Too Much Play Fighting?

by jcrply
(Florida)

My female Aussie is almost 2 years old. Three weeks ago I adopted a rescue dog. He is a mixed breed, probably Aussie plus Australian Cattle Dog plus something else and probably about a year old (guessing). He is a sweet dog, but he bites so hard. He is smaller than my Aussie. They play a lot. A lot of the play is running and chasing each other, but a LOT of it is "play-fighting". I realize that Aussies enjoy play-fighting and wrestling, but the new dog doesn't seem to know bite control. He sometimes makes my girl yelp and he has made her leg bleed. My main concern is all the action face-to-face which makes me worry about the possibility of an injury to her eyes. My Aussie plays hard, but she has a gentle mouth, so the new dog is not experiencing the same kind of biting that he is doing to her. Is this something that I just have to let them work out? I do distract them if they start to do rough play-fighting while inside the house, but have not interfered much when they're outside. I would greatly appreciate your opinions on this. Thanks.

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