Tough Love

[Heidi & Milton]

You know I love this furry boy of mine, but Milton and I had a bad episode of tough love at the dog park on Monday night.  That evening I was attempting to quell Milt's energy before bed, so we arrived to the park late at about 8:00P.M.  As usual, the dood had a magnificent time swimming after balls, chasing his doggie pals, and most importantly, soaking up water to cool down. 

Soaked to the bones

 
The two of us stayed at the park until the last possible ounce of sunlight began to fade as the rest of the dogs and their companions began to file home.  All who remained were Milt, me, and another man with his two boys.  One of these dogs I had originally mistaken for a doodle, but he was in fact an Italian sheepdog.  If you have never seen one before, here's a picture:

This dog actually dreadlocks, and it is considered a good thing.

This sheepdog wasn't quite as hairy, but he did still manage to make Milton look short-haired.  The other dog of the pair was some sort of golden retriever mix that was very small in stature and low to the ground, like the one pictured below:

Little guy

The three boys were amicably playing with each other (or so I thought!) while I chatted with their owner.  Then, all of a sudden, a dispute broke out over a silly washed up piece of driftwood.  As far as I could tell, Milton had retrieved this wood, and he was happily standing guard over it while he gnawed away.  The golden tried to grab Milt's prize, but he was met, to my surprise, by deep dark growls from Milton.  Next thing I knew, a full out brawl had erupted, and who was the dog to start it?  My gentle giant -- Milton.  The two dogs snarled and snapped at each other in a fury of tumbling limbs and whirling fur.  They stood on their hind legs, spit flying, as they bit and snatched at each other.  I, a bumbling idiot, stood helpless on the sidelines repeatedly shouting, "Milton!  Milton!  Milton!"  Finally, after two minutes of intense heavy sparring, the other owner dove his body into the middle of the fray to yank each dog's collar and completely separate them.

After checking for signs of damage to either dog, or the fearless owner, while profusely apologizing, I hauled my wicked boy to the car and drove him home.  To put it simply, I was incredibly angry and mortified.  I was angry that Milton, who is unfailingly kind and gentle, started such a terrible scuffle that could have deeply wounded both dogs and us owners.  I was mortified because I felt that I could not control my dog.  As I watched Milton, the instigator, in tooth to fur combat, I desperately wanted to intervene, but I simply did not know how without injuring myself.  I thought that if I tried to break up the fight by grabbing Milton, as much as he loves me, he might turn on me too in the heat of the moment.  I was and am incredibly grateful that the other owner risked his safety to intervene, but I do not think it was fair of me to simply be "rescued" when it was my dog who started all the trouble to begin with.

Needless to say, Milton received a stern talking to and stone-cold attention from me that evening and the next morning.  To overcome my own shortcoming,  I researched online what others advise to do when caught in the midst of a dog fight, which appears to be a common dilemma.  Of course there is the common answer of throw water on the dogs, but that is not always practical.  Another website said to try and distract the dogs by calling out a common phrase like, "Do you want a treat?" which, to me, would seem to have little effect.  One solution I like is if two people are present, grab the hind legs of each dog, and pull backwards, which creates a wheelbarrow effect and throws them off balance.  The worst solution appears to be what that man did -- jump in the middle of it all.

Scuffles between dogs are bound to happen over asserting dominance, guarding a possession, or protecting something or someone.  Milton could have felt threatened by this two-pact of dogs, or he could have just been acting selfish.  Who knows?  I've been known to pick a fight or two just like him. 

I am, however, a deep believer that everything happens for a reason and this little incident reminded me that my baby boy is actually a puppy dog complete with sharp teeth and animal instincts.  I need to do better at reinforcing to Milton that I am leader of the pack, and he needs to always obey me.  This means that when we are out walking and Milton wants to lie down and roll over, I need to show him who is boss.  Likewise, when he yanks me clear off the sidewalk in pursuit of a squirrel, I need to demonstrate that I am leading the show.  When he refuses to give up his tennis ball during a game of fetch, I need to not give in to his antics. 

As you have probably already guessed, Milton has since been forgiven and is no longer deemed a "vicious" dog by me. Sometimes tough love can be hard, but it certainly comes from the heart.  Our goldendoodle needs to learn a few hard lessons in order to keep both him and us safe and sound.

To read more about Milton the Goldendoodle please visit http://www.goldilocksandherdoodle.com

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

I like your idea too Marnie!  I think I will get one!

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

Great idea, Ginny.  I happen to keep a mini airhorn with me to startle arguing dogs into stopping what they are doing.  Different tactic, same result.

[Pat and Traveler]

There's nothing scarier that seeing your sweet, mellow dog suddenly become a snarling, attacking mad-dog.  Trav did this too, and it was also about a favored possession--in this case, his ball.  I was standing with another dog owner in a park, and we were both throwing a ball for the dogs, along with chatting.  I failed to notice that Trav was getting more and more frustrated as the other dog was bigger and faster and got the ball about ten times in a row.  Trav suddenly snapped and attacked the other dog--it was pretty shocking, though over quickly.  He was so keyed up at that point, he lunged for another dog whose owner was just innocently walking by.  It was an eye-opening experience for me. 

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

How very scary for you to see your boy act up like that.... I agree with Ginny...training, training, training! 

Bailey used to want to chase squirrels on our walks so I have worked with her on her "leave it" command.  I use this for many things and it seems to work for her...  I will actually go to a park and have her at a heel and look for squirrels.  We approach them, I put her in a sit stay and make her sit and watch them and I continue to say leave it.. We then continue on our walk and I give her lots of praise...

I use this command for cats, food on the ground and even walking by people.. It takes practice and time but as you know, our doodles are smart...

Love reading your blogs by the way ; )

 

[Ginny Nightingale]

yup--exactly--you need to do some training and get back to being top dog--and don't forget that his age has something to do with it too--you really don't know your dog until they have reached 2 years of age--their personalities change as they mature..some people on DK have been discussing that lately with fear issues and I saw the dog aggression develop in Rio when he turned 2. (There were signs much earlier too but it really blossomed then).

He does not go to dog parks and won't ever--I do not want to risk any other dog's life or in any way ruin their day. Rio has never had a fight, but has lost his temper with other dogs who have visited me and has snarled, etc--luckily, the other dogs (all doodles) looked at him as if to say "What's the big deal?" and it went nowhere. If he is going to see other dogs, he is going to be on a leash and I will be in charge. I just don't trust him.

That said, the worst thing that can happen with any dogs at a park is the presence of a prized possession like that stick--it can bring out the worst in any dog--and I am not sure how you avoid that. If Milton is gentle most of the time, maybe this won't happen again, but if I were you, I would bring a big spray bottle with a stream setting and have it with me--if Milton is fighting and you squirt them, it can distract them just enough for someone to get in there and get a collar--or the fight stops altogether. It works and is easy to do. Keep it in the car--it is recommended that you hide the squirt bottle under your arm and squirt it from there rather than pointing it right at them which can cause a really aggressive dog to come after you--my trainer did this several times during our classes when a problem arose between the dogs and it really was effective.