Dog park behavior

[Shianne Mack]

Whenever I take my puppy to the dog park he loves to play and wrestle with other dogs, but sometimes I wonder if he is being aggressive or not. He loves to try and bite the back of another dogs collar and he likes to nibble on their ears. Both dogs usually look like their having a good time but the owners usually get all freaked out. He has a Goldendoodle friend and they both do that to each other all the time. They then flop all over each other and have a good time. I'm just wondering if that's a doodle thing or should i try and stop him from doing that?

[Leslie J]

If the owners don't like it, perhaps he's playing too rough. I took Cocoa to dog parks a few times and I could tell by her body language that she didn't like it when large dogs played rough with her. The other dogs weren't being aggressive but I could tell they were exhibiting dominance over her (humping, etc). In the end she would stand and lean against me to keep them away from her.

I don't take her to dog parks at all anymore- I think she prefers human company, so this may not apply to the dogs at your dog park- but if the other owners are complaining I think you should rein him in out of respect for them.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Mine play like that all the time but they wouldn't like it at a dog park if another dog did it to them.  I used to wonder when Lucy and Sophie were puppies if they were trying to kill each other.  I was always assured if there was no yelping or anything that they were just playing.  However, if it were a dog I didn't know doing it, I would probably not like it either.

[Nancy and Georgia Brown]

I love dog parks. It in an unpopular sentiment on this site for good reason. But it works for me and my dog.

You may kiss and cuddle with your kids. You may say things and approach them in ways because they are familiar. If a stranger approached your kid and started doing those things you would be scared, and hopefully your child would not feel comfortable.
So you shouldn't expect other dogs to immediately be okay with your dog treating them with such familiarity. It is probably innocent but you need to be cued in to the other dog. And if the other dog owner is concerned it should be stopped immediately regardless of what you think is going on.

FYI two things I have learned should not be tolerated behaviors at a dog park. One is humping. Two is grabbing the other dog's collar.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I don't think it's a Doodle breed specific behavior.  My two guys play pretty rough, but they know each other well and can read each other's body language so they know just how far to go.  I would really worry that she's going to grab the collar of some dog who isn't going to like it, and then you could have a dangerous issue for your puppy.  Also if the other owners don't like the way your puppy is behaving around their dogs, I would not allow it to continue.  There is also a real danger of two dogs with collars playing this way....the collars can get attached to each other which is really frightening.  That happened with my two dogs and it was terrifying trying to get them detached....my little guy could not breathe.  That's why at Daycares they always remove the collars as soon as the dog arrives, and I never allow them to have their collars on in the house.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Murphy did that at the dog park and although I feel its his dog talk for "lets play" it does bother some owners. My thoughts we always if the dogs involved were wagging their tails and coming back for more play, not trying to run away or acting afraid, then I'd see what the owner acted like and it's usually easy to read the human's body language as well. I usually have to stop him from doing the neck pecking thing, and he doesn't seem to like it done to him either. 

I used to take them often as we have a very nice, well maintained dog park very close to our home, but a few fleas and a few rude owners pretty much took the joy out of it for us, so we haven't gone for well over a year or more.  Don't miss it at all. 

PS. I should add that having two dogs running in all directions at the dog park was just too complicated to keep track of what each was doing, with who and which owner was attached to the dog.  And having two pretty much negates the reason for them going to the park as they play together all day. 

[Jenny and Cooper]

We take Cooper to the dog park once a week and he also meets up with other dogs at our local park. What you described sounds almost like how Cooper and his friends play. Like the others say, so long as the other owner is ok with it, then just let them have fun. We do however make sure that (1) both tails are wagging the whole time (2) none of them are yelping more than twice (short yelp - sometimes one accidentally gets a little too rough (3) no humping (4) both take turn being on its back. At first it looks scary to me too how they play with all those teeth showing. Lol. After being there for a while, we learned to read and understand how they play. We also watch Cooper like a hawk when he wrestles and plays with other dogs.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

My guys play extremely rough with each other but they really dial it back when playing with other dogs and are very calm. Not sure if that helps at all but I thought I would mention it :)