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Dominace at the Dog park?

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  • sillysally
    • Gold Top Dog

    Dominace at the Dog park?

    sillysally

    Posted : 9/20/2008 7:43:31 AM

    I take Jack to the dog park frequently. He seems to enjoy himself and is a pretty laid back dog--doesn't want trouble, just wants to hang out.

    A few weeks ago when we went there was a family with a fixed male lab mix and an intact male Cane Corso. He was a big guy--7 months old and already 110 lbs! Jack is usually excited but respectful when greeting dogs, but when the Cane Corso came up and greeted him Jack flipped over on his back--something that I've not seen him do since he was a pup--even with snarky dogs.

    Whenever the Corso would some near him instead of his usual, relaxed wagging or "neutral" type pose Jack would stop wagging and lower his whole body posture. He would try to stay out of the Corso's way and play with the lab mix, but when they started running the Corso bit his back right in front of his hip and Jack yelped--something else I've not seen him do at the park. he was not hurt--just a slobber spot, and he didn't seem tender in that area.

    Every time the Corso would approach Jack too fast Jack would flip over and if I called him to me he would wait until the Corso was away from him before he would get up. When it became clear that he would not be able to play with the lab mix without the Corso being very near he kind of hung close to me and would give me these looks.

    They left after not too long and a JRT came in and he had a grand time playing with her.

    The thing that surprised me is that the Corso was not doing anything that I would consider extremely dominant. He did put his head over Jack's back, but that's all that I could tell. Jack's not normally an extremely submissive dog and I've certainly never seen him quite that uneasy around another dog--he's had dogs charge him, snark at him, and hump him at the park and hasn't reacted like that. Now, the dog's ears and tail were cropped and docked, so I could have been missing something that I might have seen otherwise....

    I was just curious what others thought of the situation. Is it normal for a 7 month old pup to put out such a vibe? Could it be because he is intact?

    I got the impression that they are frequent users of the park---is this a dog we should perhaps be cautious of as he gets older (BTW--I'm not asking this because of the dog's breed--one of Jack's favorites at the park is a female pit bull--just asking in general)?
    __________________
  • Anonymous
    • Gold Top Dog
    Anonymous
    Anonymous

    Posted : 9/20/2008 7:51:07 AM

    Is he used to seeing a dog so big? Lillie isnt. And I thought she was going to pee all over herself when she met her first full grown Great Dane. She also flopped over and showed her belly. She really likes dogs smaller than her I noticed. I took her to play with my friends boxer and she totally ignored him for about an hour. Might be the size that shocked Jack. 
  • stardog85
    • Gold Top Dog
    stardog85

    Posted : 9/20/2008 10:41:33 AM

    Some dogs do put off an odd vibe, and it's not necessarily a "this dog is gonna be mean" vibe - some just carry themselves in such a way that dogs just like to make sure that the other dog understands that they don't care where in the heirarchy the vibe giving dog is.

    Intact status and size do play a large role in many interactions, so I bet there's a combo of things at play with Jack and this dog.

    If it were me, I'd keep an eye on their interactions in the future, especially as the cane corso matures and if he remains intact.  This is precautionary really, as an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. :)
  • Dog_ma
    • Gold Top Dog
    Dog_ma

    Posted : 9/21/2008 9:12:28 PM

    sillysally


    Every time the Corso would approach Jack too fast Jack would flip over and if I called him to me he would wait until the Corso was away from him before he would get up. When it became clear that he would not be able to play with the lab mix without the Corso being very near he kind of hung close to me and would give me these looks.

     
     
    You say "every time" - how often was the corso approaching Jack? And was the corso playing with the lab mix also?
     
    I ask because sometimes dominant dogs at our park like to "control" the play. If the corso repeatedly approached Jack, and Jack indicated he was not interested in playing, the corso was probably doing it to assert his power. There was an intact bullmastiff at our park this morning who was doing a very similar thing to Eko. The corso wasn't being super-aggressive, but his message was clear and Eko stopped playing at all and lay down.  
  • kpwlee
    • Moderators
    • Gold Top Dog
    kpwlee

    Posted : 9/22/2008 9:06:21 PM

     no real knowledge but I would keep my eye on it, as it seems he was omnipresent and Jack didn't want to play when he was around.  The breed could be a factor even though Jack is used to bully breeds, the Corso might be sending out some powerful vibes.  I sure hope the owners are working with him - if he is like this so young they want to have some serious control over him as he matures.

    however Bugsy has had that effect on dogs since he was a pup.  And yes he was big (not nearly as big as that dog) but I believed it to be his confidence level. Mind you I didn't take him to dog parks but even when we would meet another dog they would roll over.  It was pretty embarrassing.  He never humped or did anything that could even be construed as dominance but even our neighbor's huge golden would just lay down belly up when B visited.  They played together all the time with no incident.  So like I initially said I'm not sure. Except as the owner of an very confident very large dog I hope the owners are very responsible