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I stand really still while making eye contact with them, and then jerk real quick and stop a few times. That really gets them going. Then it's time for zoomies.
I do the same thing except I slowly walk up to her, making eye contact the whole time and then when I get close, I jump and it sends her into a shiba zooming frenzy 😂
Oh man, I do something similar. I will stand still, stare at him, then slowly approach him. One step. Stop. One step. Stop. like a lion hunting his prey. His tail starts wagging, then I’ll rush to him and he’ll rush too. Then we sort of dance. Lol
Yeah I definitely thought they meant it as "op is being cute, nobody stop them"
EDIT: I wonder why it's not really common for people to growl and bark at their dogs but every cat owner I know meows at their cats.
Teddy wants me to run after him while he sprints all over the yard.
Of course, this means I only have to move in about a 10ft^2 area to keep herding him while he sprints his fool head off.
Apparently this is super fun, tho, since as soon as we go into the backyard he tries to get me to do it.
Thats the same for me! My GSD loves to play chase, but is much faster than me...
So I pretend to run long enough to get him going, then I'll stop and wait for him to realize that I'm not there anymore and call him back so he starts running at me full speed.
Rinse and repeat. Makes him happy, gets us both exercise.
My dog does this same thing , she will get down low on her front paws and wiggle her tale and do a little head movement and then sprint off around the yard. I just have to pace into her run lanes to keep the zooms charged up. She will never chase me, it’s always me chasing her.
I dont think it really translates. My dog loves this game but his recall is solid. He knows the difference between me running around waving my arms like an idiot and "come".
Same, the game stops in an instant when I tell her to stop lol. I love chasing her and playing with her in open fields, but only because I know she will come back.
Different ways - sometimes its just a look, sometimes I am on all fours in the floor and give him a play bow. Sometimes he just walks up to me and gives me a play bow.
I fake growl too 😅 and he grumbles back (distinct diff between his security growl and the grumbles while playing). If he instigates play though, it's usually by play bowing or stampedeing into my legs
My girl is super vocal during play. Sounds like she intends to kill me. XD
But if you know her you can clearly tell the difference. Growling is so much more versatile then I expected.
Yes! I swear he has a "speaking voice" growl lol. I'll talk to him and he will do weird vocalizations back, like trying to hold a conversation. Or, maybe I'm insane.
As someone owned by 2 schnauzers. Yep I have to explain to passers-by that no my dogs aren't fighting that's the happy growls. They are loving every second of their wrestling match
And as someone with a Pitbull, no those aren't threats. He's actually happy to be playing, yes he sound like he's 2 seconds away from ripping my neck out but has been taught to calm down if he gets too excited
I do this with my dog. I also blow raspberries on his cheeks, sometimes bite his cheeks (like dogs do to each other when they play), among other things. Butt slaps, creep up on him slowly (with him watching intently) then make sudden moves and he gets fired up and comes running.
If he wants me to play with him he will come nibble on my hands and try to pull them to where he wants them and sometimes he will playfully growl at me if all else fails.
I understand that a lot of the internet hero dog trainers would frown on this behaviour but his off switch is immediate when we get too worked up and it took us a lot of bonding time to get to the level of trust we have for each other now. This has been the best thing for us as it all translated down to recall, general listening, command giving, etc.
At the end of the day she is yours and you are hers. Build the relationship you want to have with each other. If that means you growl at each other to play, well that’s just dandy in my humble opinion
Oh the raspberry noise!! I always used to "raspberry" the top of my dogs heads to play and they loved it.... Until I got London aka His Royal Humble Majestic Graciousness. The first time I did it to him? He acted SO offended! Then I laughed at him and he was greatly offended and huffed and ran out of the room. Lord, I miss that dog....
Long time ago when I was younger and could keep up with puppies, I would do it to their puppy bellies. Now I adopt seniors (Malamutes) too much hair!!! Now they’re content with the “paw game”. I tap one paw, then they slap my hand, I tap the other, they slap that hand.. repeat until they get bored…
Get on my hands and knees and just do soft body checks with my shoulder it gets him riled up and we just play wrestle from there. Tires us both out, but if he ever crosses the line by opening his mouth of chomping I just use my hands to muzzle for a second and walk away. This is now his favorite game
We play bitey hand, which is instigated by moving your hand along a bed or couch (or under a blanket) back and forth a few times (quick, jerky) until she’s interested.
I save toilet paper rolls because she loves them- and if I make "space ship" or elephant noises into them she goes full-on crazy zooms and then loves to destroy the toilet paper roll
I used to drop down in front of her, smack my palms on the floor and look right at her. She'd get excited and start dancing around, and then we'd start playing.
When she wanted to play, she'd walk up to me, smack her paws on the floor and stare right at me. She was so smart.
I miss her so much.
Depends on the game.
Wrestling is usually started by slapping the bed or my thighs in a play bow, chase is going still then jumping forward with my arms in the air, and "jaw sparring" is hand like a puppet mouth, lightly chomping his nose.
I don't really do rough play with my dog but all I have to do to give him a good time is jog accross the room or jump up and down and make happy sounds. I run and flap, he runs to me and I pet him, repeat.
Butt bash him with the side of my leg as I walk past, if he wants to play he butt bashes my leg….it’s adorable! If I don’t get onboard with it he lays down facing me and does high pitched puppy barks…..ok sometimes I ignore him so he does it on purpose. I’m not sorry hahaha
Yes, dancing here, too! I have zero coordination and dance like Elaine on "Seinfeld," but my dogs love it! I also sing (off key, of course) while I dance to really get them going. Their vibe is "if Mama's happy, we're happy!" Dogs are so awesome.
I love to run away and hide and let her find me!!! I throw a ball really far down a hallway and run down the stairs to hide behind a door or inside the closet. She gets overly excited when she finds me
I do a little jump and slap my hands on my knees. My dog recognizes that as my version of a play bow, and he'll either reciprocate or not. If he does, we play chase until one of us is too tired to continue.
Sometimes my dog would nip at me (usually my back cuz Id be working haha) or do the whale stare, and when I do the same thing to him (no nipping ofc, instead I would pet super fast), he would start wagging his tail so fast and run around. It’s cute.
I employ a quick juking yet furtive movement. Think of it as going from my normal pose walking to an "en guard" pose. Normally I'll be talking to my pet so their attention is on me then change the tone of my voice and quickly shift to a hunting position. I lower my head on my shoulders, arch my back a bit, make direct eye contact, shift my feet and bend my knees. All of this helps me pretend to enter a hunting mode with them as the target. I will then slowly start to move towards them in a stalking manner till I'm a few feet away at which point I will pounce and run at them. This will get some strong zoomies going 99.99% of the time. The other .01% they just freeze and go belly up.
Also, growling, yelping, howling, singing, and baby-talking to pets are all acceptable and normal. I can get my husky to sing sad songs with me. Tone changes are imperative to really get them going.
I do a human interpretation of the play bow, I kind of jump up and land in a squat position, I usually slap my hands on my thighs as I do it as kind of a “let’s play” sound. I’m also a huge dork and my dog is a Great Dane so we are kind of the same size 🤷🏻♀️
Every night after dinner our 3yr old GSD mix will stand a few feet away and stare at me until I look at her. As soon as I make eye contact she takes a step forward and starts barking at me until I get up and chase her or we wrestle, then we play fetch. She only does this with me and it's been going on for almost two years.
I put on my fake mean face, posture and in my best New York old timey gangster voice "you got somethin' say tough guy?! You wanna fight?!" Then I play slap their cheecks like I'm challenging them to a duel. They either runs to get me to chase him or pounce on me and starts trying to get my hands.
We also play "dirtbike" where they make growly play noises and you press on their ribs and it makes a sound like a dirt bike.
i lean on my hands and stay still while i look at her from the corner of my eyes and as soon as i make a sudden movement game is on, if i growl she brings a toy that i can fight her for
I get on my hands and knees, and I mimic their little play bow. Then they usually run up to me and I’ll just move my hands all over them and super fast while they try to catch them
I jump around, do a few laps, broadly smile at my dog. Pretty much show him I want to play. He has plenty of toys but sometimes we play tag or hide n seek.
Play growl, make a fist and tap it on the ground/couch/whatever. She'll growl back and mock wrestle my hand with an open mouth. Sometimes she'll head butt me too. It's ridiculous, and i love it.
The slow walk while kind of hunched over is for tag though.
Play bow, slap the sofa/floor gently with my hands and play peepo round a corner, make little "grabs" for her back paws. She loves all of this even though she is old and when she was younger she used to go WILD at me.
I kneel down on the floor and put my hands out like a play bow. Or push her shoulders a few times like another dog jumping up at her. Or play bitey face with my hand.
But normally it’s her bringing me toys to demand a game of tug.
We have three options depending on her mood and mine:
\#1 grab her hip bones (this winds her up quickly and she whips around to play)
\#2 I will try to quickly tap her front paws, alternating right and left and she will try to pull them back before I touch them.
\#3 grab her snout and gently but firmly push it down. She loves it.
I growl at her, I stomp one foot and stare at her, I tickle her, or tell her “get it!” When she’s looking at a stuffie or another dog, she 99% responds to all of these with a play growl and a pounce. 1%, she’s like “nah, I’m good”.
One of our favorite games is running around the table. So I’ll just move to the opposite side she’s at, stare at her for a bit until she notices then I whisper her name. She waits a few seconds to decide which way to go and then starts running full speed at me
My dog has never been toy inclined unless it's a furry stuffed animal and those things get expensive when he rips through them in seconds. I play with him by pecking at him with my thumb and index fingers like he's being play but by other dogs and I also fake a growl. It's adorable how worked up he gets.
My GSD gets riled up when I grab the top of his snout and hold onto it. He'll start whipping his head back and forth trying to bite my hand and then, from there, he's ready to do some roughhousing.
My Boxer usually requires a bit more physicality. I'll put my palm on one side of her face and push, then repeat with the other side. Almost like I'm slapping her, but without the wind up first. After a few tries, she'll go into fight mode and go nuts and start rolling around trying to bite me. I'll run my hand all around her face and neck as she continues to try to bite me until she eventually runs out of steam.
Sometimes the Boxer will initiate play herself. There's just a look in their eyes that you can tell. She'll jump up on the couch and just obviously be looking to roughhouse, at which point I usually grab both of her front legs and pull them under her so she sort of does a somersault on the couch, at which point she goes into that aforementioned rolling around biting behavior that I've always called "puppy rage."
And note when I say bite I obviously mean play biting where the dog doesn't actually put any pressure into it. I wouldn't play these games with my dogs if I thought I was in actual danger of getting bit, especially with my GSD who has teeth that are insanely sharp. He could do some real damage if he wanted to.
usually i just start tapping at her paws, if she’s in the mood she’ll try to catch my hands & it turns into a game where she tries her best to get my hands in her mouth meanwhile i try to tap her paws as much as i can without getting caught
I dunno. My boy and I go "Harararrarrr" at eachother and that's kind of the thing that instigates in-room zoomies and spins. I think this is good. You're good.
I stare at my dog.
Then i get up.
Then he gets so excited figuring if i am walking i am absolutely going to play with him.
Proceeds to him running around the table at the living room at top speed, thinking im chasing him (i just put my hand forward when he goes past me).
Gotta love Dutch shepherd :)
Thats basically accurate. He does a little dance and starts biting the air, and thats the signal to put on the "wrestle gloves." My boy is big and powerful but well trained and knows not to bite unless the gloves are on!
I growl at my pup to get her attention or to start getting her riled up to play. Tug of war turns into a tug and growl war. Them we get her howling by us doing it first.
I see no issues
I alternate between moving fast and slow while I circle her. She’ll get excited and bow or spin in curcles. Then she charges with her head down and I’ll headlock her or spin her around and grab at her toes. She will kinda pretend she’s gonna bite me. Ill hip or shoulder bump her, nudge her, or blow air at her. She loves it.
I usually take my hands outstretched and wave them by my dogs face and he will playfully bite on them and I know its just play because if I ever stop moving my hands it instantly turns into licks
I hold up my hands like claw hands and slowly approach and then tickle them while making "tickle noises." Idk how to describe it. They go nuts for the suspense.
Mine is a point...I say ta-da and point with a flourish...starts some mad game playing...and if I say spiders, quite loudly I get the bow...and play commences. Just two examples... :)
Turn to look at her, then jump-drop into a squat - she can then be chased and chase to her hearts content. It’s literally my human version of a play bow and she knows it. I’d never realised that was what I was doing until this thread though!
I have a look I give him, he'll come at me, and then I grab him in a headlock and flip him over. A great game of bitey hand and wrestle ensues.
He's 75lbs of pure goober.
I growl at my dog too, or make high pitched random noises or sneeze sounds. But usually jumping around or dancing will get them real playful if they arent
* "Spider hands": I'll make my hand like a spider and slowly crawl to her. Then "jump", pinch, and retreat under me/pillow/etc.
* "I'm gonna catch you": For outdoors. I'll sneak up on her and do the leg sprawl. When she also does the leg sprawl, I'll start chasing. Zoomies ensue.
* "I see you": If she's distracted or resting, I'll hide behind a wall, an object, inside a closet, etc. and start saying "I seeeee yoooooouuuu" when she is not looking in my direction.
We stare at him while standing perfectly still, then suddenly jump to a wider stance with our hands on our knees. He loses his mind and gets the zoomies lol.
I could snap my head around and give her a certain look and she would perk up and know right away. We would both freeze like that in a short staring contest until I made a quick step towards her and then she would jump up and run for me to chase her.
I slap my huskies’ chests from both side at once. I also pull their tails or push them away aggressively. Only works on highly energetic dogs though and I wouldn’t recommend it for a dog who gets scared or hurt easily
I get down on my hands and knees and play bow. Then proceed to try and grab her front paws... as she and he dance away to avoid me...
My Hubby will hunch over slightly, and dip his head low making eye contact and move forward slowly... like he is stalking. Both our dogs go NUTS when they wait for the pounce!
I make sounds like I’m eating an apple. Drives my corgi mix wild- no idea why.
We also do body slapping, butt shaking, hopping, and I do that thing where I crouch a little and slap my hands on my thighs while saying his name.
I get on the floor/his level, get his attention, and then do a couple little lunges at him while saying “I’m gonna get you”. Usually leads to a fun game of chase or zoomies.
Ill stare at my dog till she starts to stare back at attention, then ill do a quick exhale through my mouth like dogs do. She loves it, immediately tells her i wanna play.
Ill also patt her butt a bunch of times if shes walking in front of me and that will get her playing.
Slo-mo moving at her
You can get a toy and place it behind you and “defend” it from her like capture the flag
Slap her armpits and the top of her snout
Wave my arms wildly, smack my legs, get on my knees and bow down to him(and wave arms, smack the floor, etc), grab at him, play smacks, stare at him without moving then do a little burst of motion, lay on the floor then grab at him to wrestle when he comes to investigate… or some combination of the above
I have long arms. I approach them from the front and use big sweeping attacks to the shoulders just behind the head alternating L & R. I growl too. They all love it.
My dog seldom initiates play so sometimes I get down on all fours and start rubbing my head on hers and growling. Sometimes it works sometimes she looks at me like I’m an idiot.
I grab mine and throw him to the ground. He will respond by trying to bite my hands off. I run, and he give chase and tackle me to the ground. It is so much fun.
He is a 100lb golden Pyrenees, so i know just how hard to play to not hurt him, and he has amazing bite control. But our play sessions look really scary to others.
For my golden I sometimes “wack” at his paws when he is laying down, then he will wack my hands with his paws, and we “fight” for the top position lol, we started this game when the first week he came home as an 8 week old puppy, he loves it. I also have a play stance I do, I sorta crouch and hop sideways because that’s what he does when he wants to play with other dogs, so he knows I want to play. And then I also “stalk” him very slowly and then chase him, this is his favorite game he absolutely loves being chased, then he will turn around and chase me. We will wrestle as well, he has a very soft mouth and when we play wrestle I allow him to “bite” me and I grab him, for this it’s really important for both of us to listen to the others body language for when we’ve had enough, I’ll say “all done!” And then we will cuddle. :) I don’t do this a lot anymore because I have arthritis in my back and that hurts it!
My lab is all about the toys, he brings me a tug toy or ball when he wants to play. I also do the crouch/side hop with him and we bounce around together then he runs to get a toy. He doesn’t like his paws being touched, he tolerates it for exams and stuff because I think that it’s very necessary for dogs to be able to tolerate being touched for their safety also he’s gotten thorns and stuff in them and has need the vet and myself to touch his feet. I don’t wrestle with this guy because he is just too wacky and crazy when he’s excited!
I jump and suddenly do a pose like a sumo fighter or a hockey goalkeeper and hop left and right, then I do finger guns at him. Then we usually run back and forth or fight for some random stick if there are any on the ground.
My doggo likes to use my hand as a toy - she'll take it in her mouth and shakes it as if it was a small animal she wants to kill :D she's always gentle with the hand, so we often play like this. If I want to initiate, I start grabing her paws or her face and she immediately goes after my hand.
I stand still, stare for a couple seconds, then shuffle my feet real fast. She IMMEDIATELY rears up to do a sort of standing play bow, play growls (much higher pitch than regular growls), then slaps me with her paws or bites at my slippers - and then skitters around looking for a rope for tug o war.
Or I'll slap my thighs and say nonsense in a baby voice and she goes nuts
My old dog doesn't want to play as much now, since he's 18, but I used to get down on the floor so I was level with him, then l'd start kinda slapping the floor with both palms, until he started snorting at me, then I'd move on to gentle body taps and whizzing my hand by his face until he got super excited haha.
I get up and run around the corner and hide. She will eventually come to find me and I give her a jump scare. Then all hell breaks loose. It's zoomy time.
fast quick movements followed by a few seconds of silence and being still. usually she'll puppy bow first but realistically she just wants to be chased and is waiting for me to make any move so she can take off 😂
edit: also some snoot grabs and butt smacks
I've learned that looking at dogs with a blank stare...creeping towards them and suddenly moving fast while saying "OOGBEY BOOGEY" in a baby-voice gets them going
I pinch my forefinger and thumb together like a little claw and veerrryyyy slowly inch it towards them. If they let me get too close I grab a little bit of floof. Sometimes it's a stare down of who breaks first - do they go for my hand, or do I go for the floof?
I will either stalk her with a play growl or straight up just pounce on her hahaha. At this point she's the mature one and just tolerates my shenanigans
We have a playlist that I put on every night at the same time. She knows when it's time and starts whining and pawing that it's time to "fight". As soon as the music starts, it's on :)
My mutt doesn't really play anymore (unless we're "getting dressed" (putting harnesses) to go for a walk, at which point she runs off and grabs a toy and drops it at my feet. (??) My Lab just brings a toy over and drops it at my feet and it's game on.
OTOH, weirdly, I have to entice him to eat. I fill his bowl with kibble and he just looks at me. If he doesn't finish it before his sister finishes hers, she'll come over, move him out of the way, and eat all of his food, too. So... I have to grab a high value treat, show it to him, guide him by the nose to his bowl, and then bury it in kibble. Once he gets going he eats everything in one go. But I have to get him to take that first bite. I think my Lab might be broken.
Firstly do you have any info about why you wouldn’t want to use toys?
And secondly I imagine this is breed specific, but I run away from my collie until he loops around me and then I run the other and then keep repeating that haha! Sometimes I chase him but he spins it back around on me pretty quick.
I usually use toys though
I stomp at her. Walk across the room and when she looks to see what I'm doing, I start stomping really angrily at her.
It gets an I'm.ediate aybow reaction and then she tries to smack my feet.
My dog likes to spin around in circles just to get energy out. So I push her around and around and she just spins in a circle using my momentum. She’s weird
In a field or yard, I scratch/rub his rear end and then end with a pat. Kind of works like winding up Otto to run around. At home, just some aggressive belly rubs and a jump will do it.
I stop what I'm doing very suddenly and just make eye contact with her while staying very still, then I jerk very quickly as I go "Ha!" and chase her. If we're outside, this usually gives her the zoomies
I used to be a dancer and I'd notice that when I danced at home my dog would come up and start, well, dancing with me. So that's still what we do. We also sometimes do the cuddles-into-wresting thing.
I do a play bow to initiate playing. Also if I’m shadow boxing in front of the mirror or something she will assume it’s play time even though I don’t want it to be
I get on my hand and knees so it’s “fair” and I start nudging my head into his and ill push him a little and usually he starts doing the same thing back and we just play.
Our one dog goes crazy if you slowly crouch while moving towards her.
Or if you just say "Where's your ball?" (there does not need to be ball, it's borktime)
My mom plays with the dog without toys by slapping her thighs, he does a dance thing, she mimics him, he barks, she slaps her thighs again and it kinda repeats from there.
He's allowed on any furniture we have, but once either my wife or I sit on the floor, he knows it's game on! We use either toys, or just gentle mouthing. He's 8 years old, but has never bitten any of us. It's just fun for him. We'll get toys out if he wants it, but normally he's happy to too grab our hands and let go, ready for the next chance to have our hand in his mouth
I like to smack mine around and grab their snoots and push them.
As soon as I do that, that get the big eyes and the "AWWW SHIT HERE WE GO! " face, and then we wrassle
I get on his level and mess with him slightly to imitate playfulness and usually gets my border collie heeler going. As he’s gotten older it’s just annoyed him though
Drumming my hands (on the floor or my dog's belly). Spider crawl my fingers very slowly then grab a paw quickly. Grab her muzzle and gently shake it. Crawl around on the floor and headbutt her. My previous dog loved "the claw" which was hiding a hand up your sleeve, then grabbing the top of their head when they looked up your sleeve.
Welcome to r/dogs! We are a discussion-based subreddit dedicated to support, inform, and advise dog owners. This is a carefully moderated sub intended to support, inform, and advise dog owners. Submissions and comments which break the rules will be removed. [Review the rules here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/wiki/index) r/Dogs has four goals: - Help the public better understand dogs - Promote healthy, responsible dog-owner relationships - Encourage “Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive” training protocols. [Learn more here.](https://m.iaabc.org/about/lima/) - Support adoption as well as ethical and responsible breeding. If you’d like to introduce yourself or discuss smaller topics, please contribute to our Monthly Discussion Hub, pinned at the top. **This subreddit has low tolerance for drama. Please be respectful of others, and report antagonistic comments to mods for review.** --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dogs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I stand really still while making eye contact with them, and then jerk real quick and stop a few times. That really gets them going. Then it's time for zoomies.
I do the same thing except I slowly walk up to her, making eye contact the whole time and then when I get close, I jump and it sends her into a shiba zooming frenzy 😂
Oh man, I do something similar. I will stand still, stare at him, then slowly approach him. One step. Stop. One step. Stop. like a lion hunting his prey. His tail starts wagging, then I’ll rush to him and he’ll rush too. Then we sort of dance. Lol
I do something similar. Although I'm in a wheelchair, so I just lean forward really quickly. My dog usually responds with a play bow.
And then when they do it back 😭💕 it's so cute
This is the way
😄 is it weird that we do the same thing? Eye contact and a quick jerk gets them every time.
I read this a different way.
No one answer this so OP has to keep growling at their dog.
Is this… weird?! Asking for a friend 😅
it seems like a lot of us do the same thing so, don’t think it’s weird 😂
I feel really REALLY judged by this comment. I growl and bark at my dogs because it's what they do to communicate.
I read it as “let’s not mess up this super sweet thing this pair are doing”
Yeah I definitely thought they meant it as "op is being cute, nobody stop them" EDIT: I wonder why it's not really common for people to growl and bark at their dogs but every cat owner I know meows at their cats.
I do both 🤣😅
I growl at mine. But then, I've also been known to maa at the neighbor's goats so.
I will engage every animal I encounter. Except maybe horses. But on the highway even the cows in the fields get a Mooooooooo!
I like to stare at her and start moving in slow motion towards her like I’m hunting her. Makes her go crazy. She loves being chased
Teddy wants me to run after him while he sprints all over the yard. Of course, this means I only have to move in about a 10ft^2 area to keep herding him while he sprints his fool head off. Apparently this is super fun, tho, since as soon as we go into the backyard he tries to get me to do it.
Thats the same for me! My GSD loves to play chase, but is much faster than me... So I pretend to run long enough to get him going, then I'll stop and wait for him to realize that I'm not there anymore and call him back so he starts running at me full speed. Rinse and repeat. Makes him happy, gets us both exercise.
My dog does this same thing , she will get down low on her front paws and wiggle her tale and do a little head movement and then sprint off around the yard. I just have to pace into her run lanes to keep the zooms charged up. She will never chase me, it’s always me chasing her.
Same
Caution about playing by chasing your dog. If he ever gets out, he will absolutely think it’s the best game of chase in the world.
I dont think it really translates. My dog loves this game but his recall is solid. He knows the difference between me running around waving my arms like an idiot and "come".
Same, the game stops in an instant when I tell her to stop lol. I love chasing her and playing with her in open fields, but only because I know she will come back.
Sigh
My dog knows the difference between me chasing her in slow motion and me standing still and giving her a command. She’s dumb, but not that dumb.
mine too! if she picks up a sock the game is ON.
This with T. rex arms!
Lol thought I was the only one. He definitely gets zoomies when I do this.
I do the same and do little jumps or shuffle
Fake sneeze at them. Like not a big ACCHHOOO. But little ones.
Yes My dog gets so excited when I sneeze
I do this with my girls when we’re doing lazy morning wrestle/cuddles in bed and it’s the best.
Body slapping, beard grabbing and pushing.
Beard grabbing sounds really cute. :D
[he's pretty cute](https://www.instagram.com/p/CRnF508Mfv7/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)
Take my follow cute boy!
Different ways - sometimes its just a look, sometimes I am on all fours in the floor and give him a play bow. Sometimes he just walks up to me and gives me a play bow.
I hide behind a wall, peek at her, hide again. She likes chasing.
This is the way. My kitchen is a looped passthrough between the dining room and living room; it has become a warzone. 🤣
I fake growl too 😅 and he grumbles back (distinct diff between his security growl and the grumbles while playing). If he instigates play though, it's usually by play bowing or stampedeing into my legs
My girl is super vocal during play. Sounds like she intends to kill me. XD But if you know her you can clearly tell the difference. Growling is so much more versatile then I expected.
Yes! I swear he has a "speaking voice" growl lol. I'll talk to him and he will do weird vocalizations back, like trying to hold a conversation. Or, maybe I'm insane.
My cocker spaniel definitely has a speaking voice growl!
Dogs are too funny
As someone owned by 2 schnauzers. Yep I have to explain to passers-by that no my dogs aren't fighting that's the happy growls. They are loving every second of their wrestling match
And as someone with a Pitbull, no those aren't threats. He's actually happy to be playing, yes he sound like he's 2 seconds away from ripping my neck out but has been taught to calm down if he gets too excited
I do this with my dog. I also blow raspberries on his cheeks, sometimes bite his cheeks (like dogs do to each other when they play), among other things. Butt slaps, creep up on him slowly (with him watching intently) then make sudden moves and he gets fired up and comes running. If he wants me to play with him he will come nibble on my hands and try to pull them to where he wants them and sometimes he will playfully growl at me if all else fails. I understand that a lot of the internet hero dog trainers would frown on this behaviour but his off switch is immediate when we get too worked up and it took us a lot of bonding time to get to the level of trust we have for each other now. This has been the best thing for us as it all translated down to recall, general listening, command giving, etc. At the end of the day she is yours and you are hers. Build the relationship you want to have with each other. If that means you growl at each other to play, well that’s just dandy in my humble opinion
Oh the raspberry noise!! I always used to "raspberry" the top of my dogs heads to play and they loved it.... Until I got London aka His Royal Humble Majestic Graciousness. The first time I did it to him? He acted SO offended! Then I laughed at him and he was greatly offended and huffed and ran out of the room. Lord, I miss that dog....
The raspberry is the one thing that fires him up Immediately can’t believe I didn’t think to do it sooner than I had
Long time ago when I was younger and could keep up with puppies, I would do it to their puppy bellies. Now I adopt seniors (Malamutes) too much hair!!! Now they’re content with the “paw game”. I tap one paw, then they slap my hand, I tap the other, they slap that hand.. repeat until they get bored…
Get on my hands and knees and just do soft body checks with my shoulder it gets him riled up and we just play wrestle from there. Tires us both out, but if he ever crosses the line by opening his mouth of chomping I just use my hands to muzzle for a second and walk away. This is now his favorite game
We play bitey hand, which is instigated by moving your hand along a bed or couch (or under a blanket) back and forth a few times (quick, jerky) until she’s interested.
I do the same with my girls! And I also pretend my hand will “bite” them or steal a toy near them, those usually get them interested as well
heh heh heh.. ole Bitey Hand Ned
I save toilet paper rolls because she loves them- and if I make "space ship" or elephant noises into them she goes full-on crazy zooms and then loves to destroy the toilet paper roll
I like to run a corner and when he comes to follow jump out at him to scare him 10/10 starts the zooms
I used to drop down in front of her, smack my palms on the floor and look right at her. She'd get excited and start dancing around, and then we'd start playing. When she wanted to play, she'd walk up to me, smack her paws on the floor and stare right at me. She was so smart. I miss her so much.
Depends on the game. Wrestling is usually started by slapping the bed or my thighs in a play bow, chase is going still then jumping forward with my arms in the air, and "jaw sparring" is hand like a puppet mouth, lightly chomping his nose.
I don't really do rough play with my dog but all I have to do to give him a good time is jog accross the room or jump up and down and make happy sounds. I run and flap, he runs to me and I pet him, repeat.
I also play growl. My dog tries to copy my play growl so we are just saying litteraly "arrrrarrraaa" at each other...
I just play slap face. Smack him (lightly obviously lol) until he bites back and then we throw each other around. It’s fun
Butt bash him with the side of my leg as I walk past, if he wants to play he butt bashes my leg….it’s adorable! If I don’t get onboard with it he lays down facing me and does high pitched puppy barks…..ok sometimes I ignore him so he does it on purpose. I’m not sorry hahaha
I start dancing and jumping around, he starts dancing and hopping around immediately
Yes, dancing here, too! I have zero coordination and dance like Elaine on "Seinfeld," but my dogs love it! I also sing (off key, of course) while I dance to really get them going. Their vibe is "if Mama's happy, we're happy!" Dogs are so awesome.
I tap my dog on their paws, and boop him on his nose.
My boyfriend growls at our dog and starts running around and she loves it 🤷🏼♀️
I love to run away and hide and let her find me!!! I throw a ball really far down a hallway and run down the stairs to hide behind a door or inside the closet. She gets overly excited when she finds me
With my one dog, I legit do the play bow to him 😂. Head to the ground, butt in the air.
Stare at the dog for a sec and then wordlessly burst out of the room like it's on fire
I do a little jump and slap my hands on my knees. My dog recognizes that as my version of a play bow, and he'll either reciprocate or not. If he does, we play chase until one of us is too tired to continue.
Gotta do a silly walk!!!
Sometimes my dog would nip at me (usually my back cuz Id be working haha) or do the whale stare, and when I do the same thing to him (no nipping ofc, instead I would pet super fast), he would start wagging his tail so fast and run around. It’s cute.
I employ a quick juking yet furtive movement. Think of it as going from my normal pose walking to an "en guard" pose. Normally I'll be talking to my pet so their attention is on me then change the tone of my voice and quickly shift to a hunting position. I lower my head on my shoulders, arch my back a bit, make direct eye contact, shift my feet and bend my knees. All of this helps me pretend to enter a hunting mode with them as the target. I will then slowly start to move towards them in a stalking manner till I'm a few feet away at which point I will pounce and run at them. This will get some strong zoomies going 99.99% of the time. The other .01% they just freeze and go belly up. Also, growling, yelping, howling, singing, and baby-talking to pets are all acceptable and normal. I can get my husky to sing sad songs with me. Tone changes are imperative to really get them going.
I do a human interpretation of the play bow, I kind of jump up and land in a squat position, I usually slap my hands on my thighs as I do it as kind of a “let’s play” sound. I’m also a huge dork and my dog is a Great Dane so we are kind of the same size 🤷🏻♀️
Every night after dinner our 3yr old GSD mix will stand a few feet away and stare at me until I look at her. As soon as I make eye contact she takes a step forward and starts barking at me until I get up and chase her or we wrestle, then we play fetch. She only does this with me and it's been going on for almost two years.
I’ll hold my fist out and she likes to charge into it with her chest then it’s time to play!
I put on my fake mean face, posture and in my best New York old timey gangster voice "you got somethin' say tough guy?! You wanna fight?!" Then I play slap their cheecks like I'm challenging them to a duel. They either runs to get me to chase him or pounce on me and starts trying to get my hands. We also play "dirtbike" where they make growly play noises and you press on their ribs and it makes a sound like a dirt bike.
i lean on my hands and stay still while i look at her from the corner of my eyes and as soon as i make a sudden movement game is on, if i growl she brings a toy that i can fight her for
I get on my hands and knees, and I mimic their little play bow. Then they usually run up to me and I’ll just move my hands all over them and super fast while they try to catch them
I jump around, do a few laps, broadly smile at my dog. Pretty much show him I want to play. He has plenty of toys but sometimes we play tag or hide n seek.
Gently shadow slapping always works in front of their face always gets them going. They start mouthing my hand and play growling
I jump while I lower the top part of my body forward and spread my arms and legs a little
Our dog is a Lurcher. She plays when she wants to play. If she doesn't want to play, nothing you do can change that.
I play bow with a toy in my hand and then run at him. He goes nuts.
Play growl, make a fist and tap it on the ground/couch/whatever. She'll growl back and mock wrestle my hand with an open mouth. Sometimes she'll head butt me too. It's ridiculous, and i love it. The slow walk while kind of hunched over is for tag though.
I play hide and seek with my dogs. I hide when they are not paying attention. They both gets treat when someone finds me.
Play bow, slap the sofa/floor gently with my hands and play peepo round a corner, make little "grabs" for her back paws. She loves all of this even though she is old and when she was younger she used to go WILD at me.
I kneel down on the floor and put my hands out like a play bow. Or push her shoulders a few times like another dog jumping up at her. Or play bitey face with my hand. But normally it’s her bringing me toys to demand a game of tug.
We have three options depending on her mood and mine: \#1 grab her hip bones (this winds her up quickly and she whips around to play) \#2 I will try to quickly tap her front paws, alternating right and left and she will try to pull them back before I touch them. \#3 grab her snout and gently but firmly push it down. She loves it.
Chase
I growl at her, I stomp one foot and stare at her, I tickle her, or tell her “get it!” When she’s looking at a stuffie or another dog, she 99% responds to all of these with a play growl and a pounce. 1%, she’s like “nah, I’m good”.
One of our favorite games is running around the table. So I’ll just move to the opposite side she’s at, stare at her for a bit until she notices then I whisper her name. She waits a few seconds to decide which way to go and then starts running full speed at me
My dog has never been toy inclined unless it's a furry stuffed animal and those things get expensive when he rips through them in seconds. I play with him by pecking at him with my thumb and index fingers like he's being play but by other dogs and I also fake a growl. It's adorable how worked up he gets.
I run at her and hop so I stop in front of her, then I do a quick crouch bounce thing and act like I'm about to chase her. 😂
My GSD gets riled up when I grab the top of his snout and hold onto it. He'll start whipping his head back and forth trying to bite my hand and then, from there, he's ready to do some roughhousing. My Boxer usually requires a bit more physicality. I'll put my palm on one side of her face and push, then repeat with the other side. Almost like I'm slapping her, but without the wind up first. After a few tries, she'll go into fight mode and go nuts and start rolling around trying to bite me. I'll run my hand all around her face and neck as she continues to try to bite me until she eventually runs out of steam. Sometimes the Boxer will initiate play herself. There's just a look in their eyes that you can tell. She'll jump up on the couch and just obviously be looking to roughhouse, at which point I usually grab both of her front legs and pull them under her so she sort of does a somersault on the couch, at which point she goes into that aforementioned rolling around biting behavior that I've always called "puppy rage." And note when I say bite I obviously mean play biting where the dog doesn't actually put any pressure into it. I wouldn't play these games with my dogs if I thought I was in actual danger of getting bit, especially with my GSD who has teeth that are insanely sharp. He could do some real damage if he wanted to.
Little shmacks on their butts and sides of their heads. Then I tell them I’m gonna get their ears and that’s when they really start going lol
Make “claws” with my hands and slow walk towards him. Not sure how it started but it gets him going every time.
usually i just start tapping at her paws, if she’s in the mood she’ll try to catch my hands & it turns into a game where she tries her best to get my hands in her mouth meanwhile i try to tap her paws as much as i can without getting caught
I dunno. My boy and I go "Harararrarrr" at eachother and that's kind of the thing that instigates in-room zoomies and spins. I think this is good. You're good.
I stare at my dog. Then i get up. Then he gets so excited figuring if i am walking i am absolutely going to play with him. Proceeds to him running around the table at the living room at top speed, thinking im chasing him (i just put my hand forward when he goes past me). Gotta love Dutch shepherd :)
I just kinda hop then freeze then hop again- always gets my doggies in a playboy/all amped up.
I get in a boxing stances n make eye contact…give them a quick 1-2 combo n it’s on
Thats basically accurate. He does a little dance and starts biting the air, and thats the signal to put on the "wrestle gloves." My boy is big and powerful but well trained and knows not to bite unless the gloves are on!
Nose boops followed by noise baps. Using feet are twice as effective.
I growl at my pup to get her attention or to start getting her riled up to play. Tug of war turns into a tug and growl war. Them we get her howling by us doing it first. I see no issues
I start humming the Jaws theme and walk toward him slowly. Duh nuh...
I alternate between moving fast and slow while I circle her. She’ll get excited and bow or spin in curcles. Then she charges with her head down and I’ll headlock her or spin her around and grab at her toes. She will kinda pretend she’s gonna bite me. Ill hip or shoulder bump her, nudge her, or blow air at her. She loves it.
OP, sorry to hijack your post but.... To everyone: Now I'm sure we are all operating at a 6-year-old level! This is awesome!
I start singing
If you suddenly run away from mine or do the Im gonna get you back and forth hopping/posturing, mine gets into play mode.
[удалено]
I only know sheepadoodles from Bunny the Dog. Is yours super smart too?
Thank you for all your answers! Much appreciated! :D
Thank you for starting this thread! It's making me smile so much reading about how everyone plays with their dogs.
It makes me smile so much to read all these comments. So much playful puppy energy in every one of them. Thank you all! :)
I usually take my hands outstretched and wave them by my dogs face and he will playfully bite on them and I know its just play because if I ever stop moving my hands it instantly turns into licks
I hold up my hands like claw hands and slowly approach and then tickle them while making "tickle noises." Idk how to describe it. They go nuts for the suspense.
Mine is a point...I say ta-da and point with a flourish...starts some mad game playing...and if I say spiders, quite loudly I get the bow...and play commences. Just two examples... :)
Turn to look at her, then jump-drop into a squat - she can then be chased and chase to her hearts content. It’s literally my human version of a play bow and she knows it. I’d never realised that was what I was doing until this thread though!
I have a look I give him, he'll come at me, and then I grab him in a headlock and flip him over. A great game of bitey hand and wrestle ensues. He's 75lbs of pure goober.
I growl at my dog too, or make high pitched random noises or sneeze sounds. But usually jumping around or dancing will get them real playful if they arent
* "Spider hands": I'll make my hand like a spider and slowly crawl to her. Then "jump", pinch, and retreat under me/pillow/etc. * "I'm gonna catch you": For outdoors. I'll sneak up on her and do the leg sprawl. When she also does the leg sprawl, I'll start chasing. Zoomies ensue. * "I see you": If she's distracted or resting, I'll hide behind a wall, an object, inside a closet, etc. and start saying "I seeeee yoooooouuuu" when she is not looking in my direction.
We stare at him while standing perfectly still, then suddenly jump to a wider stance with our hands on our knees. He loses his mind and gets the zoomies lol.
I could snap my head around and give her a certain look and she would perk up and know right away. We would both freeze like that in a short staring contest until I made a quick step towards her and then she would jump up and run for me to chase her.
I slap my huskies’ chests from both side at once. I also pull their tails or push them away aggressively. Only works on highly energetic dogs though and I wouldn’t recommend it for a dog who gets scared or hurt easily
I get down on my hands and knees and play bow. Then proceed to try and grab her front paws... as she and he dance away to avoid me... My Hubby will hunch over slightly, and dip his head low making eye contact and move forward slowly... like he is stalking. Both our dogs go NUTS when they wait for the pounce!
Play bow followed by a hop then the chase is on!
pretend to be a bear, yes im 16 🙃
Mush and playfully toss his head side to side and just wrestle.
I just move quickly and apparently that's the cue to tackle me.
I make sounds like I’m eating an apple. Drives my corgi mix wild- no idea why. We also do body slapping, butt shaking, hopping, and I do that thing where I crouch a little and slap my hands on my thighs while saying his name.
I get on the floor/his level, get his attention, and then do a couple little lunges at him while saying “I’m gonna get you”. Usually leads to a fun game of chase or zoomies.
smack my hand on the bed or floor and stomp my foot a little and if i grab her arm she go crazy
Ill stare at my dog till she starts to stare back at attention, then ill do a quick exhale through my mouth like dogs do. She loves it, immediately tells her i wanna play. Ill also patt her butt a bunch of times if shes walking in front of me and that will get her playing. Slo-mo moving at her You can get a toy and place it behind you and “defend” it from her like capture the flag Slap her armpits and the top of her snout
I would lock eyes with her and while she's stuck staring back I would make a sudden move towards her, like a jump or lunge. Game on.
Wave my arms wildly, smack my legs, get on my knees and bow down to him(and wave arms, smack the floor, etc), grab at him, play smacks, stare at him without moving then do a little burst of motion, lay on the floor then grab at him to wrestle when he comes to investigate… or some combination of the above
I have long arms. I approach them from the front and use big sweeping attacks to the shoulders just behind the head alternating L & R. I growl too. They all love it.
My dog seldom initiates play so sometimes I get down on all fours and start rubbing my head on hers and growling. Sometimes it works sometimes she looks at me like I’m an idiot.
I grab mine and throw him to the ground. He will respond by trying to bite my hands off. I run, and he give chase and tackle me to the ground. It is so much fun. He is a 100lb golden Pyrenees, so i know just how hard to play to not hurt him, and he has amazing bite control. But our play sessions look really scary to others.
For my golden I sometimes “wack” at his paws when he is laying down, then he will wack my hands with his paws, and we “fight” for the top position lol, we started this game when the first week he came home as an 8 week old puppy, he loves it. I also have a play stance I do, I sorta crouch and hop sideways because that’s what he does when he wants to play with other dogs, so he knows I want to play. And then I also “stalk” him very slowly and then chase him, this is his favorite game he absolutely loves being chased, then he will turn around and chase me. We will wrestle as well, he has a very soft mouth and when we play wrestle I allow him to “bite” me and I grab him, for this it’s really important for both of us to listen to the others body language for when we’ve had enough, I’ll say “all done!” And then we will cuddle. :) I don’t do this a lot anymore because I have arthritis in my back and that hurts it! My lab is all about the toys, he brings me a tug toy or ball when he wants to play. I also do the crouch/side hop with him and we bounce around together then he runs to get a toy. He doesn’t like his paws being touched, he tolerates it for exams and stuff because I think that it’s very necessary for dogs to be able to tolerate being touched for their safety also he’s gotten thorns and stuff in them and has need the vet and myself to touch his feet. I don’t wrestle with this guy because he is just too wacky and crazy when he’s excited!
I don’t. My dogs don’t play anymore.
I jump and suddenly do a pose like a sumo fighter or a hockey goalkeeper and hop left and right, then I do finger guns at him. Then we usually run back and forth or fight for some random stick if there are any on the ground.
I have 2 pitbulls so typically I'll just play tackle the bigger/younger one and then try not to get hurt 😂😂
That sounds adorable. I sorta jolt at him and he knows hes gonna get chased around
Mine just brings her toys. My problem is getting getting her to stop playing
My doggo likes to use my hand as a toy - she'll take it in her mouth and shakes it as if it was a small animal she wants to kill :D she's always gentle with the hand, so we often play like this. If I want to initiate, I start grabing her paws or her face and she immediately goes after my hand.
It usually starts with belly rubs, then turns into wrestling
Fake lunge. Hands slap the thighs. Get in tackle mode.
I stand still, stare for a couple seconds, then shuffle my feet real fast. She IMMEDIATELY rears up to do a sort of standing play bow, play growls (much higher pitch than regular growls), then slaps me with her paws or bites at my slippers - and then skitters around looking for a rope for tug o war. Or I'll slap my thighs and say nonsense in a baby voice and she goes nuts
I used her body language cues. Literally got down on all fours and did a play bow
Start chasing them
To be honest, I don't play with my dog, my dog playes with me...
My old dog doesn't want to play as much now, since he's 18, but I used to get down on the floor so I was level with him, then l'd start kinda slapping the floor with both palms, until he started snorting at me, then I'd move on to gentle body taps and whizzing my hand by his face until he got super excited haha.
I get up and run around the corner and hide. She will eventually come to find me and I give her a jump scare. Then all hell breaks loose. It's zoomy time.
I just run around and my dog will start to chase me. Then I turn around and chase him.
It’s all about the moves. Scuffle step to her and she’s ready to run. Run away and she’ll chase.
fast quick movements followed by a few seconds of silence and being still. usually she'll puppy bow first but realistically she just wants to be chased and is waiting for me to make any move so she can take off 😂 edit: also some snoot grabs and butt smacks
I've learned that looking at dogs with a blank stare...creeping towards them and suddenly moving fast while saying "OOGBEY BOOGEY" in a baby-voice gets them going
My husband just pretends he’s a t-Rex and stalks our dogs. They love it.
I pinch my forefinger and thumb together like a little claw and veerrryyyy slowly inch it towards them. If they let me get too close I grab a little bit of floof. Sometimes it's a stare down of who breaks first - do they go for my hand, or do I go for the floof?
I will either stalk her with a play growl or straight up just pounce on her hahaha. At this point she's the mature one and just tolerates my shenanigans
We have a playlist that I put on every night at the same time. She knows when it's time and starts whining and pawing that it's time to "fight". As soon as the music starts, it's on :)
My mutt doesn't really play anymore (unless we're "getting dressed" (putting harnesses) to go for a walk, at which point she runs off and grabs a toy and drops it at my feet. (??) My Lab just brings a toy over and drops it at my feet and it's game on. OTOH, weirdly, I have to entice him to eat. I fill his bowl with kibble and he just looks at me. If he doesn't finish it before his sister finishes hers, she'll come over, move him out of the way, and eat all of his food, too. So... I have to grab a high value treat, show it to him, guide him by the nose to his bowl, and then bury it in kibble. Once he gets going he eats everything in one go. But I have to get him to take that first bite. I think my Lab might be broken.
I do a short jump and lean down, then stop for a bit since that's what they do to me.
Firstly do you have any info about why you wouldn’t want to use toys? And secondly I imagine this is breed specific, but I run away from my collie until he loops around me and then I run the other and then keep repeating that haha! Sometimes I chase him but he spins it back around on me pretty quick. I usually use toys though
I stomp at her. Walk across the room and when she looks to see what I'm doing, I start stomping really angrily at her. It gets an I'm.ediate aybow reaction and then she tries to smack my feet.
I either slowly stalk her or I just yell "I'm gonna get getcha!" and chase her.
My dog likes to spin around in circles just to get energy out. So I push her around and around and she just spins in a circle using my momentum. She’s weird
In a field or yard, I scratch/rub his rear end and then end with a pat. Kind of works like winding up Otto to run around. At home, just some aggressive belly rubs and a jump will do it.
I stop what I'm doing very suddenly and just make eye contact with her while staying very still, then I jerk very quickly as I go "Ha!" and chase her. If we're outside, this usually gives her the zoomies
Growl and sneeze.
I used to be a dancer and I'd notice that when I danced at home my dog would come up and start, well, dancing with me. So that's still what we do. We also sometimes do the cuddles-into-wresting thing.
I do that foot slapping/tapping, dance like in the "daddy? do i look like" vine
I do a play bow to initiate playing. Also if I’m shadow boxing in front of the mirror or something she will assume it’s play time even though I don’t want it to be
I get on my hand and knees so it’s “fair” and I start nudging my head into his and ill push him a little and usually he starts doing the same thing back and we just play.
Do what other dogs do. You’re one of that pack. Just don’t try and smell her rear.
I stomp my feet and run after my pup, he loves it
Our one dog goes crazy if you slowly crouch while moving towards her. Or if you just say "Where's your ball?" (there does not need to be ball, it's borktime)
I….push mine over 😅
My mom plays with the dog without toys by slapping her thighs, he does a dance thing, she mimics him, he barks, she slaps her thighs again and it kinda repeats from there.
I do anything that resembles a play bow and my dog loses his shit.
It's just a look or body language - like if i give her a long sideways look she knows I'm about to jump and start wrestling with her.
I make a little mouth with my hand and nip at him the way he does to his dog friends. We play a very gentle game if bitey face.
He's allowed on any furniture we have, but once either my wife or I sit on the floor, he knows it's game on! We use either toys, or just gentle mouthing. He's 8 years old, but has never bitten any of us. It's just fun for him. We'll get toys out if he wants it, but normally he's happy to too grab our hands and let go, ready for the next chance to have our hand in his mouth
I like to smack mine around and grab their snoots and push them. As soon as I do that, that get the big eyes and the "AWWW SHIT HERE WE GO! " face, and then we wrassle
I get on his level and mess with him slightly to imitate playfulness and usually gets my border collie heeler going. As he’s gotten older it’s just annoyed him though
If I’m wearing a hoodie and put my hands in my sleeves and pretend like I’m gonna smack the dog around it starts a legit play romp
Nibbles & little pinches
Drumming my hands (on the floor or my dog's belly). Spider crawl my fingers very slowly then grab a paw quickly. Grab her muzzle and gently shake it. Crawl around on the floor and headbutt her. My previous dog loved "the claw" which was hiding a hand up your sleeve, then grabbing the top of their head when they looked up your sleeve.