Play or Aggression?

Question
Hi,
We have a 1yr old pit,we have had him since he was 12wks old he is the best dog, so friendly and obidient and brilliant with the children (always supervised).
We have just recently taken in an american bulldog, she is 8mths old and has a lovely personality too.
We introduced them over a week to get to know each other and it seemed perfect.
They are generally good with eachother its just when they play, they get so rough with they have actually cut eachothers faces, nothing really bad but enough for me to be concerned.
Our pit is really tolerent of the bulldog and seems to let her get away with alot but she never gives in.
We do intervine when we see the signs that the bulldog is taking it a little bit too far but she will calm for 2mins then go back.
I dont want our pit to become aggressive, he has such a lovely nature.
What techniques can you suggest that could help?

Thank you,
L.

Answer
It sounds like your bull dog has not learned bite inhibition. Normally the other dogs she interacts with would teach her this by refusing to play when she bit too hard but pit bulls have been specifically bred to have a high threshold for pain. Of course, bull dogs also have a high pain threshold. This is one reason why both breeds are used in fighting, they will keep going after they are hurt instead of backing off as other breeds will. Of course this does nothing to teach other dogs to control their bite!

Normally I tell people not to intervene but considering the nature of both breeds, I think your dogs aren't likely to teach each other how to be gentle and the potential for some very serious injuries could arise. The biggest danger is actually that they could learn that it's okay to play so rough and seriously hurt someone else's dog in play. So I do want you to supervise every interaction and if it starts to get too rough put them both in time out but don't do it in an angry manner. First, make a loud distracting noise, not an angry noise, just an obnoxious one. When they look up to see what that's all about, move them matter-of-factly to their respective time-out places (not the crate) and ignore them for a minute or two then let them go at it again. 2 minutes is a sufficient time out for a dog.

I also want each dog to spend time playing with other dogs independently. Start with large, shaggy breeds if you can who won't be as susceptible to a bite but make sure the dogs you choose are well socialized with other dogs and are calm, friendly adults with puppy experience.  Remember that your dogs should be introduced to these one at a time and hopefully your mentor dogs will help them learn how to play nicely with a few firm corrections. Keep both dogs on a grab tab so you can separate them without getting your hands too close if you need to.

And in answer to your initial question, I do think it's play, but I don't think it's appropriate play.