I live on a street that is a boulevard and it has two really big grass median stips so people will let their dogs out on those strips, so they can, “do their business.”
Anyway yesterday I was walking home and two dog (plus their owners) were on the strip and the dogs were playing with each other. Each dog had the end of a long stick and they were playing tug of war.
A third dog (and his owner) join them and all of a sudden this third dog, lowers his head and charges and head butts one of the dogs in side. Then the three dogs all start playing. Then the third dog does it again, he backs up and head butts the OTHER dog. And then they all start wrestling and playing.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog do this. It was like something a goat in a cartoon would do.
I should say the dogs were having fun and playing, none of them appeared to be mad and their tails were all wagging and they were having a good time. But this dog kept head butting the other two (in the sides or in their hind ends)
Has anyone else seen anything like that before?
I don’t know what kind of dogs they were but one looked like a lab mix, and the other looked like a mix of German shepherd. And the third one was a mutt. But they were all about the same size.
There was a Tosa Inu that was a regular at the dog park I used to go to. It would often do a sort of ambush/charge thing starting from a lying position.
They’re breed to wrestle not bite or claw, so it seems reasonable that even if the dog you saw wasn’t one of them, that there must be a gene for this which one could select for. Likely the dog you saw had that gene.
Our puppy Crystal came into the house when my older dog was 11 or 12. This puppy used to stand off to the side of our older dog, and a little bit in front. She would then jump in the air, and simultaneously spin away from the older dog, and with her hips/butt, smack the older dog in the side of her head. It was very funny! http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs030.snc1/2657_1043131957365_1197578326_30125705_6752963_n.jpg
One time my golden retriever was standing out at the back of the yard. My brother’s boxer/dalmation mix spotted her, and crouched into the “stalking position.” She waited a second then bolted across the yard, headbutting my retriever right in the side.
My dog just stood there looked at me like “wtf? Can I bite her for that, mommy?” The little dog barked, realized that my dog wasn’t into it, and just walked away.
I’ve never seen a dog head-butt another dog (that must have been very funny to see!), but I couple of the dogs I’ve had would head-butt me.
I’ve seen lots of dogs body-slam each other, like bobo t describes. My current dog will also body-slam me, which is funny, but not particularly fun (he weighs about 85 lbs.).
All the dogs were about the same size, and as I said they were clearly playing with each othe. None of them were mad. It was somewhat comical. The one dog looked like those cartoon goats that headbutt people.
I wonder if maybe he was born on a farm and saw goats do that?
My oldest beagle will head butt the door open if it is not latched. It will fly open.
My son used to have head butting contests with our shepherd /husky mix. The dog was always up for it.
In Charles Shulz’s Peanuts strip, Charlie Brown’s beagle Snoopy would periodically pretend he was a different animal. He went through a rhinoceros phase once, and he went around head-butting people until Shulz ran out of rhino gags.
My greyhounds used to headbutt us (but not each other) when they were excited about something. And a greyhound charging full speed with their head lowered toward crotch height is something to behold, let me tell you.
They also used to do an affectionate stealth headbutt. They would trot up behind us and butt their heads right between the legs.
