Physically destructive play

Question
Hello!

I have a 2-year-old rescue named Dot who I believe to be part Australian Shepherd.  My boyfriend, who lives with me, recently adopted a 1-year-old pit bull, named Marvin. Our dogs absolutely adore each other and could spend hours each day playing in the backyard.  We have never had any fears of the dogs becoming aggressive with one another.  However, Dot, with her shepherd mentality, uses biting in her method of play.  Marvin has picked up on this, and now has shepherd-like mannerisms as well.

Unfortunately, Marvin's skin must be much thinner than Dot's, because we have noticed several scabs along Marvin's neck from their rough-housing.  Dot has not developed any of these scabs.  We have kept them apart for a few weeks to let Marvin's scabs heal, but the second day of allowing them to play together, we noticed more of them popping up.  As neither dog yelps or complains of pain while they play, I am not concerned about the scabbing, but naturally, my boyfriend is protective of Marvin and does not want him to have scabs.

I have suggested that we purchase a muzzle for each of the dogs to wear while in the backyard together.  My boyfriend likes the muzzle idea, but does not want Marvin to wear one, only Dot.  I disagree with this, because I feel that only impairing Dot's ability to nip might be a bad idea. I feel if one must be restrained, both must be restrained.

This discussion and lack of ability to agree on a solution has caused a bit of a riff in our daily routine.  Can you advise us on whether Marvin's scabs should be of great enough concern to keep the dogs apart or modify their play style?  If they are, how can we keep them from biting each other?

Answer
Hello Sadie:

As Pit Bulls have a much higher tolerance for pain, this would explain why there is not yelping.

However that your Aussie, bite hard enough to break skin is a concern, dogs have infinite control over bite pressure, and she should play much better than that.

There is another concern that at some point the pit bull will retaliate or learn to play rough as well, not a good idea with such a powerfully jawed breed.  Also there is concern over constant puncture wounds in that they may become infected.

I would suggest supervised play, where you interrupt play when is gets over rambunctious and ruff.  Have both dogs settle down before allowing to continue.  This way they will learn to be more gentle.

Muzzles' are a fix for unsupervised play, however I would insist on basket muzzles as regular muzzles will effect ability to breath, not a good idea when playing or on warm weather days.

As the Aussie is the one with the issue, I would just muzzle her until she learns to play nicely.  The dogs themselves will make no correlation as to the fact one has a Muzzle one and does not. So the idea of it being fair to them is only a human emotion.