Dog Community

My dog is reactive at the dog park.

Posted : 9/4/2012 8:50:39 PM

Help, my 3 yr old Golden Retriever is very reactive at the dog park. We go to the park every Sunday for the socialization for my dog and myself. Seems that when other dogs are playing or fighting she tends to go toward the ruckus but I have been able to get her attention away by calling to her. The problem is when other dogs greet her for some reason and this is not for all the dogs that greet her she growls at them and chases them until they are on their back yelping and she is on top of them. So I pull her off of them and make her sit and stay until she calms down. This also happened when she was using the dog walk at the park in Derry N.H. when she came down there was a dog waiting. I have been trying to keep her attention away from other dogs, when we come up to a dog I just let her take a quick sniff and than walk away and she follows me. I really hope to keep coming to the park. Can anyone please let me know what I can do to keep her calm at the park if that is even possible. And if not do I have to not go to the park anymore, because I don't want to put any stress on my dog if I can avoid it.

Jewlieee

Posted : 9/4/2012 10:03:34 PM

Do you think that your dog is actually enjoying itself? It does not sound like it at all. In fact, your dog is extremely stressed out and by forcing her to go there with you, she feels like she has to be on guard and protect herself by lashing out (fight or flight). I imagine that you don't want to be severely stressing your dog out, right? So why not find something you both enjoy instead of forcing her into a situation that she hates?

Think about it in human terms. If your parents dumped you onto a playground full of strangers, chaos and bullies in your face, etc. would you be relaxed or stressed?

rwbeagles

Posted : 9/4/2012 11:07:17 PM

Well put. Its is not abnormal for dogs to prefer to be selective in who they socialize with. Find something else you both enjoy, IMO dog parks teach more bad habits than anything. Not a fan.

meimei071625

Posted : 9/5/2012 3:51:58 AM

I agree with them. Maybe it's not fun for your dog.

JackieG

Posted : 9/5/2012 6:37:49 AM

Not only are you putting your dog in a stressful situation, you're potentially causing other dogs to become dog reactive when you allow your dog to bully and intimidate them. Dog parks are great places to create all sorts of problems for dogs and people.

the_gopher

Posted : 9/6/2012 9:07:41 AM

Indeed, it does seem your dog is not enjoying herself. I stopped taking Ari to a playgroup that meets indoors during the winter, because the space is too small. While it never gets out of hand (it's an amazingly well run/supervised group) - it's too stressful for her. There's just not enough room for her. She shuts down and is stressed. However, an outdoor dog park that isn't overly crowded she loves. Particularly if there's another dog there with a similar love of playing chase :) Look at what your dog's body language is telling you and find something else you'll both enjoy. It just may be that your Golden prefers company of people over other dogs - or would rather a play session be one on one, versus a dog park with many other dogs in it.

fuzzy_dogs_mom

Posted : 9/6/2012 9:02:44 PM

It could be that your dog is just not a good dog park candidate. It happens. Max used to go all the time when he was young and he had a great time. As he got older, he started having"issues" with other dogs, so we stopped going there. It turns out he's much more oriented toward people than other dogs, and that's fine. He enjoys his walks and schmoozing with his two legged friends and I don't let him interact with other dogs. It isn't worth the grief it could cause.

Joyce

LJMitchell

Posted : 9/7/2012 9:06:56 PM

Well, I decided not to go to the dog park anymore. Thank you for all the good advise. We are going to enjoy our walks now and she did love the agility course maybe I can create one in our back yard for her to use.