Aggresive behaviour at dog park

if the other dog is coming up to him, and ignoring his "I don't want to play with you" signals, and then he is "getting testy", that's not aggression. You should be stepping in and helping him dis-engage from the rude dog BEFORE he gets testy, if you can. Most parks separate dogs who weigh less than 40 pounds from the bigger guys; if yours doesn't, you might want to look for another park. Little dogs can very easily be killed or injured by big dogs.

Our park doesn't separate them and it makes me crazy (Wesley is 50 punds - but does MUCH better with big dogs than little).  I am uncomfortable with him playing with most little dogs, unless I know them and their play styles and have seen the interactions enough to feel ok with it - just because I know something could happen to a little dog in a split second; so I call Wesley over when I see them coming and bring him and the bigger dogs he is playing with to the other side of the park, or, engage him in a game of fetch with me.  If he isn't easily distracted from the little dogs, we leave...  I want the park to be a fun place for both of us, so I watch him very closely as do most people at our park with their dogs (which is a good thing) and most problems are avoided before they occur. 
 
For Boomer, he shouldn't have to play with dogs he doesn't want to play with IMHO...  I would say that at the first sign that he is uncomfortable with another dog's behavior and the other dog is not heeding the signals, call Boomer away and engage in some play with you or call him back over to dogs he was playing happily with.  Maybe Boomer is a little afraid of the bigger dogs and is letting them know this - if he comes over to you, where you can "protect" him from the bigger dogs, he will feel more secure and then hopefully he will start just running back over to you when he is uncomfortable with something, rather than getting testy...  Just make sure you aren't coddling and praising the fear - just move the game. 
 
As I said, at our park, people watch their dogs prety closely, so when anyone gets testy both or all (if it is a larger crew that is getting out of hand) of the people call their dogs back to them...  It usually helps to give every dog a minute to relax and then free them all back to play.  I guess with your situation, it would help if the other owner was watching his/her dog, and would also call that dog away when Boomer is uncomfortable...

waxen, one thing you can do is to try to get off to the side with some dogs his size that he seems to like.  Don't force him to interact with dogs that he is fearful of, or doesn't like.  Dogs pick their own friends, just like we do)

I've taken Loki to the dog park since he was young (after vaccinations of course!) and we used to go 2-3 times a week at least, so I've seen quite a bit of dog interaction. It sounds to me like Boomer is not aggressive, just maybe not comfortable. Our new guy, Odin, has only been to dog park twice and he doesn't seem to sure about some of the dogs. These dogs are obviously friendly and just want to play, but he backs off a little. It's sort of like he's saying "let's get to know each other before you get too excited". We're still socializing him (he was a rescue and we don't know his background) and as time goes on, he seems to get more comfortable with dogs coming up to him and wanting to play.

And BTW, our dog park is separated--3 acres for the small dogs and 19 acres for the big dogs. But almost everyone uses the big dog section and there are very few problems.

What do you mean by testy?  Is he being repeatedly approached by these dogs and after the 4th or 5th time giving them a warning growl/bark and an air snap?  Or it is just that he doesn't feel comfortable being sniffed by them, or having them around him? 
 
If the other dog is clearly annoying him and he's given off the signals for the other dog to "back off" but is being ignored, then it's your job as alpha to step in.  Talk to the other dog owners/handlers at the park.  Watch other dogs interact with each other.  
 
If, on the other hand, he's not familiar with this new social dog world of the off leash dog park, then I'd give it some time.  Go to a quiet area and let the dog explore a bit on his own.  It does take time for them to become acclimated to such a busy place as a dog park.

I have a very similar problem with Rameses, my 11 month old rotti/dobie X.  He's a big strong boy and loves to play (well he still a puppy...!). My dilemma is that he runs up to dogs (it's an off lead park - assorted dog sizes) and he sometimes intimidates smaller dogs, but has never hurt one.  He goes to obedience and is perfect gentelman when there are no other off lead dogs around, apart from Banjo,  my 11 year old pug.  As soon as he sees a dog he whines, barks and he's off.  No matter how much I call or growl it's as though he just 'loses his head' (temporary insanity) and  bowls through like a train.  Most of the dogs we meet are fine and just play back.  It's the owners I have a problem with. i.e., A woman was walking her Jack Russell and when Rameses ran up to play,  the JR bit him on the face, the woman picked up her dog and began to circle around and around screaming, the dog was yelping and barking and Rameses jumped up and bit the JR on the bum.  Well there was a little hole about 1/4 of an inch on the dogs rump and I offered to pay for the vet bill.  Now I'm sure that Rameses was over excited and thought the woman was playing a game. He's never jumped on another person or on dog before and I have been walking him in this park for a little over six months since I got him from RSPCA rescue (I'm in Victoria, Australia).  I had to yell at the woman to stop circling like a top before I could control Rameses.  I was really upset about this because clearly it was the woman who was being [sm=banghead002.gif]silly by screaming etc., I haven't taken him to the park since then and am concerned that because of this incident he may see little dogs in a different light.  Has anyone had an incident like this or can anyone help me with advice on this matter.  I have only ever had pugs and Rameses is a totally different type of dog for me.

I have had some interesting experiences at our little dog park recently.  Ruby and I started going in the middle of the day because I knew it wouldn't be as crowded and wanted to give her some time to adjust.  She interacts beautifully with the other dogs, but most of the time there are only one or two other dogs there, often there are none.  On the one occasion we went in the early evening, we were only there about twenty seconds before another dog, some type of hound mix, nipped her right on the rump.  Ruby wasn't even off her leash yet.  The owner's response was to hit and yell at the hound.  Nice.  I didn't have my cell phone with me or I would've called AC.  Anyway, I took Ruby to the other side of the park, on leash, and played and ran with her for a bit.  The other dogs were mostly playing together except for a few who followed.  All was well for a while so I let her off leash.  She was sticking pretty close by me so I wasn't too worried but then the hound mix came charging at her again, the owner just standing there doing nothing, and managed to get Ruby on the rump again, while she was at my feet, at which time I yelled at the owner that she better do something about her dog, NOW.  She hit the dog again, when she finally caught it (it ran from her for a while - gee, I wonder why?) and then she left.  I have heard from others that she and this dog have had aggression issues before and I can't figure out for the life of me why she would bring an aggressive dog to the dog park. I spent some time wondering what I could've done to prevent this and the only thing I can think of is that I should've left the first time the dog nipped at her.  But on the other hand, I feel like if I have a dog with no fear or aggression issues I should be able to let her run off leash without worrying about her getting bit.  Am I wrong?  To her credit, she has gotten the signal to back off once from a shepherd mix and she did not try to play with that dog again, just went off in another direction.  Ninety-nine percent of the time, it's all fun. Christi

ORIGINAL: doorstop

I have a very similar problem with Rameses, my 11 month old rotti/dobie X.  He's a big strong boy and loves to play (well he still a puppy...!). My dilemma is that he runs up to dogs (it's an off lead park - assorted dog sizes) and he sometimes intimidates smaller dogs, but has never hurt one.  He goes to obedience and is perfect gentelman when there are no other off lead dogs around, apart from Banjo,  my 11 year old pug.  As soon as he sees a dog he whines, barks and he's off.  No matter how much I call or growl it's as though he just 'loses his head' (temporary insanity) and  bowls through like a train.  Most of the dogs we meet are fine and just play back.  It's the owners I have a problem with. i.e., A woman was walking her Jack Russell and when Rameses ran up to play,  the JR bit him on the face, the woman picked up her dog and began to circle around and around screaming, the dog was yelping and barking and Rameses jumped up and bit the JR on the bum.  Well there was a little hole about 1/4 of an inch on the dogs rump and I offered to pay for the vet bill.  Now I'm sure that Rameses was over excited and thought the woman was playing a game. He's never jumped on another person or on dog before and I have been walking him in this park for a little over six months since I got him from RSPCA rescue (I'm in Victoria, Australia).  I had to yell at the woman to stop circling like a top before I could control Rameses.  I was really upset about this because clearly it was the woman who was being [sm=banghead002.gif]silly by screaming etc., I haven't taken him to the park since then and am concerned that because of this incident he may see little dogs in a different light.  Has anyone had an incident like this or can anyone help me with advice on this matter.  I have only ever had pugs and Rameses is a totally different type of dog for me.

 
Owners that *pickup* their small dogs are doing two things...first they are encouraging other dogs to jump up because that fuzzy thing in their arms looks like a toy and boy isn't it interesting all the way up in the air.  Secondly they are putting their dog in a position of dominance over the other dogs, remember that dogs see height as dominance in most circumstances.   They are also, in the case of the JRT owner, reinforcing aggressive behavior by comforting the dog after it was showed aggressive behavior. 

Yeah  when Rory was a younger she would approach other dogs with such high energy and enthusiasm that a lot of them were like "wth is wrong with you, calm down, I dont wanna play so rough" I felt that it was my responsibility to correct her behavior. I could have very easily taken it as the other dogs being aggressive but they were just trying to put her in her place.
I guess it is for you to decide if she is being "aggressive" or intolerant of rambunctious dogs. Also some dogs do play hard. Whenever Rory is around other high energy dogs they play in a way that can be misinterepreted as aggressive. They growl, mouth, and make such a ruckus that it can sound like hell but body language says it all. Obviously I only let her play like this with faimly dogs and dogs that are of a size that they can take it and she generally knows the limits of other dogs and plays accordingly but that dosnt mean I take my eyes off of her for a minute! I think there is some great advice in the posts before mine and while I ddint offer a outright solution hopefully my point of view offers some small help.

I can't figure out for the life of me why she would bring an aggressive dog to the dog park

 
Probably because if she can't understand that she is aggressive, she'll never understand that the dog is...
[sm=banghead002.gif]
 
I hate dog parks because I find that owners who don't "get it" about dog behavior are either going to let their dogs bully others ("oh, he just likes to play" - meanwhile he's body slamming and mounting & clasping every dog in the park); or, they think that a little growling is "aggression" (when it's two 3 month old Boxers, or a baby Pit Bull...some dogs are just loud when they play); or they think your dog is aggressive because he has his mouth around their dog's head ('scuse me, but if no one is howling, the mouth is open, and no blood is coming from the head, what part of "just playing" do you not understand?!) 
The other thing that bothers me is that there is no supervision by anyone who does know dog behavior, so it's always going to be "he said she said" and if you think parents thwack each other at kids hockey games, I can't wait till the first pet parent pugilist makes the headlines LOL.

Well, we went back again yesterday and there were about six other dogs there but it was so hot, everybody was just so lazy!  It took Ruby about 10 minutes to get comfortable enough to walk away from me and start running around.  She's not afraid but she remembers what happened with the hound, I think.  Once she started to run, the others followed suit.  Later, a big Lab came and started trying to mount every dog there.  The owner said he had been neutered two weeks before but apparently he didn't know it yet.  He tried to mount just about every dog there except Ruby and that was because the big guy couldn't catch her!  She's so quick and agile and she can turn on a dime and he eventually lost interest in her.  God, I love watching her run!  It is spectacular. The dynamics of the dog park are interesting, Anne.  I'm hot and cold with it.  Hot because I love to see her run, cold because I hate it when people don't/won't control their dogs. Incidentally, a few years ago my dad was at a dog park with his Brittany Spaniel and a guy was arrested for failing to control his very agressive dog (the dog bit another dog and drew blood).  Dog was seized by HS, man was hauled away in cuffs.

We just got our first dog park on the 13th, really it is just a fence area.. but the dogs seem to like it.
 
I had been enjoying it fully until today. I felt really uncomfortable, for several reasons. It seemed as though instead of truely going to allow the dogs to interact,.many people go to judge other dog owners. 
 
Everything was going well until this Pit bull was brought in.. The poor pit, he was a friendly 8 month old. Apparently some think pits should not be allowed in the park.  As soon as everyone saw the pit headed for the gate the entire park tensed up. The lady I was speaking with said, "Is he bringing that pit on this side?" (we were in the large dog area.) I told her I was a litte nervous, but that not all pits are mean, and hopefully this one was not. I was leary though b/c there is a heavy amount of ignorance in this area.. and it was very possible that this pit was not raised properly..
 
Well the owner brought the pit in, on leash and immediately a dog ran up to it and started a fight. I heard one of the others snidely say "that is why you let your dog off leash before you enter the main park."
 
After everything had calmed down, I walked up to the pit and owner and complimented them. The owner made sure to tell me his dog was friendly and that it was the other dog that started the fight. I told him I knew that not all pits were mean, but that there is always a bit of uneasiness when someone comes in with a pit. Well my 2 dogs and I walked away and headed over to get water... We were at the empty end of the park . and this poor excited Pit runs full speed at us. This automatically put Pele on the defensive and a small scuffle ensues... then my little one runs over and tried defending Pele.. So here I am, the only one in the park that was semi-welcoming to the pit and his owners and now my dogs are the only dogs that are fighting with him!!
 
Things settled down again and i treid to join everyone back in the middle, but this Pit had soo much energy and was just running circles as fast as possible.. He kept getting flipped by the other dogs.. and then everyone would freak out b/c they thought a deadly fight was going to ensue. Zoi (my little one) would not allow the pit to come near her and actually snapped at him.
 
Ok .. sorry that was so much reading!! Anyway... I want my dogs to enjoy the park.. but it is difficult when most everyone brings thier unexercised dogs in.. they have way to much bottled energy and then everyone goes crazy .. All the while there is an ongoing petty unspoken rivaly going on.. It just ruins the entire experience.
 
on a side note, I find it odd that all the dogs want to fight with the Pit. I came up with 2 rationales... 1.) the tense mood in the park alarms the dogs and makes them think the dog entering the park is a threat. 2.) ear cropping makes pits look more threatening and possibly signal the wrong things to other dogs.. ... these are just amatuer speculation.... what do you guys think?
 

I would be willing to bet it was the tension... I think dogs can sense it and it sounds like the air was thick with it.