I took Axel to the dog park this morning. It was a beautiful mornjng, sunny and warm. We were by ourselves for about a half hour when this lady shows up with her rottie. I LOVE rotties, I had a hard time choosing between a lab or a rottie. Anyways, so this dog comes trotting in and I'm sitting on the bench and Axel gave it a quick 'yeah hi. Nice to meet you. What ever.' He doesn't play with dogs generally he loves getting the little dogs to chase him but that's about it. So off Axel went with his toy to entertain himself. So this rottie comes up to me all wiggles so I give him a good pet then I look over to the owner who was almost beside me by that point and I said 'good morning' and she says 'he's going to pee on you' and I'm shocked thinking, huh? And sure enough he was peeing on me, leg up and all. She didn't call him away or anything. Just basically told me yeah he's going to pee on you and that's all there is too it. So now I was annoyed. Then Axel comes over and lies down at my feet and leaves his toy. He NEVER does this so therefore I have a feeling he knew I was a bit annoyed by what had happened. So her rottie who is 11 months old comes up to Axel and starts sniffing his penis, and Axel just lied there, then the dog started to go to Axel's back end (I believe to hump Axel) and Axel told him off, which is fine, I don't blame him. So the rottie runs off, but then he comes right back and Axel full out snarled and snapped and chased him away. At which point I was nervous of what may happen so I called Axel and he came straight to me and he followed me out of the park no problems. I don't know why Axel lost it on him for coming back, maybe he read the doggy language. I've never seen him do that before. Is it because this rottie was a puppy? A very dominant puppy at that. Very much chest pushed out and trying to stand over Axel during their first meeting. I realize that older dogs will put a puppy in its place. But I was shocked and upset and just needed to vent I suppose.
Sounds like the rottie was excited so that could be why he peed on you but the owner should have called him away if she knows he does this regularly Axel may well have just had enough of the rottie pup sniffing his bits and pieces and trying to hump him so told him off, which I don't blame him for either. My dogs would most probably do the same. I don't like prolonged nether region sniffing either. Axel was a good boy for leaving the park with you when called x
You done the right thing calling Axel away. Some dogs don't know when enough is enough and Harley has told a few dogs off, especially if they try to hump her - it's something she hates and will tell dogs off if they try.
My gosh! Oban miscued a couple of times, till he learned which vertical surfaces were allowed, just as he learned which horizontal surfaces. But I was horrified, aghast, ashamed, embarassed when he did. I learned which owners to watch out for, interestingly they had dogs Oban didn't much care for. If they had dogs. That lady was an ignorant so and so. Axel might have been reacting to the puppy license if the Rottie was intact. Read at Puppy license to misbehave, about half way down: http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/dog-communication ETA: Did she offer to pay for cleaning? I did, with my neighbours. I didn't usually carry money on dog walks. The one and only neighbour refused and laughed but he reminds me of it often, when we meet.
Axel has every right to tell a rude puppy to back off. I wouldn't worry about his behaviour at all, if you are. No doubt he was also disturbed by the fact that the Rottie had pee-ed on you. And who knowingly lets their dog go up to someone and pee all over them??? Unbelievable.
After I moved out of the stream hitting my leg (I was sitting) I turned to her, who didn't offer an apology or anything, and I said 'oh it's ok, I was planning on washing these pants when I got home' her response was just a smile. Grrrr I'm not mad with the dog, maybe slightly annoyed, but he's a puppy and his owner should have been leading him away or something! Anyways, I'm not sure if he was neutered or not. Axel is neutered so that could have been the issues. I feel better now about Axel's reaction from everyone's response. I was definitely surprised, my sweet big goof who is bossed around by a Pomeranian, showing a different side of himself. Apparently Odie is the only one allowed near his bits (which he does daily) Now I know to avoid that lady if I run into her again at the dog park
Some people are astonishing... Don't worry about Axel; he could almost certainly tell you were annoyed, and then he became annoyed too at the puppy's lack of manners! Completely natural and understandable on his part.
How long is "prolonged"? I've always thought it completely normal for dogs to sniff (and lick) each other's nether regions, and am surprised when people get upset or find it distasteful. However, I can see, if Snowie sniffs for a long time (I'm not timing, I just know it's longer than usual), that it's preempting his mounting that dog, so I call him away or leash him up if he won't come away.
@Kelsey&Axel i remember the first time Snowie growled at a rude dog, I was convinced the sound came from elsewhere. My sweet, friendly boy growling? I was shocked. And so worried it meant he was aggressive cos the other dog was just a small Boston terrier. But he was in his rights and he was not being aggressive; he was simply saying: don't be so rude. He's done it a few times, but only with rude dogs. So I'm not worried. But I remember the first time and I was upset!
Axel was putting the Rottie in his place. It was probably unneutered and trying to show dominance by mounting Axel and maybe even to an extent peeing on you. I thought I read somewhere that it's not recommended to bring an unneutered puppy at its testosterone peak to a dog park due to do these kinds of problems. Even if it wasn't, it's wrong of the other owner to bring a dog with real bad manners to a dog park.
Arrrgh! I walked past our local dog park this morning and popped in to drop off Snowie's poo bag into the poo bin there. I wasn't planning on staying as I was heading down to the main road to run an errand, but I let Snowie off leash to have a little sniff around. The Boston I mentioned in my previous post was there, also off leash (I didn't recognise it at first; there was another Boston there, and there are several in my area). It ran up to Snowie and they sniffed each other and licked lips, and then Snowie continued to sniff the fence and the Boston then attacked Snowie, hung onto his ear. Snowie cried out in pain and then made his growly noise (it's more a sound from the throat) but couldn't shake the Boston off. I grabbed the Boston by his harness and yanked him off, luckily he let go of Snowie's ear (thankfully no broken skin that I could see). The owner came to get her dog and offered to leave the park, and said her dog doesn't like a couple of Labs, doesn't like them sniffing him. Such nonsense, but I was shaken in that moment and didn't have anything to say other than "Your dog shouldn't be biting other dogs". Snowie wasn't sniffing it at the time it attacked him; he had walked off and the Boston came after him. But anyway, now I know why he growled at it that very first time some years ago: he must've sensed it has bad intentions.
The Rottie's behaviour just sounds like youthful forwardness to me. Sniffing is totally normal, a humping attempt isn't unusual and the Rottie ran off (as opposed to backchatting) when Axel told him to. It failed to get the message and came back again for further investigation but that's pretty normal in a young and/or clueless dog. Nothing too bad there. Axel was still within his rights to say 'go away' though. The pee-ing on people is pretty unfortunate to say the least but I'd say the one with the seriously bad manners is the Rottie's owner, for letting the peeing happen.
Hi @Kelsey&Axel , sorry you had such an unpleasant experience with your lovely boy. Yes I agree that owner is seriously in the wrong. Very vexing.
These dog parks really only work if they are frequented by educated ,well mannered owners and that unfortunately is rarely the case .Sorry you had an upset and it can be a bit unnerving seeing and hearing your dog give a warning but that sounds like what Axel was doing and saying it more assertively the second time..11month old rotties must be quite big too so He may have looked a lot more threatening to Axel x
Well, if you ever see her again you know to pointedly move faaaar away from her and her dog. Let her feel awkward! Honestly, one day she's going to come across somebody who isn't going to react so politely to being peed on.
On no! Poor Snowie and you of course. If your dog doesn't like certain breeds then maybe don't bring it to the dog park, or at the very least stay very close to it to monitor how it will react. It's tough, in the heat of the moment it's hard to find the words we want to say.
Yes exactly. I wasn't really that annoyed with the rottie, more so just that it happened. But I was furious with the lady. If you know your dog pees on people how about use it has training opportunity to lure him away. Instead of just casually saying 'oh he's going to pee on you' maybe if she said 'look out!' Or something to try and showed that she cared what was about to happen then I wouldn't have been so mad. But there was nothing.
Thank you. Yes, good point about watching out for your dog's known behavior. I am terrible at finding the right words in the moment. I always come up with just the right thing to say... about a day later!
