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Dog Parks

sh2564

sh2564

Zooville Settler
I’ve had quite a few dogs in my life, but this is the first time I’ve been able to have an intact male. I’m hoping to take him to the dog beach / park today, but this will be the first time since he’s sexually matured. I’m not sure if he’s going to run around trying to hump every dog he sees and if there’s anything I can do to make sure he minds his manners, so to speak.

Just curious what other peoples experiences have been and if you have any tips. Thanks!
 
My dog park specifically bans intact dogs due to it being an off leash park. I’d say look at the rules, and if you’re dog isn’t that well trained… perhaps invest in a good leash!

Hopefully there will be more in depth responses. Just read the parks rules and leash up or train good. Though don’t fault your dog for wanting to act on his natural urges.
 
Gladly, castration as a puppy is becoming less common, so at least you can get the core socialization they need the first year or two, which will greatly help their temperament.

After that it is more difficult, some places won't allow intact dogs, and if you go anyways, you will need to keep a close eye to prevent confrontation with others. I had a lab attack my boxer female once at the entrance and of course the owner thought it was my fault cause she was intact, despite her being on her back in submission (the park allowed it, so long they weren't in heat).

So be prepared for confrontation, be extra cautious if your dog shows aggression, and leave or relocate to a different area. Some dogs just aren't compatible with dog parks and do better with meetups with familiar dogs.
 
At dog parks it's not uncommon for intact males to challenge other males and generally chase tail. My best advice is to make sure he's well trained and especially working on recall when he's distracted. Also you need to make sure you're ready to break up a scuffle or pull him off a dog he's humping. That might sound obvious, but some people really do just stand there and watch their dog act a fool.

Ultimately the difficulty is going to depend on his personality and how well he listens to you when he's distracted.
 
Thanks for the input. My dog isn’t aggressive at all, so I’m not worried about that. It’s more about him inappropriately trying to hump and other dogs getting aggressive towards him.
He did fine today, but turned out the beach requires leashes now… ?
 
I've never had problems at dog parks with intact males or females; obviously you don't bring a bitch who's in estrus.
A well behaved dog shouldn't be an issue and if your dog isn't well behaved...maybe thats something one should work on.

I tend to go to dog parks for a mix of socialization and training. I like my dog to enjoy the park and have fun, but I also like to use the distractions as a way of building our bond and communications so that if there are problems at the park or elsewhere, we can safely navigate them.
 
My dog Cupcake was always well behaved except around several other dogs. I could get him back to me quick and never any aggression to other dogs just the dog version of a toddler "Oh a toy that's mine now thanks" I had to shout at him slightly a few times for it. We lived on an air base (dad was a pilot) also not to far from hills and mountains so I found a trip to the mountains every weekend a good exercise option for him plus usually alone for any "special" time.
 
Bloodwolf said:
Because I don’t trust people to have their dogs under control. 99% of them don’t listen to their owners when let free to pack up with other dogs. Being one who prefers rotties. I won’t risk suck.
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Even on the streets though, a lot of people don't really have control of their dogs. I can't tell you the number of times I would be out walking my GSD and someone would have little dogs off lead who would run up to my boy and get in his face. My guy was very well mannered, but if something did ever happen it would be the big dog that got the blame not the little one that wasn't even on a lead.
 
HugDoggy said:
Even on the streets though, a lot of people don't really have control of their dogs. I can't tell you the number of times I would be out walking my GSD and someone would have little dogs off lead who would run up to my boy and get in his face. My guy was very well mannered, but if something did ever happen it would be the big dog that got the blame not the little one that wasn't even on a lead.
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It’s why i avoid the problem all together.
 
sh2564 said:
I’ve had quite a few dogs in my life, but this is the first time I’ve been able to have an intact male. I’m hoping to take him to the dog beach / park today, but this will be the first time since he’s sexually matured. I’m not sure if he’s going to run around trying to hump every dog he sees and if there’s anything I can do to make sure he minds his manners, so to speak.

Just curious what other peoples experiences have been and if you have any tips. Thanks!
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So you have NEVER bruoght him free with other dogs until now? What age is he now?

It is not important if he is neutered or not. It is that he is socialized and well behaved. Only problem with non neutered is they may be more prone to pick up fights with other powerful males. This you should know how detect to stop before the fight starts.

I never got problems with mine. Sure, he will try to hump occasionally but so do castrated males. Dominance/play thing. IF there is a female in heat, he will go crazy, so we move them apart and solved.
Usually NO ONE brings a female in heat, not so because she can get accidentaliy bred, but because she may cause nasty fights among males.

If he is not socialized, test waters inbthe street with a leash, then go into the park with dogs you know are already friends. Usually off leash the behave a lot better than leashed.

And no problem with mounting as long as neither male get offense, but be aware many will react quite badly to it.
If it is a female, they usually growl, bark, snap and he should gets the message. If he insists, get him and go away for some minutes and come back fresh later.
If she is accepting be ready and knowing how to react to avoid them getting. um... bonded together ? If he insists, sane thing. Go away, cone back later.
 
HugDoggy said:
That's fine for those of us that have land or bush to go walking in, but I used to live and work in the city, so sometimes walking where you may encounter other dogs is unavoidable. Although my habit of walking late at night solved most of the issue.

Now for a shameless plug of my SFW story:
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Walking your dog is different then going to a dog park full of dogs over coming across one down the sidewalk. Last dog park I went to when I had my girl told me she needs to be muzzled or your not allowed to be there. I don’t need any of my dogs who are happy to great people be met with the misplaced fear of a breed that could be confused with an attack. The last I need is someone thinks they are going at them over just saying hi for them to get a boot to the head.
 
Bloodwolf said:
Walking your dog is different then going to a dog park full of dogs over coming across one down the sidewalk. Last dog park I went to when I had my girl told me she needs to be muzzled or your not allowed to be there. I don’t need any of my dogs who are happy to great people be met with the misplaced fear of a breed that could be confused with an attack. The last I need is someone thinks they are going at them over just saying hi for them to get a boot to the head.
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I'm sorry you've experienced such things, my comment was originally just saying that where I used to live even the streets were problematic for me with dogs being off lead, I have never been to a dog park with a huge number of off lead dogs. From what you say though it does not sound like they would be particularly nice places if you don't have a generic cute and cuddly little furball.
 
HugDoggy said:
I'm sorry you've experienced such things, my comment was originally just saying that where I used to live even the streets were problematic for me with dogs being off lead, I have never been to a dog park with a huge number of off lead dogs. From what you say though it does not sound like they would be particularly nice places if you don't have a generic cute and cuddly little furball.
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Nope. I’ve walked areas of parks with my girl for the first time I walk I usually have here in a cage muzzle. Back then people were and to a point still terrified of rotties. Once I have a feel
For the people who visit the area I usually take it off the second time around
 
Um. I think there are different flavours of dog parks.

In the city there are small gate closed places in big parks (very variable but say 2000sqft) with where you can let dogs play offleash. Being small is easy to control and keep in chech, but no one controls who goes in or how, just the rest of owners there at the moment. There is 80% common sense helped by 40% owners who have some decent knowledge.

Then there are really big parks (not where I live, you are supposed to leash them in parks). They may roam far, without owner near and control can be difficult.

Then the ones you people talk about, where someone controls who comes in and how... Is that a private place or is it public but have an officer controlling?
 
Bloodwolf said:
I’ve walked areas of parks with my girl for the first time I walk I usually have here in a cage muzzle. Back then people were and to a point still terrified of rotties.
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Yes, Not so much rotties but pits, stafford and similar breeds are still feared here.

I approach my (entire) boy cautiously gauging their reaction -which is amost always welcoming- and make a point to let them interact freely, get myself near them, let them sniff me and pet them if they seem to want to...

Not a big fan of pits, really, but I totally enjoy the face of the owners when they see their dogs are, for once, being treated like... dogs. "normal" dogs, not a fierce killer waiting for a chance ?
 
Bloodwolf said:
Nope. I’ve walked areas of parks with my girl for the first time I walk I usually have here in a cage muzzle. Back then people were and to a point still terrified of rotties. Once I have a feel
For the people who visit the area I usually take it off the second time around
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Hmmm, I guess I would be more wary of a dog with a muzzle on than one without, I would assume that there was a reason the dog was waring a muzzle. But if people where you live are scared of Rotties I can understand a desire to be extra cautious when first visiting a place.

Of course frankly I find peoples fears of big dogs quite often completely irrational. Keeping with Rotties they are strong and powerful animals, but when trained and socialised properly they are rock solid dogs whom are very unlikely to give anyone problems in any way.

My worst ever dog bite at work was from a Chihuahua and it was partly my fault for being to scary, at least in her eyes and thus I needed a damn good chomping, to let me know that she didn't want to be picked up and taken out for some exercise.
 
HugDoggy said:
My worst ever dog bite at work was from a Chihuahua and it was partly my fault for being to scary, at least in her eyes and thus I needed a damn good chomping, to let me know that she didn't want to be picked up and taken out for some exercise.
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Small dogs tend to bite first, warn later. Bigger dogs, in general, you need to work to earn the bite.
Different thing when there is an actual dog fight, that can scalate in a moment if you fail to see it.

We had a case where my dog was playing with a sweetheart if a female pitt, and another person in the park asked if he could pet her "cause he was afraid of the breed and wanted to overcome it".

He was most welcomed to do so, but owner and me told him, if he wanted to pet her, you do it. You do not just try to do it. Basically... "She will love you petting her, but if you are not confident in what you do, just don't"
 
HugDoggy said:
Hmmm, I guess I would be more wary of a dog with a muzzle on than one without, I would assume that there was a reason the dog was waring a muzzle. But if people where you live are scared of Rotties I can understand a desire to be extra cautious when first visiting a place.

Of course frankly I find peoples fears of big dogs quite often completely irrational. Keeping with Rotties they are strong and powerful animals, but when trained and socialised properly they are rock solid dogs whom are very unlikely to give anyone problems in any way.

My worst ever dog bite at work was from a Chihuahua and it was partly my fault for being to scary, at least in her eyes and thus I needed a damn good chomping, to let me know that she didn't want to be picked up and taken out for some exercise.
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It puts most at ease when I come across them. But I muzzle train all my dogs anyway. It’s quite useful when you actually need it
 
Goattobeloved said:
Small dogs tend to bite first, warn later. Bigger dogs, in general, you need to work to earn the bite.
Different thing when there is an actual dog fight, that can scalate in a moment if you fail to see it.
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When it comes to dog biting, the small guys go in hard to make you back off, because they don't have any come back if you don't. Where as a big dog can give you a warning chomp, to indicate your in the wrong, they can afford to do this because they still have more chomping power in reserve if they need to insist that they are unhappy with your actions.

Goattobeloved said:
We had a case where my dog was playing with a sweetheart if a female pitt, and another person in the park asked if he could pet her "cause he was afraid of the breed and wanted to overcome it".

He was most welcomed to do so, but owner and me told him, if he wanted to pet her, you do it. You do not just try to do it. Basically... "She will love you petting her, but if you are not confident in what you do, just don't"
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I was working with a girl once who had me running into the room to find out why she was screaming only to be told the ridgeback she was trying to put a halty onto had bitten her, I asked to see her hand and sore barely even a scratch. If there's no blood, the dog really hasn't bitten you I told her and went to reassure the dog that it was all ok, because the girls scream had freaked the dog out and they were sitting in the corner, looking rather unhappy with the ear assault.

I suspect this is what you were saying, chances are she was scared so was acting tentative about fitting the dog's Halty over her muzzle.
 
Bloodwolf said:
It puts most at ease when I come across them. But I muzzle train all my dogs anyway. It’s quite useful when you actually need it
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I can see that at least doing the training ahead of time could be useful, but I suspect our respective countries have quite different dog cultures when it comes to muzzle wearing, With the exception of grey hounds in training for their green collar, I just never see dogs with muzzles on when I'm out and about.
 
HugDoggy said:
When it comes to dog biting, the small guys go in hard to make you back off, because they don't have any come back if you don't. Where as a big dog can give you a warning chomp, to indicate your in the wrong, they can afford to do this because they still have more chomping power in reserve if they need to insist that they are unhappy with your actions.


I was working with a girl once who had me running into the room to find out why she was screaming only to be told the ridgeback she was trying to put a halty onto had bitten her, I asked to see her hand and sore barely even a scratch. If there's no blood, the dog really hasn't bitten you I told her and went to reassure the dog that it was all ok, because the girls scream had freaked the dog out and they were sitting in the corner, looking rather unhappy with the ear assault.

I suspect this is what you were saying, chances are she was scared so was acting tentative about fitting the dog's Halty over her muzzle.
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Yes, plenty of people claiming a big mean dog bit them when they were just playful or at worse advice nibling.
If you still have all your fingers, he did NOT bite ?

And yes, that is what I mean. If people approach a dog, insecure and with fear, the dog reacts (I suppose they can not imagine it is fear of *them*, so they keep looking for the supposed danger and feeling insecure themselves? Even defensive. Or maybe thing they are trying to do something bad to them?)
In any case, chances is even a good dog can snip a bite or a growl at someone approaching directly in fear.
 
Just keep an eye on him! So many people at the dog park are on there phones the whole time. I think everyone should be paying more attention, not just you.
 
In my experience dog parks are terrible. Most of the owners don't have control over their dogs. I went to one over the summer that had 2 sides. One was empty and the other had about 8 dogs. So we went on the empty side so he could get familiar with the area. All the other dogs just wanted to bark at him and he was very uninterested. I spoke with one of the owners and he was basically talking shit about my dog while he himself had a massive husky that was jumping on a small girl. I will never go back, mostly because of that owner. There are so many better places to go to aside from dog parks. I've learned that most people are scared of dobermans, which is nice when I don't want to talk to people. But its also family and friends that are scared which again can be nice if you don't like some of them ?
 
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