- Have realistic expectations about your dog’s
suitability for going to a dog park. If he isn’t
polite or friendly with others, get help to change
his behavior before you take him to a dog park. Dog
parks are not a place to rehabilitate fearful or aggressive
dogs or those that just don’t know how to play
well with others.
- Before you take your dog into a dog park, spend
a few minutes watching the other dogs and how they
are playing and interacting with others. If the dogs
seem to be too rough in their play or are intimidating
other dogs, come back some other time.
- If your dog has never been around other dogs before
– don’t go to a dog park until he’s
had a chance to be around other dogs in other situations
so you have a better idea of how he reacts to other
dogs.
- If you aren’t sure how your dog will behave,
don’t be ashamed or embarrassed to muzzle your
dog the first few times he goes to a dog park. Better
safe than sorry.
- Introduce your dogs to other dogs gradually –
allow your dog to greet other dogs while he’s
still in the separate entry area available at some
parks, or let your dogs sniff around the fenced boundary.
- Be careful entering a dog park gate. Other dogs
tend to crowd around to greet arriving dog. This jostling
and crowding can be quite intimidating to many dogs
and may result in a skirmish, or worse.
- Do not take your small children or babies in strollers
to a dog park. Dogs and children can easily frighten
one another and bad things can happen to either of
them in the blink of an eye.
- Supervise your dog. This is not the time for you
to be distracted talking with other owners or burying
yourself in a book. You must be monitoring your dog’s
activities to be sure she isn’t behaving badly
and other dogs are not behaving badly toward her.
This is another reason not to take young children
– you can’t adequately supervise both dogs
and kids at the same time.
- Be particularly watchful of small dogs around big
dogs. Don’t let big dogs frighten or threaten
small dogs. Aggression between big and small dogs
is especially likely to result in injuries to the
small dog.
- Don’t take any toys to the park your dog is
not willing to share.
- While tidbits can be a great way to reward good
behavior, be careful about giving them to your dog
when other dogs are nearby. If your dog can’t
tolerate other dogs crowding around her wanting to
share the goodies, treats may not be a good idea.
If you are attempting to give treats to a crowd, require
that all dogs sit and stay while eating.
- Pick up after your dog. You don’t want to step
in another dog’s poop anymore than someone else
wants to step in your dog’s mess.
- Avoid grabbing your dog’s collar when your
dog is playing or interacting with other dogs. Such
tugging can sometimes trigger threats and aggression
toward nearby dogs.
- If your dog seems to be fearful or is being “bullied”
by other dogs, don’t let her stay, thinking she
will “get over it”, that she will learn
to “stand up for herself”. Chances are greater
her behavior will get worse.
- Don’t let other dogs threaten or scare your
dog. If they won’t leave, then remove your dog.
- If your dog is being a bully, being threatening
or aggressive, or just seems to be overly excited,
remove him from the park, either temporarily or permanently.
It is not fair to put other dogs at risk. Make the
safety of other dogs and people as high a priority
as the safety of your own.
- Know how to break up a dog fight. Direct Stop™,
a harmless but effective citronella spray or a small
hand-held air horn are your best bets. Don’t
scream and yell at your dog, try to pull her off by
the collar, or get in the middle of the fight as this
only adds to the general arousal and greatly increases
either the dogs’ or your, chances of injury.
- Always take your cell phone and have the phone number
of the local animal control agency. Call animal control
or the local police and report any aggressive person
or dog that won’t leave the dog park. These individuals
are dangerous to people and dogs.
- Be knowledgeable about dog body postures, communication
signals and social behavior. You should be able to
recognize stress, tension, fear, play, threats and
aggression. Know the difference between play (which
can be very active and sound violent) and real threats.
Know when to intervene and when to stay out of an
interaction among dogs. If you feel uninformed about
canine behavior, learn more before taking your dog
to a park. Harm can come to your dog if you under-react
as well as over-react.
- Recognize that by taking your dog to a dog park,
you are accepting a degree of risk that your dog may
be injured or may injure another dog. Don’t be
naïve and think that a dog park is a safe place
for your dog to be around other dogs. This may not
always be the case.
Courtesty of Daniel Q. Estep, Ph.D. and Suzanne
Hetts, Ph.D.,Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists
www.AnimalBehaviorAssociates.com
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