Dog park problems
im just wondering how your shikokus do in public dog parks?
Ghost is usually fine but lately he growls more, its the normal shikoku play growl we all are used to, but other people tend to freak out. it seems like a lot of owners coddle their dogs more these days and overreact at the slightest sound. ghost never bites anybody (occasional nip) and he does like to wrestle, but more often than not the other dogs instigate the wrestling as well.
now my problem is that some dogs play and wrestle with him and when Ghost gets on top of the dog, it will start whining and crying like crazy, even though i can clearly see that Ghost isnt hurting the dog at all. obviously the other owner freaks out.
the other day that scenario happened with a husky. i quickly jumped in to pull Ghost away from the husky and while i was doing that (ive already grabbed Ghost) the damn owner comes in and starts elbowing Ghost in the face and seemed to be grabbing his neck with the other hand. that pissed me off and i pushed him and gave the guy an earful. he obviously was yelling back and i was just in his face the whole time. i was hoping he would throw a punch or something so that i can defend myself by wiping the floor with his face but he ended up backing off.
i can understand someone pulling my dog off theirs if im not close enough to do it myself but physically hurting my dog shouldnt happen. especially if ive already pulled him off the other dog. anyways i dont think i did anything wrong defending my dog but i shouldnt have sworn and raised my voice so much since there were other people around too (many left) and there may have been children. some lady reprimanded him afterwards but i was definitely doing more of the swearing.
anyways do you guys think i was wrong? have any of you gone through something similar? if so how did you react?
is there anything i can do with Ghost to make him chill out more or growl less? maybe play less roughly? he never hurts others but hes quite boisterous.
i like going to the parks but im too old to be getting into fights and i really dont want to lose my gun licence or get charged over a scrap.
cheers!
Ghost is usually fine but lately he growls more, its the normal shikoku play growl we all are used to, but other people tend to freak out. it seems like a lot of owners coddle their dogs more these days and overreact at the slightest sound. ghost never bites anybody (occasional nip) and he does like to wrestle, but more often than not the other dogs instigate the wrestling as well.
now my problem is that some dogs play and wrestle with him and when Ghost gets on top of the dog, it will start whining and crying like crazy, even though i can clearly see that Ghost isnt hurting the dog at all. obviously the other owner freaks out.
the other day that scenario happened with a husky. i quickly jumped in to pull Ghost away from the husky and while i was doing that (ive already grabbed Ghost) the damn owner comes in and starts elbowing Ghost in the face and seemed to be grabbing his neck with the other hand. that pissed me off and i pushed him and gave the guy an earful. he obviously was yelling back and i was just in his face the whole time. i was hoping he would throw a punch or something so that i can defend myself by wiping the floor with his face but he ended up backing off.
i can understand someone pulling my dog off theirs if im not close enough to do it myself but physically hurting my dog shouldnt happen. especially if ive already pulled him off the other dog. anyways i dont think i did anything wrong defending my dog but i shouldnt have sworn and raised my voice so much since there were other people around too (many left) and there may have been children. some lady reprimanded him afterwards but i was definitely doing more of the swearing.
anyways do you guys think i was wrong? have any of you gone through something similar? if so how did you react?
is there anything i can do with Ghost to make him chill out more or growl less? maybe play less roughly? he never hurts others but hes quite boisterous.
i like going to the parks but im too old to be getting into fights and i really dont want to lose my gun licence or get charged over a scrap.
cheers!
Comments
This is, however, the reason I will not go to a traditional dog park. I can handle the dogs, but the people drive me up the wall. They make illogical choices all the time and everyone knows, as dog owners, the 'my dog would NEVER ...' syndrome. (My dog would NEVER do that; My dog NEVER does this; My dog NEVER does wrong, etc). I don't trust unknown owners well enough to go to 'dog parks' and I don't think my dogs ride the social short bus well enough to go to these free-for-all madhouses.
I can tell you that I find being vocal during play raises tension, so I encourage quiet play where I work to keep the dogs happy and calm. I do this by separating dogs when they get vocal and encouraging dogs when they're quietly playing. Separated dogs are only so for a few seconds - enough to get them less focused on what's stimulating them and more on me or whatever is going to calm them down (normally I have them sit next to or under me and give lots of praise once they're calm-- it's sometimes a waiting game). After that, I let them join the group until they start being too vocal again. Rinse and repeat until they realize the can still play withiut the growlies and barking in other dogs' faces. I do this with my boys if they're playing with dogs they or I don't know well, but tend to let them get vocal with each other or well known dogs.
You'll never be able to control how owners act and at parks, interfering with other peoples' dogs is probably a nono, even if they're doing something 'bad' for the group. Like I said, I stay away from small 'dog parks'. My dogs are quite vocal and high energy, rambunctious players that I know bringing them to these parks often sets them up for failure; they are generally good in the controlled environment where I work, however, and get lots of play with dogs we meet at a local state park where owners tend to be kinder and interaction isn't as stressful.
It's just too unpredictable. There are too many asshat owners and dogs that shouldn't be there, and sometimes just too many dogs period. (Leo, who is pretty good with other dogs, got overwhelmed at his puppy play group when there were more than 5 dogs there, and he's turn his head to the wall, poor boy! Of course I always took him home at that point).
I'm beginning to think they are a bad idea for MOST dogs. I mean, really, which dogs do well at dog parks? I've watched my friend's GSD and terrier play, and there is still a lot of growling and squabbling and biting among them, and their temperaments were much more suited to the dog park than my dogs.
Can you find 1 or 2 other dogs that he plays well with and have play dates? My two shikoku play all the time, but roughly and noisily. I am sure many dog owners, who are not used to this play style, would think they are fighting (but they are not).
If you want to keep going to the dog parks to enjoy your dog and others, you should probably give Ghost a really long walk or exhaustive training session right before you go into the dog park so their energy level better matches other dogs. The dog parks I go to usually have a small breed and large breed side and small breed owners do coddle their dogs as they run amok. However, they expect to bring their dogs to a place where they can run free off-leash (leash laws in CA) and not fear for their dog to be "hunted" down by a coyote-lookin' medium sized breed. I can understand that. Kurenai fares better with large breeds (adolescent large breeds).
Jesse
"a lot of owners coddle their dogs more these days and overreact at the slightest sound"
Saya is very growly during play she also makes various light screams, shiba shrieks and play noises or whatever. Other owners tend overreact and it caused their own dog to get nervious which before they played fine..
Eventually Saya had two bad experiences at the dog park and Saya had enough with these dogs and she would just explore the dog park and tell dogs to back off she never bitten them, but mostly growled and bared teeth. Sadly most dogs don't seem get back of signals..
"I can handle the dogs, but the people drive me up the wall"
I agree with this 100%
The owner of the lab mix, and bully type dog she made all kinds of excuses of her dog going for Saya then 10 minutes or so later her dog caused another fight or argument with a golden retriever that never had caused any issues when ever I gone for the year.
Saya only real buddies which had similar play style was Mollie the brindle boxer, blue the dachshund and Genji shiba.
Oddly she liked Mollie the boxer, but other boxers she didn't like Mollie was much calmer and initiated play more politely while other boxers wanted to box her and get too rough..
I don't go any more, but Saya does have some friends she plays with lab/mastiff mix, my cousin's pug, Bella my mom's boxer..
Jesse has a good idea exercise Ghost bit before going to the dog park a lot of dogs I notice are so hyped up and excited for the dog park they act too nutty..
One guy he only brings his dog to the dog park for his sole exercise.. When ever it rained hard and the dog park flooded and closed he'd complain because his dog isn't getting exercise.. I mean go walk your dog geez! "
Other people would tell their dog to go play and say go get him to try get their dog to play..
I don't care if my dogs don't play at all if they want to explore the park then great park is for them to enjoy how they want not how humans want.. lol
It was very hot those days so dogs mostly greeted each other then walked around then lay in the shade.
I would just work on finding dogs that Ghost gets along with, and owners that you get along with. I generally avoid dog parks with Toki, but me telling you that doesn't really answer your question. I think that you handled the situation correctly. The guy was essentially attacking and disrespecting your dog. Not cool.
I'm always proactively chasing my Shikoku to make sure her greetings don't quickly escalate. I am able to identify the "right" dog owners when it's their dogs being chased and they're telling me, "Don't worry about it, they're just playing".
anyways, i guess there really isnt much else i can do but try to assocsciate with dogs that he gets along with. its sometimes hard though because he can easily run to different areas in the park where other dogs that he should avoid are playing.
i saw that Ghost was essentially okay, despite what the guy did, but if Ghost was even the slightest bit injured then id definitely lay this guy out on the floor. anyways im just glad that Ghost is fine, im not charged and that i still have my firearms licence.