Abbey's 1st trip to teh dog park

Hello All,

I found a dog park near my house, and Abbey and I went for the 1st time last week. When we first got their, I ready through the sign with rules etc, we were okay, and then we went in. Well all of a sudden I realised that all the dogs there were HUGE, compared to Abbey. They all ran towards her in a pack, to say hello, but of course she was terrifed!

Once she calmed down a bit, I let her off leash and she mostly stayed by my feet. But the larger dogs kept coming over and she was quite nervous still, although when it was just one of the larger dogs, I could tell she wanted to play, but didn't because of the pack that was soon to follow.

By the end of the trip, she was okay walking around, but not to far from my side. One of the things that surprised me, was that when the pack of dogs was all around her, and she was laying on the ground on her back (submissive position) the other owners did not even seem to care they did not try to get their dogs away, they were not hurting her, but you could clearly see that they were scaring her weather intentional or not. Is this the norm?

DO you all think I should continue to take her? Will she get used to it, or am I scaring the crap out of her by taking her there?

Does anyone have any advice on going about arranging a smaller dog night? Would I go to the sity for something like this?

 

hi abbey....Even though my dogs are bigger then Abbey is, I take them to the dog park only when I know it wont be really crowded. Maybe you could try taking her agian on a weekday morning if you can or during the day on a weekday. I try avoiding the weekends and later afternoon since that is when the park gets crowded. My dog park also has a special side for small or timid dogs only, maybe you could talk to someone with the city and ask if there is a way to put in a small side for your park. I wouldn't know how to go about that though. goodluck...

 

I agree with Winnie or maybe you could find a canine social group in your area instead....some dog trainers offer these. We don't have a dog park here but I have taken Natalie to social group and liked it alot. There was a small dog group and a large dog group at seperate times of the day. There was a dog trainer on site along with some helpers that made sure no fights broke out between the dogs. Natalie had a lot of fun and I did'nt have to worry about other dogs getting too rough with her.

 

I don't think I would have called my dog off either, if all the dogs were behaving appropriately. Your dog was submissing and as long as all the other dogs weren't bullying her, it was just doggy interaction. Now, if my dog was being a pest and yours was cowering behind your legs, I would probably try to distract my dogs and go do something else.

It is difficult with a small dog if they don't have a separate area for them. Of course, some small dogs do just fine with it. Are there any dog parks near you with a separate small dog area?

 

How much bigger were they. Does the dog park have a small dog section, if so that is where you should bring her. Lesson learned the hard way for me. Keep her with dog her own size. If she was just rolling on her back she was just telling them she is nothing to be afraid of. Sure she may have been afraid, but if you don't bring her more often she will never get over it. It takes the dogs at least two or three times going to get used to it. It depends on their personality too. If she is more shy it will take her longer. But please stick to a park where they have a small dog area. I'm serious. My dog was attacked by a dog the size of a pony and is lucky to be alive.

 

I agree with Jamiya- I wouldn't call my dog off either in this situation. Since your dog was the new one, they were just checking her out, and her showing submissive behavior to the group is completely normal-- in fact, it's a good thing that she was doing this versus trying to be dominate and taking charge of all the other dogs- it shows that she is smart in knowing when she needs to be submissive in order to successfully introduce herself into the exisiting group of dogs. Even my dog, who is very dominant in most cases, will show submissive behavior when she is in a situation where she is outnumbered. I'm sure if you take her there a bit more, that she will get to know some of the dogs and won't be considered the "new" dog anymore and paid so much attention to by the other dogs.

 

HELLO ALL,

Thanks for the input.

Abbey and went again last night. There were only 3 other dogs there. When we pulled into the parking lot, she got really excited and started making noises, wanting to get out of the car and go play.
There was a female doberman (sp?) there just over one year old, Abbey and her played for quite a while. Near when it was time to leave the dobbie, started getting a little bit to excited, not aggressive, just excited, it only scared me because of her size compared to Abbey. She almost stepped on Abbey and she was also kinda swinging her paws towards Abbey, and I am sure that would have hurt. But over all it was a good time, and I think I will go back.

I think the first time we went was too overwhelming for Abbey, because of the amount of large dogs that were there. There were about 10, and they were all large breeds, ie: Doberman, shepherds, labs, boxers, rotties, etc. If there are that many there next time we go, I think I will not enter the park.

I also got the name of the animal control organization that initiated and monitors the dog park, I am going to call and suggest implementing a small dog area or specific night geared for only smaller dogs. I think that all the dogs I have seen there are friendly enough, but when playing with a smaller dog, it is sometimes there size that may accidently hurt Abbey, not their intentions.

Thanks!

 

glad to hear abby had a good time with the dobie, I understand about the size issue, my parents shitzu misty can get underfoot wylie and jake and when they are playing because she wants to participate,and Jake is oblivious to his size.and I get nervous because of their size. Now when just wylie and misty play, wylie will courch down to get on the sam elevel as misty, its so cute.

honeybear

 

I'm glad to hear she did better! I sympathize with you completely - if I had a small dog I would be just as nervous. Unfortunately, your fears are sensed by the dog and it just makes it worse. If when she was afraid and lying down, you got all mushy and tried to comfort her and pick her up and cuddle her, you just told her that those big dogs were SCARY and it will make her fear worse. It sounds like you handled it wonderfully, though - good job!

I have to be careful with Bonnie. She's not small, but she's shy. When she gets overwhelmed (usually by people, not dogs) she will come and sit near me. I try not to reward her for it too much. I might acknowledge her, but I keep it very upbeat and pretend I don't know she is scared.

I also don't let Nala play with very small dogs. It rarely comes up, but there was a teeny Yorkie at a class I observed and I couldn't let Nala near her off-leash. Nala doesn't know any limits when it comes to playing and I thought that poor thing would end up squashed or tossed around like a ball! :shock:

 

My poodle is probably about the same size as your dog. she does fine around small dogs. Really most of the time she will ignore them. But with big dogs hovering over her first thing she does is beg to be picked up. She is afraid of them. She tried to play with a st. poodle, year old. And he jump on her. I don't know if she was feeling pain or just scared, but she wanted up. She yelped. Just remember alot of the bigger breeds were bred for hunting small animals and have an instinct to go after small animals.
Everytime I have gone to the dog park there is some type of fight. somtimes the little dogs have a scuffle, but mostly the big ones.

 

Do you have a Petsmart in your area? They have Puppy Social Hour in most of their stores once a week. The one we go to allows the small dogs to continue to come no matter what the age. The first night we went Piper was terrified. The second week, she was shy but played a little. Since then, she drags me into the store! She loves going there. I don't know of a dog park in my area, so we walk our neighborhood each night and play with the group on Fridays. I love seeing the interaction between Piper and her friends.

 

I've seen that. I believe they were training them too. Maybe it was something separate. Those pups were so cute.

 

At our store Social Hour is a separate thing. It is free and you don't sign up - people just show up on the designated night for an hour. It is held on a night they aren't having class in the classroom area.