Jump to content

Should I Be Concerned?


 Share

Recommended Posts

Guest donatella

Yep the one time i went there in peak hours i was not relaxed at all. The adults were trying to talk to me but my eyes were following my dog as the bigger guys were having fun playing but it would turn nasty in 0.001 of a second. Thank gawd I have a dog that doesn't need to be involved in the group, you really do see who the pack leader and bullies are in a dog park situation. Thankfully all the big dogs at my park were friendly to her and weren't interested in play, just wanted to sniff hello and then play with pooches their own size.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 83
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Yep the one time i went there in peak hours i was not relaxed at all. The adults were trying to talk to me but my eyes were following my dog as the bigger guys were having fun playing but it would turn nasty in 0.001 of a second. Thank gawd I have a dog that doesn't need to be involved in the group, you really do see who the pack leader and bullies are in a dog park situation. Thankfully all the big dogs at my park were friendly to her and weren't interested in play, just wanted to sniff hello and then play with pooches their own size.

:) , I love dog parks, I love seeing my dog in his element..... I also like to see him put his training into practice.... i.e when I say leave it.. he does a little turn around and run the other direction, they are a great place to let off some energy...but as a first time dog owner I'm learning my pup is not going to be the little angel forever... I can almost compare him to my 16yo brother, you can see such similarities in cheeky behaviour that you didnt see coming.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hahah yea, I would fully assume Gus was being annoying, he tends to annoy other dogs in his teenage months... it happened quite a few times after he tried to mount a few male dogs, they pinned him down and Gus was happy as Larry to be told what to do the they would play for a good hour and he wouldn’t try and mount them again... Nala does the same things when dogs mount her so I understand most dogs just do not like it and can react accordingly (we generally don’t take Nala off lead if we are in a heavily off lead area just in case some dogs don’t get the hint to back off).... I think he was confused more than anything, dominant isn’t his game, but his happy to try on the pants and see if they fit, I think in this mutts case it over reacted and a combo of its owners reactions just set both dogs in some anxiety.....

Gus does have very good bite inhibition, so even if he did go for a nip i highly doubt he would have done any damage he went for the side of the neck and not the jugular.

.....I was more concered it was out of character for him to react that way, so dogs he is familiar with im letting him play with... the dogs he has just met I will need to put him on lead and see how we go... its like introducing him to the dog park all over again....

It was a little frustrating how every 5 seconds the SWF owners would be of panic when any dog larger than theirs would come around they would call it back in panic and of course it didnt come back, it would play with the dogs and the owners would hover over trying to get their dog away its like PEOPLE ITS AN OFF LEAD DOG PARK!! if you dont want your dog playing with other dogs of all sizes (there are rarely small dogs there) dont take it off lead IMO.

Personally I would remove my dog if another dog started snapping at her. Its my job to protect her- even from SWFs. I take my dog to the offlead park for exercise, not to be terrorised.

Your dog is maturing & you need to start watching him & reading his body language. If he shows signs of not tolerating another dog's bad behaviour, then remove him. Or even better, avoid rude dogs.

His response might have been appropriate, but you don't want it to become a default response through regular practice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what you've said it doesn't sound like his behaviour was out of line. If the other dog was barking and snapping at him he has a right to defend himself, Cocoa did the same thing today.

What :eek: dog aggression is out of line unless you want to train the dog to fight the dog needs a damn good correction and put back in it's place.........the only one who does the fighting is the handler and the dog needs to learn that. Too many dog owners try and place discrimintory reasoning when a dog is allowed to react and when they are not, ideally unless you want a full on fight to death to occur down the track, any bristle up's need to be corrected and stopped.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

If you punish a dog for warning of it's intentions you get a dog that "snaps" "for no reason".

By punishing the dog for communicating in correct 'dog language' you are teaching the dog not to exhibit the behaviour which allows the intelligent owner to read their dog and act appropriately. The dog learns not to do something which causes it to be punished, which shows that on the whole dogs are considerably more intelligent than some DOL members.

Yes, the people who can't rehabilitate dog aggression successfuly generally say that I agree :banghead:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm stunned by the number of owners who allow their dogs to have bad experience after bad experience at dog parks and then they are somewhat shocked when their dog stands up for itself or develops behavioural issues.

If you have a puppy , don't take it to a dog park, take it to meet dogs with known temperaments and take it where you can control the interactions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dog parks are bad news I'm afraid. If your dog has been attacked several times over then for goodness sake, stay away.

I rarely go but my current foster likes to run around so I went at the weekend, one park was very crowded and I had second thoughts but there were dogs of all sizes so I went in.

Within a few minutes my 11 kilo old dog was being monstered by two Pointers. as I unsuccessfully tried to pull one away from him someone came over and said "don't worry, they are ok they are just undesexed". No wonder they were almost knocking him over trying to inspect his private parts for bloody hours.

Completely inappropriate behaviour and if he'd reacted, what might have happened?

Stupid bloody owners, undesexed dogs have no place in dog parks, nor do aggressive dogs but yes, they all have owners who take them in regardless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hahah yea, I would fully assume Gus was being annoying, he tends to annoy other dogs in his teenage months... it happened quite a few times after he tried to mount a few male dogs, they pinned him down and Gus was happy as Larry to be told what to do the they would play for a good hour and he wouldn't try and mount them again... Nala does the same things when dogs mount her so I understand most dogs just do not like it and can react accordingly (we generally don't take Nala off lead if we are in a heavily off lead area just in case some dogs don't get the hint to back off).... I think he was confused more than anything, dominant isn't his game, but his happy to try on the pants and see if they fit, I think in this mutts case it over reacted and a combo of its owners reactions just set both dogs in some anxiety.....

Gus does have very good bite inhibition, so even if he did go for a nip i highly doubt he would have done any damage he went for the side of the neck and not the jugular.

.....I was more concered it was out of character for him to react that way, so dogs he is familiar with im letting him play with... the dogs he has just met I will need to put him on lead and see how we go... its like introducing him to the dog park all over again....

It was a little frustrating how every 5 seconds the SWF owners would be of panic when any dog larger than theirs would come around they would call it back in panic and of course it didnt come back, it would play with the dogs and the owners would hover over trying to get their dog away its like PEOPLE ITS AN OFF LEAD DOG PARK!! if you dont want your dog playing with other dogs of all sizes (there are rarely small dogs there) dont take it off lead IMO.

Personally I would remove my dog if another dog started snapping at her. Its my job to protect her- even from SWFs. I take my dog to the offlead park for exercise, not to be terrorised.

Your dog is maturing & you need to start watching him & reading his body language. If he shows signs of not tolerating another dog's bad behaviour, then remove him. Or even better, avoid rude dogs.

His response might have been appropriate, but you don't want it to become a default response through regular practice.

Ow of course I dont! I'm usually pretty good at reading dogs body language, but this happened in a second that I was not looking, so being more attentive on my behalf is a must!, I dont want this being a defult response at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hahah yea, I would fully assume Gus was being annoying, he tends to annoy other dogs in his teenage months... it happened quite a few times after he tried to mount a few male dogs, they pinned him down and Gus was happy as Larry to be told what to do the they would play for a good hour and he wouldn’t try and mount them again... Nala does the same things when dogs mount her so I understand most dogs just do not like it and can react accordingly (we generally don’t take Nala off lead if we are in a heavily off lead area just in case some dogs don’t get the hint to back off).... I think he was confused more than anything, dominant isn’t his game, but his happy to try on the pants and see if they fit, I think in this mutts case it over reacted and a combo of its owners reactions just set both dogs in some anxiety.....

Gus does have very good bite inhibition, so even if he did go for a nip i highly doubt he would have done any damage he went for the side of the neck and not the jugular.

.....I was more concered it was out of character for him to react that way, so dogs he is familiar with im letting him play with... the dogs he has just met I will need to put him on lead and see how we go... its like introducing him to the dog park all over again....

It was a little frustrating how every 5 seconds the SWF owners would be of panic when any dog larger than theirs would come around they would call it back in panic and of course it didnt come back, it would play with the dogs and the owners would hover over trying to get their dog away its like PEOPLE ITS AN OFF LEAD DOG PARK!! if you dont want your dog playing with other dogs of all sizes (there are rarely small dogs there) dont take it off lead IMO.

Personally I would remove my dog if another dog started snapping at her. Its my job to protect her- even from SWFs. I take my dog to the offlead park for exercise, not to be terrorised.

Your dog is maturing & you need to start watching him & reading his body language. If he shows signs of not tolerating another dog's bad behaviour, then remove him. Or even better, avoid rude dogs.

His response might have been appropriate, but you don't want it to become a default response through regular practice.

Dogs who react to rude dogs is generally caused by the reactive dog feeling insecure that eventually triggers fear aggression...........confident dogs can take a playful scruff and rolly polly and know the difference between play and fight, the dog that gets nasty in play is the one that needs watching in my experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest donatella

Hahah yea, I would fully assume Gus was being annoying, he tends to annoy other dogs in his teenage months... it happened quite a few times after he tried to mount a few male dogs, they pinned him down and Gus was happy as Larry to be told what to do the they would play for a good hour and he wouldn’t try and mount them again... Nala does the same things when dogs mount her so I understand most dogs just do not like it and can react accordingly (we generally don’t take Nala off lead if we are in a heavily off lead area just in case some dogs don’t get the hint to back off).... I think he was confused more than anything, dominant isn’t his game, but his happy to try on the pants and see if they fit, I think in this mutts case it over reacted and a combo of its owners reactions just set both dogs in some anxiety.....

Gus does have very good bite inhibition, so even if he did go for a nip i highly doubt he would have done any damage he went for the side of the neck and not the jugular.

.....I was more concered it was out of character for him to react that way, so dogs he is familiar with im letting him play with... the dogs he has just met I will need to put him on lead and see how we go... its like introducing him to the dog park all over again....

It was a little frustrating how every 5 seconds the SWF owners would be of panic when any dog larger than theirs would come around they would call it back in panic and of course it didnt come back, it would play with the dogs and the owners would hover over trying to get their dog away its like PEOPLE ITS AN OFF LEAD DOG PARK!! if you dont want your dog playing with other dogs of all sizes (there are rarely small dogs there) dont take it off lead IMO.

Personally I would remove my dog if another dog started snapping at her. Its my job to protect her- even from SWFs. I take my dog to the offlead park for exercise, not to be terrorised.

Your dog is maturing & you need to start watching him & reading his body language. If he shows signs of not tolerating another dog's bad behaviour, then remove him. Or even better, avoid rude dogs.

His response might have been appropriate, but you don't want it to become a default response through regular practice.

Dogs who react to rude dogs is generally caused by the reactive dog feeling insecure that eventually triggers fear aggression...........confident dogs can take a playful scruff and rolly polly and know the difference between play and fight, the dog that gets nasty in play is the one that needs watching in my experience.

Age might have something to do with it too though. I know a 5 year old 50kg rotti who goes to dog parks and little dogs hump his legs, big dogs try and scruff him for top dog but nothing bothers him, he never reacts, he literally just walks away, he is so placid just wants to play ball!

Might be different for an adolescent boy though just getting his balls to stand up for himself, however that can work against the owner as others have suggested in that he will learn undesirable behaviours.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hahah yea, I would fully assume Gus was being annoying, he tends to annoy other dogs in his teenage months... it happened quite a few times after he tried to mount a few male dogs, they pinned him down and Gus was happy as Larry to be told what to do the they would play for a good hour and he wouldn't try and mount them again... Nala does the same things when dogs mount her so I understand most dogs just do not like it and can react accordingly (we generally don't take Nala off lead if we are in a heavily off lead area just in case some dogs don't get the hint to back off).... I think he was confused more than anything, dominant isn't his game, but his happy to try on the pants and see if they fit, I think in this mutts case it over reacted and a combo of its owners reactions just set both dogs in some anxiety.....

Gus does have very good bite inhibition, so even if he did go for a nip i highly doubt he would have done any damage he went for the side of the neck and not the jugular.

.....I was more concered it was out of character for him to react that way, so dogs he is familiar with im letting him play with... the dogs he has just met I will need to put him on lead and see how we go... its like introducing him to the dog park all over again....

It was a little frustrating how every 5 seconds the SWF owners would be of panic when any dog larger than theirs would come around they would call it back in panic and of course it didnt come back, it would play with the dogs and the owners would hover over trying to get their dog away its like PEOPLE ITS AN OFF LEAD DOG PARK!! if you dont want your dog playing with other dogs of all sizes (there are rarely small dogs there) dont take it off lead IMO.

Personally I would remove my dog if another dog started snapping at her. Its my job to protect her- even from SWFs. I take my dog to the offlead park for exercise, not to be terrorised.

Your dog is maturing & you need to start watching him & reading his body language. If he shows signs of not tolerating another dog's bad behaviour, then remove him. Or even better, avoid rude dogs.

His response might have been appropriate, but you don't want it to become a default response through regular practice.

Dogs who react to rude dogs is generally caused by the reactive dog feeling insecure that eventually triggers fear aggression...........confident dogs can take a playful scruff and rolly polly and know the difference between play and fight, the dog that gets nasty in play is the one that needs watching in my experience.

Age might have something to do with it too though. I know a 5 year old 50kg rotti who goes to dog parks and little dogs hump his legs, big dogs try and scruff him for top dog but nothing bothers him, he never reacts, he literally just walks away, he is so placid just wants to play ball!

Might be different for an adolescent boy though just getting his balls to stand up for himself, however that can work against the owner as others have suggested in that he will learn undesirable behaviours.

Example of a normal scenario which has happened countless times in the last 3 months:

Gus sees a male dog... oow lets see how dominant he is.... goes for a mount, the other dog arcs up has a growl throws him down, and they go for a play, gus will try again when the other dog is tired same thing happens Gus knows not to be a cheeky boy and the dogs are best of friends..... our friends old cattle dog was the only one that Gus is able to mount and he has a jolly old time and then gets over it.... he almost has a cheeky grin on his face and frolics around like a goose when he is told off.... when owners do not get involved things pan out how they should, when owners start intervening and getting all paniced that’s when things get out of hand....I know the difference between a telling off and being aggressive, and i know what my dog can and can’t handle.... he plays with the bomb squad all day so his a pretty tough cookie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I highly doubt that I will be taking my dog back to a dog park in the forseeable future after last weekend. The question that I have though, is how can you correct your dog for being rude to other dogs?

I don't think that my dog is overly rude, but she can be very excitable and fully of puppy playfulness, and sometimes misses the body language from other dogs that indicates that they do not want to play.

Socializing your dog with other dogs is something that really has to be done continually and now I am not sure how to achieve this as none of my friends or family have dogs (apart from my parent's mini foxy).

I will be signing up with my local obedience and training club next week, but I am not sure how that will go.

Any other suggestions would be great. Sorry if I have somewhat hijacked your thread, cheekymonster :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I highly doubt that I will be taking my dog back to a dog park in the forseeable future after last weekend. The question that I have though, is how can you correct your dog for being rude to other dogs?

I don't think that my dog is overly rude, but she can be very excitable and fully of puppy playfulness, and sometimes misses the body language from other dogs that indicates that they do not want to play.

Socializing your dog with other dogs is something that really has to be done continually and now I am not sure how to achieve this as none of my friends or family have dogs (apart from my parent's mini foxy).

I will be signing up with my local obedience and training club next week, but I am not sure how that will go.

Any other suggestions would be great. Sorry if I have somewhat hijacked your thread, cheekymonster :(

Thats ok, lol its somewhat the same topic :S maybe an off branch.... but I think starting dog sports is a great way to help pup socialise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think all dogs have scuffles at the park, its part of growing up, like we did at school etc.

The important part is paying close attention (especially in their early months/years) and being able to intervene in order to prevent too traumatic an event occuring. That doesn't mean picking up your pup and coddling him...just get inbetween the scuffle, move the dogs apart and walk over to a different dog/group of dogs - have a breather.

You can't expect your dog to get along with everyone.

Because dog parks are riddled with clueless owners, and dogs with all sorts of backgrounds you really do need to be vigilant and watchful there - at least until you're 100% confident of how your dog reacts in a variety of situations.

Don't go there to read the paper :confused:

Go there to watch your dog have a ball hanging out with his mates and yourself talk dog with like minded people...I personally think its a great way to spend an hour or two :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I highly doubt that I will be taking my dog back to a dog park in the forseeable future after last weekend. The question that I have though, is how can you correct your dog for being rude to other dogs?

I don't think that my dog is overly rude, but she can be very excitable and fully of puppy playfulness, and sometimes misses the body language from other dogs that indicates that they do not want to play.

Socializing your dog with other dogs is something that really has to be done continually and now I am not sure how to achieve this as none of my friends or family have dogs (apart from my parent's mini foxy).

I will be signing up with my local obedience and training club next week, but I am not sure how that will go.

Any other suggestions would be great. Sorry if I have somewhat hijacked your thread, cheekymonster :(

I don't think socialising your dogs with other dogs is something that has to be done forever, it really depends on your goals. I don't want a dog who has a high value for other dogs so when I have a pup I teach them that other dogs are boring rather than something exciting. I don't let my dogs play with others as a general rule they aren't interested. Socialising your dog is about giving them a new experience and assigning it a value, once your dog has a positive value for other dogs, that isn't going to change unless they have a lot of negative experiences to change that value.

Going to obedience club is not a bad idea as it will teach your dog how to be around other dogs without playing with them and how to focus more on you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think all dogs have scuffles at the park, its part of growing up, like we did at school etc.

The important part is paying close attention (especially in their early months/years) and being able to intervene in order to prevent too traumatic an event occuring. That doesn't mean picking up your pup and coddling him...just get inbetween the scuffle, move the dogs apart and walk over to a different dog/group of dogs - have a breather.

You can't expect your dog to get along with everyone.

Because dog parks are riddled with clueless owners, and dogs with all sorts of backgrounds you really do need to be vigilant and watchful there - at least until you're 100% confident of how your dog reacts in a variety of situations.

Don't go there to read the paper :confused:

Go there to watch your dog have a ball hanging out with his mates and yourself talk dog with like minded people...I personally think its a great way to spend an hour or two :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This:)

35 years of community dog park and I have only SEEN about two incidents.

If it wasnt for all the horror stories on DOL I wouldnt even know it was a problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally I would remove my dog if another dog started snapping at her. Its my job to protect her- even from SWFs. I take my dog to the offlead park for exercise, not to be terrorised.

Your dog is maturing & you need to start watching him & reading his body language. If he shows signs of not tolerating another dog's bad behaviour, then remove him. Or even better, avoid rude dogs.

His response might have been appropriate, but you don't want it to become a default response through regular practice.

Yup!

----------

Though I would be very careful about your dog humping every other dog, it's extremely rude and one day you might come across a dog that takes serious offence to it. If your dog came over to mine and tried to hump them, then I would be trying to get yours away quick smart as mine HATE dogs that are rude and there would be a fight.

Bit of a sore point, as it's very annoying having random dogs trying to hump your dogs and owners think they are 'playing'

Edited by tollersowned
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think socialising your dogs with other dogs is something that has to be done forever, it really depends on your goals. I don't want a dog who has a high value for other dogs so when I have a pup I teach them that other dogs are boring rather than something exciting. I don't let my dogs play with others as a general rule they aren't interested. Socialising your dog is about giving them a new experience and assigning it a value, once your dog has a positive value for other dogs, that isn't going to change unless they have a lot of negative experiences to change that value.

Going to obedience club is not a bad idea as it will teach your dog how to be around other dogs without playing with them and how to focus more on you.

I think it is possible to find balance. My girl, for example, loves Cosmolo's dogs, especially Gilbert. She doesn't like most dogs but adores him. She stays at their house on a semi-regular basis with lots of free play and goes for walks with Mr Cosmolo every week. She loves Cosmolo too. Y

et I can place her in a sit, on a beach, sitting amongst Cosmolo's dogs and she won't break. When we're working we can walk past her dogs who are placed in a drop and she won't even stop for a sniff.

Why? Because she is a very motivated little worker, I work her in drive (most probably not properly, but Steve hasn't re-released his WID program so I muddle my way though :-)), and I pay her for her work.

My boy is the same and he gets free play almost every day with select dogs. I can call him off from play and train at a local off leash park with dogs zooming around us.

That said, I never just let them off leash and walk away. We always play a game after the leash is released and he checks in for permission before running off.

To the OP, I went to a workshop run by Cosmolo on reading dog body language. It was very interesting and even though I consider myself well-versed in these things I learnt a thing or two. It might be worth seeing if something similar runs in your area? I agree with deelee, your dog's reaction might be appropriate, the trick is to step in before it reaches that point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally I would remove my dog if another dog started snapping at her. Its my job to protect her- even from SWFs. I take my dog to the offlead park for exercise, not to be terrorised.

Your dog is maturing & you need to start watching him & reading his body language. If he shows signs of not tolerating another dog's bad behaviour, then remove him. Or even better, avoid rude dogs.

His response might have been appropriate, but you don't want it to become a default response through regular practice.

Yup!

----------

Though I would be very careful about your dog humping every other dog, it's extremely rude and one day you might come across a dog that takes serious offence to it. If your dog came over to mine and tried to hump them, then I would be trying to get yours away quick smart as mine HATE dogs that are rude and there would be a fight.

Bit of a sore point, as it's very annoying having random dogs trying to hump your dogs and owners think they are 'playing'

I know 99.9% of dogs dont like it Nala being on of them but how do you stop this behaviour? I do try and pull him away but he just keeps doing it, i guess 100% recall would be a start,

Edited by TheCheekyMonster
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...