I have noticed in the past 2 days that our girl has started playing more rough with our boy and she has also started humping him too. She has never displayed this before. They do play and can play rough being the breed they are but she seems a lot rougher with him, shes a bit more bad tempered with him too. They share a very large crate too sleep (I do have another crate but they whine to be together when I seperate them, they have been this way since puppies) and yesterday she was growling at him everytime he moved. Is this normal behaviour  ?

It's really important that dogs learn to be apart from each other and don't become overly dependent on each other.  If they whined when separated as puppies, this should have been an indication that even more effort needed to go into helping them learn to be happy individuals, and not unduly dependent on each other.  (This often happens when people get 2 puppies together.)  I've seen severe cases of separation anxiety, where one dog has died and the remaining dog has become so distraught when left alone, he was unable to cope.  I would really suggest they are crated separately, trained separately, given as much one-to-one time as possible and so on.

They are given one to one separately. They can be separate without issues and walked separately too, they just like too sleep in the same crate or at least crates side by side is fine when we go camping but as we dont have anywhere we can put the crates side by side all the time then they go in together. Ive no issues whatsoever with seperation anxiety. They are both happy individuals.

Are your two dogs brother and sister ? Litter mates that live in the same house will often form a very close bond with each other.

How old is she?  She might be coming into season.

Are these the two that have just mated?

First sign of pregnancy is often a temperament change -and that change can at times mean the bitch cannot be allowed anywhere NEAR the dogs she usually lives with, no matter how well they get on normally. You may have to split them up sooner rather than later to avoid her being stressed. I've certainly got one that has to be removed from the others from the day of mating until pups are about 5 weeks old.

Yes they are the 2 that have just mated and no they arent litter mates :) We are 2 weeks today from the first mating.

She isnt getting stressed. Maybe last night she was getting a bit irritated with him but the behaviour she is displaying is definitely playing, just a lot rougher than normal. Shes the one who is Initiating play.

I'm thinking it might be kinder to your boy to start crating them separately now. This gives him about 6 weeks to get used to it... If she is pregnant then leaving it til she decides she doesn't want him around is going to be more traumatic for him, he won't understand why not only is she not crated with him any more but also kept away from him in a totally separate room.

I have had bitches that have had to be removed from the others when they present behavioural changes.  Work towards getting them to sleep in separate rooms.  As you will most certainly have to be doing this in a few weeks anyway.

You don't want a newly pregnant bitch playing rough in any event -rough play can easily tip over into a fight, and a fight could mean the loss of pups in the early stages of pregnancy.

My girls when pregnant like to show the others of both sexes who is in charge, the humping is a dominance thing,nothing to do with sex, her hormones will be all over the place if pregnant or having a phantom and will soon settle down.

I agree that you should get both dogs used to being seperated now as you don't want her distressed during and post whelping or him whining the place down either, start by putting them in seperate crates in the same room, place one crate on top of another if space is an issue, nearer the time introduce your bitch to the room she is going to whelp in and get her used to sleeping in there so when she starts whelping it isn't strange to her.

Well I seperated them last night, he went in the crate and she slept in the whelping box. All went fine.

Can I just ask, I didnt want to start a whole new thread but will rough play do her harm if shes pregnant. They are seperated at nightime now. Its not fighting its a lot jumping about and playing.

The problem is allowing a 'perhaps' bitch in whelp to jump around and wrestle apart from landing badly or being injured where pups may be it gets adrenalin pumping, makes the heart race quicker giving off the same symptoms that stress would, she may well also become stressed if play fighting becomes rougher.

Stress or similar symptoms to stress on the body are not good whilst in whelp and should always be avoided. Pups have been known to be absorbed if a bitch is stressed.

Being in whelp or if having a phantom her instinctual reaction may well be to chase the male away as males even when the sire can be seen as a threat to pups you don't know how your bitch will react, some are great and will involve the male, some not bothered and some go extremely OTT become territorial and aggressive towards anything that they view as a threat.

As said, avoiding all stressful situations is the best way to go.