Dog Park Behavior

[bonnie Sullivan]

Louie will be 1 year old in a few weeks. Recently at the dog park he seems to pick on a particular dog and barks and barks at it, chases it, and sometimes even nips at his legs. The dogs he selects seem a bit submissive, but we don't like this behavior. Has anyone experienced this?

[GBK]

Keep us posted, good luck! The last straw for us was chasing our silly girl down the Ocean Beach dog beach as she chased a lady in a wide brimmed hat arghhhhhhh.

[bonnie Sullivan]

Oh boy- Somehow I'm glad to hear I don't have the only crazy LD. Will let you know how the collar works.

[bonnie Sullivan]

Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences and for your advice. If we can catch Louie (sometimes another person will help) we do give him a time out and tell him no, but the next time he does it again. We talked to another doodle owner at the park who says their dog does the same thing. I actually think he wants to play- he doesn't act aggressive, but it is still not acceptable. Perhaps we will try the doggie day care idea. Otherwise, I guess all we can do is try to be consistent on time outs and if needed, leave the park early. BTW, we've seen other breeds do this too, not that it makes it OK. I hope he will grow out of it.

[Kyoko]

I am glad to hear that this is sort of a common issue.....
I just don't want her to do this, because she may one day snap at the wrong dog, and get bit.
Charlie's trainer said that since this is situational, it is from her uncertainty with new dogs, people, etc.....
I like Jane's idea... I am going to work on "Drop it " and "Leave it" much more to prevent the situation from happening....

[Sessa]

There are lots of ways to consider all these things being discussed...the key is that at a dog park, every dog starts off on equal footing with each other but it is instinctual for dogs to want to sort out the pecking order within ANY given group that comes together (either briefly or for extended periods of time)....

Frankly--just standing around and milling about at a dog park is what can cause issues to arise--especially if you have a bunch of owners just standing around and talking to each other rather than minding their dogs....We love our dog park--BUT---we keep on the move....we either keep walking around on the paths or move from one side of the park to the other or play ball....we just don't stand around. ;)

My first suggestion to your specific situation is to reintroduce the leash and work on your recall...the recall should become good enough to not only stop the "chase" from starting but will actually pull a dog out of the "chase" mode while in it....longer leads work great in a dog park situation--more freedom of movement for them and ease of correction for you...

Also, work on "leave it"....the "leave it" command should effectively tell the dog that you have decided that the other dog is not worth it....again, its a hard one but it can be very useful and important in the future (with a whole slew of other occasions too)....as the pack leader, you decide the WHO/WHEN/WHERE of everything, including play interaction---if the dog decides on his/her own w/out your consultation, then nothing will ever stop him/her for making decisions about everything....slippery slope, indeed.

I say all this in light of having a "referee dog" myself....
that's the term I use for a dog that likes to "police" everyone else's good time...
long story short,
if a particular dog is being obnoxious or pesky within the group,
my Mija doodle will single them out and bark at them...occasionally will shoulder/hip check the dog...
now, mind you--its not that she picks out "submissive" dogs...
nor, that she is picking out necessarily unstable dogs...
its just that when play gets escalated, so does her energy.
My solution---I remove her from the situation coupled with the correction "leave it" or "that's enough"...she's promptly put on the leash and given a time out.
I've also come to associate these "referee" episodes with her getting tired---she's more cranky when tired and obviously has less patience for other obnoxious dogs (can't blame her on that count--LOL!)

Hope this helps...
let me know if I can offer other suggestions...I tend to be full of them (for good or bad, LOL)
Keep up the great work and we'll look forward to hearing updates!!!
:)

[bonnie Sullivan]

I started this discussion because of Louie focusing on a particular dog and barking endlessly at it. Per the suggestion of one of you replying, I got a citronella collar. It immediately worked wonders! However, since it is triggered by the sound of a bark, it squirted at him when another dog barked near him. So I would not recommend it for a dog park situation. We don't use it at the dog park, but it works great for around the house. I used to have to crate Louie when I vacuumed- the barking made the job even worse. Now he follows me around like a sweet little helper and never barks or bites at the cord. Now if I can only teach him to do the actual vacuuming:)
Bottom line, the collar was worth the $20+ on Amazon, even if I only had to use it once!

[GBK]

Fantastic, glad it helped :)