Mastodon social network for Wales and the Welsh, at home and abroad! Y rhwydwaith cymdeithasol annibynnol i Gymru, wedi'i bweru gan Mastodon!

Administered by:

Server stats:

872
active users

#dogpark

0 posts0 participants0 posts today

In my observation, dogs at the dog park sometimes incorporate owners indirectly into their play. When two dogs are playing, one dog will sometimes spontaneously race to the other dog's owner, where roughhousing will resume for a bit and then the other dog will race back, almost as though the two owners are bases in a game of pickle.

My interpretation is that the dogs share the understanding that they are their owner's keeper. If another dog can get to your owner before you can catch them, it is challenge to your role as guardian. That makes running back and forth between owners a natural game.

This would also explain the play-aggressive (and sometimes actually aggressive) standoffs that occur at either end, where a dog will 'guard' its owner and the other dog will harrass and provoke it, often leading to roughhousing and another round of chase.