Having a new dog has gotten me out to the park mostly every day, rain or shine. This has been a good thing for both of us. I enjoy being outdoors and socializing, and Sierra loves to run, play, and wrestle with the other dogs. Many trainers are not fans of dog parks; I am, as long as they’re well planned and people are vigilant about controlling their dogs. The park we frequent is large and completely enclosed, has a double-gated entry system, dispenser with free poop bags (along with plenty of shovels and garbage cans), and a separate area (also double-gated) for small dogs. What it also has from time to time, unfortunately, are owners who believe their dog-reactive dog will become less so simply by letting him romp with other dogs.
There are owners who stand just outside the chain link fence with their dog on leash, and correct the dog each time it lunges at the dog on the other side of the fence. I’ve seen this happen twice. The first time, a woman with a large pinch collar on her very large pit bull jerked him roughly each time he reacted, while simultaneously spraying him with something that resembled a can of citronella. She said she was following her trainer’s instructions, and as she’d paid quite a bit for the lessons, she wanted to keep it up. (If a medication wasn’t working, would you keep taking it just because it was expensive?) The second dog was a large German Shepherd wearing a Gentle Leader. His owners weren’t jerking him, but when Sierra approached from inside the park (she’s deemed herself Official Park Greeter), he lunged and snapped. Had I not grabbed her before she reached the fence, contact could have been made. I was hoping our resultant conversation, where I made some polite suggestions and offered my card, made some impact; but, not long after, they were back at it.
An even worse situation occurs when owners bring their reactive or aggressive dog into the park on leash. You wouldn’t think this practice is common, but it is. The leashed dog, being restrained as he is, feels defensive when other dogs run up to greet him. Some will inevitably try to engage him in play, which may involve jumping on him, putting a paw on him, or other gesture that, if the dog were off-leash, might not be a problem. The result is all too often a dog who reacts. The owner then pulls the dog away and repeats the interaction in another part of the park. (Some dogs are reactive only on leash, but I’m not suggesting owners find out by turning them loose!)
There are dogs at the park who wear muzzles. There are all too many wearing shock collars “in case they get into it with another dog.” Really? If your dog is that likely to fight, he doesn’t belong at the dog park!
It’s true that dogs who are mildly nervous around other dogs may habituate to them through repeated contact. But a dog who is already reactive or even aggressive is most likely not going to get better simply through repeated exposure. In fact, he’ll probably get better at fighting, and may become more, instead of less, sensitized to the presence of other dogs. I’ve seen many dogs remain in the park even after they’ve had a skirmish—which is the time they’re most likely to get into another one, as they’re already overly aroused.
There are many ways to work with dogs who are reactive to other dogs, including gradual desensitization and counterconditioning. What these gentle, effective techniques have in common is that they take it a step at a time and set the dog up to succeed. Dogs are carefully managed, and often a trainer will use their own “bombproof” dogs to help the dog get used to others. What none of these plans suggest is exposing the dog to a large group of other dogs who are an unknown quantity, in an uncontrolled manner. Overexposure now does not make up for underexposure earlier in life, and it can have a detrimental effect—not only to the reactive dog, but to others he encounters.
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They just don't know any better..
But with great explanations like this, more will!! Very well-put. Dog parks & doggie daycares are the GOAL for a reactive dog, not the training tool.
The pit bull owner actually believes the hype about the breed. Since it is essentially a tiger on a sting, it justifies excessive use of aversives, and complete elimination of a reward. Just a little evil part of me always wants the dog to redirect when I see that foolishness... I know it's wrong, but sometimes nature is the best teacher of all. It really softens them up, opens their ears to what we have to say.
Gentle Leader GSD. Just playing the odds, Gentle Leader predicts hard-pulling dog. Hard-puller predicts insufficient exercise. Insufficient exercise predicts rude or difficult social interaction.
And, still, I would have done just as you did in letting Sierra approach! No doubt Sierra took notes that you'll save her from dogs acting a fool. Nicely done!
Shock collar strategy sounds to a trainer like a brilliant way to turn a scuffle into a hideous bloodbath. And I am not 100% against appropriate remote shock collar use. Many working-mindset dogs coupled with experienced, skilled handlers can achieve great things. This poor owner's clueless idea ain't one of them. Worse, it was probably recommended to them by "an experienced trainer." I hope you gave them your card. There will be clean-up work for you to do there later... They just don't know it yet.
Still, I have every confidence you'll be successful in teaching Sierra to handle any fool who arrives. Could you maybe post your article at the park entrance?
For Nicole (Silvers)
Hi Nicole,
Thanks for the comments. I don't know what the pit bull owner believes, but she's probably doing what she thinks is best for her dog, as were the folks with the GSD. But it's tragic when what passes for training is the thing that's inflicting the damage on the dog.
Just to clarify, I didn't "let" Sierra approach...I actually ran over and stopped her from approaching. Interestingly, the girlfriend was off to the side when it happened and the GSD was in front of the guy (who was holding the leash), who didn't have a clear view. Just after the dog had lunged/snapped, the guy told me how the dog would never bite another dog. I explained what had just happened, and the girlfriend looked over at him and said, "She's right." Sometimes people know there's a problem, but not just how bad it is.
I wouldn't go so far as to post this article at the park entrance, but if we can get more education out there in a way that's helpful but not confrontational, it'll be better for everyone.
Leashed in the Dog Park
You are so right about the mistake of keeping a dog on a leash inside the dog park. I saw this at our local park just the other day: a woman came in with a black lab on a leash and walked him down to the far end of the park. He was clearly nervous about being in the park to begin with -- his hackles were up -- and, not surprisingly a group of curious dogs started sniffing around the woman and the leashed dog. The guy I was standing next to must think I'm a fortune-teller because I said to him (as the woman walked around with her dog on the leash), "This is not going to end well." Sure enough, within about five minutes a couple of the free-roaming dogs had gotten into it with the leashed dog. Amazingly, after the free-roaming dogs' owners pulled them off, the woman STILL kept her dog on a leash inside the park! The poor thing was scared to pieces. It was slinking around with its hackles up -- just waiting for the next onslaught from the free dogs. What a way to make a dog NOT want to interact with other dogs!
What on earth are people thinking of when they do stuff like this?
(Happily, my little Bedlington Terrier prefers to avoid a kerfuffle of any kind so he stays away from situations that are tense.)
Dogs with muzzles, just a note
Love the article and I agree with the message: dogs need to work UP to going to the dog park, should that be something their owners wish to engage in. I am not a dog park goer - too many fools and my dogs and I suffer neither the human nor canine variety very well.
I just wanted to make a quick note that not every dog wearing a muzzle has one on because he may use his teeth. I good friend of mine used to attend the park with her very well socialized, easy going boy. He wore a muzzle. Why? Because he had an autoimmune disorder that affected his large intestine, and thus was on a special diet and had to take Prednisone as a result. As anyone who has used Pred knows, he was -voracious- and would eat anything remotely biodegradable off the ground. And then there were the well-meaning dog owners with treats who couldn't take no for an answer to, "Can he have a treat?" So the dog wore a muzzle.
Just something to think about.
Rounding out my experience
First, let me say I'm not a dog trainer, just someone who has a dog and enjoys learning about (and applying!) training. This post is so timely, as just this morning, I was the person outside the dog park fence with a trainer, and my dog on his 'special collar' working on what I used to think was just his inner, reactive 'jerk'. When I started reading this post, first I thought "Oh, no!! Was that bad???"
My dog is insecure, anxious, and a bully, all wrapped up in one. Nothing new to any trainer. But I don't take him to dog parks for this reason, and because of the predictable arrival of owners with reactive dogs trying to "play it out of them" at the park. Ugh! It's amazing how often I've received this advice from well-meaning friends for my own pooch.
My dogs' irritating habits have made him a great teacher, for me, his silly human. And I feel he didn't come up with these issues all on his own, I am, in fact, on the other end of the leash ;) What I gleaned from this posting after meeting with my traininer, is that my trainer is awesome. I feel the method fits the intensity of the problem, and it has praise and reward components built in to the 'plan'. For the first time ever, I witnessed my dog not build up and lash out, but had a happy tail, and exhibited calming signals (!), which has never happened before. Typically he was the lunging, growling fool on the other side of the fence! Yes, it was a corrective punishment, quick and applied with good timing. At first I was freaked out, because I don't want my dog developing another problem (or masking this one). But he is praised for the good before-and-after, and is now greeting strange dogs more appropriately. I also know how much consistency is going to pay off, so we're forging ahead for more positive outcomes.
This post makes me so thankful for good training, and those that recognise there are many variables contributing to a dog's behavior, and various, appropriate treatments for success. Postings like this, that explain what trainers are seeing/interpreting, round out my own learning and help me understand gauging the appropriateness of methods for my own pup. And that I can trust my trainer.
Thanks!
yes!
just had to say thank you for posting this! I am also one of what seems to be very few trainers who actually likes and uses dog parks, but I too choose my parks carefully. but in almost 10 yrs of regular (several times a week) dog park going, I too have seen all the same awful scenarios, and yes, very regularly. my personal solution has been to be ever alert of the situations around me (you learn to easily predict which dogs/owners will be a problem and when to leave or move far away from them), know your dog and his/her weaknesses and again know when to leave or move away, and above all, have a KICK ASS recall. This is what has kept my dogs away from trouble time and time again.
oh and I second the muzzle comment above; most of the dogs Ive known that wear muzzles do so because they eat poop, or steal toys. I have also recommended muzzling a cattle dog that had great play skills, never got into scuffles, etc but had proven to have less than desirable ABI, and every once in a while would issue a very hard herding bite. Ive also seen ex-racing greyhounds at the parks with basket muzzles on, just in case of a predatory drift situation. and of course, I prefer a basket muzzle when possible, as it allows for panting, drinking, and relatively uninhibited communication (and you can still feed treats through it).
under socialization
My frustration is with owners of older dogs who have never socialized their dogs and then just expect them to play. This is a big problem with small dogs.
Muzzles & more...
Thanks for the comments. To both posters who mentioned alternate reasons for muzzles, I completely agree with you, there are reasons other than aggression that a dog might be wearing a muzzle at the park. Unfortunately, in three out of three cases that I've run across, the owners have told me it's because the dog may be aggressive with other dogs.
Another issue that comes up (that I neglected to mention) is when people bring dogs that are an unknown quantity into the park. In other words, the people have no idea whether the dog is okay with other dogs. Recently I ran across a couple who were pet sitting a friend's dog. I asked whether the dog was friendly and they said they had no idea.
To the person who mentioned having a feeling about certain dogs, yes, you certainly develop a 6th sense at the park. Today, after meeting a friend there (another trainer who's on top of things every moment as I am) and letting our dogs romp a while, I spotted a dog and owner outside the park about to enter. As we were planning to leave soon anyway, I looked at my friend and said, "Let's get out of here now." As we were walking back to our vehicles, we heard a horrendous fight. I have no doubt the dog I'd "had a feeling about" was involved, as he was the only new dog who'd entered the park. Dog parks definitely have a down side, and it can be a HUGE down side if one traumatic incident turns a dog-loving dog into a dog-reactive dog. You've got to be hyper-vigilant.
Correcting growling
To anyone who thinks correcting "growling" is a good thing I give you this: If you take away the growling, which is a communication for dogs, you can create a dog who may then pounce (and bite) with NO warning in the future. Growling should never be punished for this very reason. Growling is a communication that frequently means either "get away from me", "I am uncomfortable" or "stop doing that". You need to address the reason why the dog is growling (and change the emotion of that event) though behavior modification or classical conditioning instead. We never want to take away any of the ways our dogs can communicate.
Tail wags, Marie Finnegan http://k-9solutionsdogtraininginc.blogspot.com
Dog Park Etiquette
Nicole,
You bring up many good points about overexposure to the dog park. I just starting bringing my dog there, and luckily he's been around other dogs enough that he gets along well at the dog park. But I do see some dogs there that shouldn't be there, and even after a somewhat voilent encounter the owners don't take their dogs out of the park. The perfect time to expose dogs to lots of other dogs is when they're puppies, but if they missed that important part of their "childhood", then it takes more work than just throwing them into a dog park and hoping for the best. Imagine a what a human would do if, God forbid, they were unsocialized as children and then they were thrown into a huge group of people as an adult- anxiety and fear would prevail.
Stephanie Mills, Owner A Dog's Dream Doggy Day Spa www.adogsdream.org
I <3 growling
Marie, you are so right. I show dogs, and I am sad to say that the conformation world is about 15 years behind (though I am thrilled every time I run into anothe R+/P- exhibitor and we ARE growing!). The most salient example I can give is the day my girl won her CH title. There was a dog in the ring that had a history of dog-dog aggression problems. This poor boy was so shut down that as another exhibitor passed by to enter the line-up he, without warning, lunged at the other dog and ripped the tip of his ear off. The other dog ended up losing a good chunk of it, but the incident happened so quickly and so silently that many people did not realize the severity.
This dog's owner is not the exception in her way of dealing with growling though in her defense I suspect she was only doing what others had recommended. I was once in her shoes. As a cross over trainer and confomation addict I am doing my best to educate breeders/exhibitors and barring that, getting them to send me their puppy people so that we can get more people to work with their dogs rather than against them. When I explain that growling is GOOD the blank stares I get... Until I tell them why. Most new owners I have found are open and begin to see what's really going on. Sadly there are folks out there that don't care and just want their dogs to shut up and put up. :-( I never want to see this type of thing happen again.
Yes, the dog park can be an issue...
Great post, Nicole.
I think dog parks are great for the most part. As a professional dogwalker and trainer I spend a heck of a lot of time at various parks throughout Toronto. Many dogs do fine, many do not. None is perfect and I believe if owners are on top of things and working PROPERLY with their dogs they can be an great resource for dogs working on minor training issues. Unfortunately many people don't recognize their dog's signals and therefore there are issues.
Just this week myself and another walker/trainer were in a fenced off leash area with our dogs (she had three, I had two) when a pair of women arrived with their newish rescue retriever mix. We knew pretty quickly, once we saw the dog enter the group that she was undersocialized and quite nervous. Not reactive per se, but definitely not fully comfortable.
She ran. The other dogs started running after her, my friend and I immediately called our dogs to us and leashed them. The women were perplexed, wasn't the running good for their dog? Um, no. She was stressed, the other dogs were chasing her 'harder' because of her stress. We described the body language of the dog and tried to convey that this can sometimes trigger other dogs to harass them. We suggested getting their dog used to one or two dogs at a time in positive circumstances. They leashed the dog and left, not sure whether they thought we were shunning their dog or not...I do hope they took what we said to heart. Poor dog. Just not a great situation for her to be in the park. Good intentions, bad idea.
Maggi Burtt Tailspin Petworx
As always, mostly the owner...
Bettina Alfaro http://www.familienhundtraining.com
Unfortunately , you get the a lot: the guardian completely misjudging the body language of their dog, who is either very stressed/uncomfortable or about to lunge. I cannot count the times I pointed out the fact to some people hanging out at the dog park with their dog, totally oblivious about what was going on. Worse yet, some had young puppies and decided that they were going to "socialize" it. Just so much cheaper than puppy clases (one guy actually said that to me. I told him that it depends on how much he has to spend on a behaviour consultation with "nice" dogs afterwards).
Bettina
Familienhundtraining
Thank You!
I like dog parks too. I was a dog walker for two years and took my dog Nigel with me five days a week. I saw everything you can imagine, good and bad. Nigel has a bomb proof recall which did, in fact, save him from getting into fights (well, more like getting attacked since I can recognize body language). My American Pit Bull Terrier is what I call a Serial Rapist so he doesn't go off leash at the park. He has gone with me on-leash because he is mellow and non-reactive but one time he was jumped by a Golden Retriever (and reacted appropiately) but we still got dirty looks from passerbys so no more on leash trips for him either. I wish more people with "humpers" stayed out of the park as well. It's can be terrorizing and can often turn into a fight when the humper won't take a correction. If I had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Serial Rapist I might get away with a little more but I still wouldn't turn him on the poor public at a dog park.
Thank youfor this article. I don't know how I missed it!
Kendra Coatney
www.evolution-dog-training.com
https://twitter.com/EvolutionDog