I've started taking Tsuki to one. It's been pretty good so far except for yesterday when this group brought 6 toy poodles, a terrier(border or wire hair), and 3 chihuahuas. The toy poodles were getting snarky with Tsuki in the little dog park side, so I left and went to the big dog park side where she had a lot of fun with a lab she made friends with, as well as a few other bigger dogs.
Then the group with the little dogs brought their dogs over, and the chihuahuas decide it'd be great to show off their napoleon complex. Running around and snapping at the bigger dogs. I decided to up and leave then. *sigh*
I don't know what it is about little dogs, but a sizable chunk of their owners don't seem to train them very well.
I need to find a small group of people with dogs to bring Tsuki to on a consistent basis. The majority of my friends with dogs live 40-100 miles away. *sigh*
If I was you, I would stay big dog side if you're going to go...when there aren't a million others there...typically havent seen as *many* issues, though ive witnessed a pretty bloody fight once (the two people breaking it up were the ones bleeding..funny thing is that's the only one where the two people were nice to each other after and understanding)..i wouldnt say avoid smaller dogs altogether though either, maybe just with ones you know?
One thing I've learned is socialization is important, yes, but good QUALITY socialization is the key, not just free-range all dogs go. More structured and controlled, not letting things get too crazy, etc.. I thought I was doing a good thing by taking Kona to the dog park frequently for socialization since she seemed to have fun a lot of the time as a puppy. She also tolerated a lot of rude barking and snapping and growling so I just let things be, and one day decided she didnt want to tolerate it anymore...
So, like I said (and I'm not an expert or anything so you don't have to take my advice), but I think well structured play and socialization, ESP at puppy age where they can learn good manners is very valuable.
A park near our home is "illicitly" used as a dog park as there are more dogs than kids in our neighborhood. It's frequented by a small crowd of regulars, mostly medium to large breed owners, that are pretty responsible and friendly. The only problem we've run into is with a Siberian husky that just hated Akira at first sight. It's almost as if "there can only be one white dog" and Akira will give back as good as he gets. The husky owner is pretty cool, but they got in a more serious scrap earlier this week (husky bite to hind leg that led to some yelping, but no serious injury) so I think we'll have to avoid the park when the husky is around. Interestingly, a German shepherd and a husky mix at the park also have a similarly antagonistic relationship with the husky again being the aggressor. Both huskies get along with all the other dogs, but just not particular dogs. Fur is rubbed the wrong way it seems . . .
Here is a video I got of Ty doing his 'stalking' play when a new dog arrived at the dog park. For the most part he just does his own thing, but once in awhile he will do this. Towards the end of the video is where he starts his little punkiness and tries to jump while running on the other dog and barks at them. This is one of the rare times I let him continue onwards with this play. As I am not sure how the other dog will react, but the husky that came in was pretty cool about it and caught on to it a few feet into the park.
Overall, he likes to interact with other dogs at first. But after a bit he will wander off on his own. Rinse repeat when a new dog comes in. If there is some serious chase in, he will zoomie to them.
What a good boy!! Kona pounces, but comes at them a little more intensely than that...scares small dogs so much (and rightfully so)!! Started after about a year old...not sure why, but she does it in the house to with kimber in the house too when im not looking...kimber turns a corner and all of a sudden i head a noise kona makes when she sneak attacks...poor kimber, and she's so patient. If i'm there i give kona a stern look and tell her to "leave it". i dont want to wear poor kimber's patience..
The dog park we go to has a "pit" where all the dog owners congregate for play but is also attached to a long system of trails that is also off-leash. I find that Saigo much prefers the trails over the pit, and dogs seem less aggressive when meeting each other on the trails. The pit is the only area of the park where the dogs get seem to get into fights. I think that fenced in areas cause anxiety and thats when tensions start to stew. Now we avoid the pit altogether and he's running off into fields and creeks which he loves much more than playing with stranger dogs.
While I don't own any Nihon ken I own a 67 pound puppy named Kumatora and we head to the dog park often.
We always try to go late in the day, or during the times with the least amount of people, usually for 2-4 hours. Kumatora is very sticky after being trained and for the most part on staying close by and prefers to stay close to me and walk around unless her best friends are at the park. With all the dog park horror stories I will say this, unless your actually gonna keep an eye on your dog don't go to the dog park. For example Kuma has a huge issue with dogs crowding the fence, I make her sit before we enter, however when dogs are blocking the gate she gets extremely defensive because she thinks I'm in danger and is not afraid to tear a dogs throat out if they are not behaving around me correctly. When that happens I grab her and make her sit and calm down while waiting for the owners to finally realize their dogs are crowding the gate and remove them so we can enter.
I hang out with many people at the park, and introduce myself to new people and Kuma (since I got this dog to help with my anxiety and people issues, she is there to make sure I feel safe and not almost have an attack from chatting.) Kumatora is very protective however, when dogs are running around playing she only strays so far from me and prefers if a dog enters her imaginary perimeter to play so she won't be too far away. But she absolutely hates when dogs leap up on me or other people or don't obey me to go away (too much in my space) and when dogs get into fights. Kumatora is nicknamed the Sheriff because of this behavior. She's super observant and if dogs are doing any of these behaviors her first instinct is to go over, give the dogs a warning nip or bite and then they focus in on her and she gets them to chase her so they give the humans space, or they redirect they anger on her and the owner can more easily retrieve their dogs when they aren't on top of eachother. Sometimes I can get her to stop before getting inbetween fights but the times I haven't been able are when the fights have gotten so bad it was almost impossible to grab the dogs and her harassing actually helped a dog out that day. The most memorable so far has been when her pitbull friend simon and a new un-neutered boxer got just locked and Kuma came over and bit the boxer hard enough seeing he was the most upset and pull him away so we could get Simon and the boxer separated. She walked over to me later with a very happy expression like she had did her job, even though I placed her into timeout for a moment. Most of the times dogs are jumping on people its the best way to get her to play and shes made new friends that way actually, its quite interesting. LOL
Other than kuma's protective instinct though, she really likes going to the park and has a good time whether its playing with me or someone else or just laying down observing the scenery. And with fellow dog owners who understand that kuma's behaviors are not aggressive, mainly protective or even playful (like her loud barking when a dog will not play with her and growling once the play gets really started.) we all have a good time in our group and try to help people at the dog park who are either too intense, dont understand what their dog is doing or need a reminder of the rules.
Kumatora's favorite canine playmates are boxers, calm pits, catahoulas, huskies, malamutes, dobermans, rotties and the occassional shiba inu.
My shiba loves the dog park, loves all dogs, and thinks they should all play with her. The problem is not all dogs want to play which is only a problem because other owners don't let their dogs discipline her. It takes a lot to deter her but not a lot to make her fall over screaming. So people yell at their dog, Haru bounces back up, and runs right back in their face. She will get the message and move on if no one interferes. We've always let our akita discipline her as needed.
I have a similar problem with my akita. She is good at reading dogs and wants to avoid a fight but sometimes she feels the need to protect her humans and Haru. This has never led to a fight. Her hackles go up, her body language is tense, and she takes a very forceful stance but at the same time she'll be trying to get out of the situation. It's only if she gets stuck that she'll go to growling and still she is trying to get out of a fight. Other owners though see her was dangerous. I doubt she would bite if not bitten (or me bitten) first. It's mostly show even if she has the ability to back it up. Azami just wants to delay the other dogs until we are all safely away. It doesn't even happen that often. She often goes in tense and then chills when all the dogs are playful or stay away and then maybe 1 out of every hundred times a dog sets of warning bells.
I don't take them that often anymore not because they have problems with other dogs but because other people don't understand dogs or are paranoid.
My Kai likes the dog park. She also likes to swim at the parks too. There are a few parks I won't take her because she gets OBSESSIVE about squirrels. She will spend hours treeing squirrels and all her recall training will go out the window
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I've started taking Tsuki to one. It's been pretty good so far except for yesterday when this group brought 6 toy poodles, a terrier(border or wire hair), and 3 chihuahuas. The toy poodles were getting snarky with Tsuki in the little dog park side, so I left and went to the big dog park side where she had a lot of fun with a lab she made friends with, as well as a few other bigger dogs.
Then the group with the little dogs brought their dogs over, and the chihuahuas decide it'd be great to show off their napoleon complex. Running around and snapping at the bigger dogs. I decided to up and leave then. *sigh*
I don't know what it is about little dogs, but a sizable chunk of their owners don't seem to train them very well.
I need to find a small group of people with dogs to bring Tsuki to on a consistent basis. The majority of my friends with dogs live 40-100 miles away. *sigh*
One thing I've learned is socialization is important, yes, but good QUALITY socialization is the key, not just free-range all dogs go. More structured and controlled, not letting things get too crazy, etc.. I thought I was doing a good thing by taking Kona to the dog park frequently for socialization since she seemed to have fun a lot of the time as a puppy. She also tolerated a lot of rude barking and snapping and growling so I just let things be, and one day decided she didnt want to tolerate it anymore...
So, like I said (and I'm not an expert or anything so you don't have to take my advice), but I think well structured play and socialization, ESP at puppy age where they can learn good manners is very valuable.
This is one of the rare times I let him continue onwards with this play. As I am not sure how the other dog will react, but the husky that came in was pretty cool about it and caught on to it a few feet into the park.
Overall, he likes to interact with other dogs at first. But after a bit he will wander off on his own. Rinse repeat when a new dog comes in. If there is some serious chase in, he will zoomie to them.
We always try to go late in the day, or during the times with the least amount of people, usually for 2-4 hours. Kumatora is very sticky after being trained and for the most part on staying close by and prefers to stay close to me and walk around unless her best friends are at the park. With all the dog park horror stories I will say this, unless your actually gonna keep an eye on your dog don't go to the dog park. For example Kuma has a huge issue with dogs crowding the fence, I make her sit before we enter, however when dogs are blocking the gate she gets extremely defensive because she thinks I'm in danger and is not afraid to tear a dogs throat out if they are not behaving around me correctly. When that happens I grab her and make her sit and calm down while waiting for the owners to finally realize their dogs are crowding the gate and remove them so we can enter.
I hang out with many people at the park, and introduce myself to new people and Kuma (since I got this dog to help with my anxiety and people issues, she is there to make sure I feel safe and not almost have an attack from chatting.) Kumatora is very protective however, when dogs are running around playing she only strays so far from me and prefers if a dog enters her imaginary perimeter to play so she won't be too far away. But she absolutely hates when dogs leap up on me or other people or don't obey me to go away (too much in my space) and when dogs get into fights. Kumatora is nicknamed the Sheriff because of this behavior. She's super observant and if dogs are doing any of these behaviors her first instinct is to go over, give the dogs a warning nip or bite and then they focus in on her and she gets them to chase her so they give the humans space, or they redirect they anger on her and the owner can more easily retrieve their dogs when they aren't on top of eachother. Sometimes I can get her to stop before getting inbetween fights but the times I haven't been able are when the fights have gotten so bad it was almost impossible to grab the dogs and her harassing actually helped a dog out that day. The most memorable so far has been when her pitbull friend simon and a new un-neutered boxer got just locked and Kuma came over and bit the boxer hard enough seeing he was the most upset and pull him away so we could get Simon and the boxer separated. She walked over to me later with a very happy expression like she had did her job, even though I placed her into timeout for a moment. Most of the times dogs are jumping on people its the best way to get her to play and shes made new friends that way actually, its quite interesting. LOL
Other than kuma's protective instinct though, she really likes going to the park and has a good time whether its playing with me or someone else or just laying down observing the scenery. And with fellow dog owners who understand that kuma's behaviors are not aggressive, mainly protective or even playful (like her loud barking when a dog will not play with her and growling once the play gets really started.) we all have a good time in our group and try to help people at the dog park who are either too intense, dont understand what their dog is doing or need a reminder of the rules.
Kumatora's favorite canine playmates are boxers, calm pits, catahoulas, huskies, malamutes, dobermans, rotties and the occassional shiba inu.
I have a similar problem with my akita. She is good at reading dogs and wants to avoid a fight but sometimes she feels the need to protect her humans and Haru. This has never led to a fight. Her hackles go up, her body language is tense, and she takes a very forceful stance but at the same time she'll be trying to get out of the situation. It's only if she gets stuck that she'll go to growling and still she is trying to get out of a fight. Other owners though see her was dangerous. I doubt she would bite if not bitten (or me bitten) first. It's mostly show even if she has the ability to back it up. Azami just wants to delay the other dogs until we are all safely away. It doesn't even happen that often. She often goes in tense and then chills when all the dogs are playful or stay away and then maybe 1 out of every hundred times a dog sets of warning bells.
I don't take them that often anymore not because they have problems with other dogs but because other people don't understand dogs or are paranoid.