so... i took orion to the local dog park (not too crowded) 3 weeks ago. he rather liked it - it took him about a half hour to settle in and stop sniffing every leaf, stick, blade of grass, and tree : but he played a bit with the other dogs and slept all the way home after that. so i thought it a nice little success, and returned yesterday. well. we arrived, and there were 3 other dogs there..... this dog park is separated by weight (as i suspect most are)... over 30 pounds, under 30 pounds. i noticed straightaway that 2 of the 3 dogs in the over 30 pound section were UNDER 30 pounds (and i do mean LITTLE dogs - the yappy sort)... one was a kind of daschund mix and the other was one of those small foofy dogs that thinks he's goliath. the third dog was a much older pit, very sweet to me, but not too tolerant of my young upstart. :-\ so i thought, we'll give it a go... let orion in. straightaway, all three dogs ran to him and they did the sniff sniff sniff hello routine... i stood off a bit and observed, and everything seemed to be all right. orion kept trying to make friends with the older pit, and the older pit would bark and air-snap at him every time he did, and frightened him. i called him over away from the pit and found some toys for him to play with, and he sniffed around a bit as well. then a FOURTH dog showed up... some sort of boxer/great dane mix (picture a boxer body and head on great dane legs - this dog was ENORMOUS, taller than my tall boy and a month younger!)... so now we have 3 male dogs, 2 of them puppies and neither is neutered, and... it quickly descended into chaos - the new dog was very pushy with orion and orion started to bark and that just set the three of them into a circling, barking frenzy, with the pit doing his air snaps and the new great dane/boxer jumping on TOP of orion every so often, which scared him.... at this point, i decided enough was enough (this all happened very quickly, in perhaps 5 minutes) and i sort of herded orion off away from the others then got his harness on and left. did i do the wrong thing??? none of them was growling or snapping (except mr. pit and his air-snaps nowhere near other dogs), but i was beginning to get quite alarmed because orion was CLEARLY upset and scared and i didn't want him to form a bad association or possibly get hurt by that galumping boxer/dane jumping all over him.... i KNOW the boxer/dane is a puppy, but still, he was MUCH bigger than orion and jumping ON TOP OF HIM. *sigh* i did make the departure very positive - i petted orion, got his harness on, calm and kind words, and walked him out quite normally - no panic or rushing or pulling - and then he had his water and his treat and hopped into my car... so it wasn't as if we left all in a shambles.
Re: Dog Park Disaster (?) Actually it sounds like you were very wise and kept calm and positive. I think you did the right thing in going before it got worse. I would call it a successful outcome rather than a disaster. I suppose you should go back to bury the ghost and plan on taking treats and toys for a quick visit. Don't expect there to be a problem and your confident attitude will help. Not that I am an expert! I thought every dog was a potential problem when I started out with my pup and I just had to get over that for her sake ( I did but I am still wary).
Re: Dog Park Disaster (?) I think you did the right thing, and calmly too so he will remember the calm and treat more than the chaotic park I would imagine.
Re: Dog Park Disaster (?) thank you all... i do feel a bit better about it. i think i was just worried that i had somehow made him think something bad/negative, and/or had done the wrong thing by "getting into" a bit of a dog melee (although i was very careful not to get into the MIDDLE of it... i waited till orion was near me and sort of cut him off from the herd, so to speak, before petting and speaking to him). i really think those small dogs unsettled him, as well as mr. pit, and then when the boxer/dane showed up, that was just too much.
Re: Dog Park Disaster (?) Sounds like you done the right thing, can I borrow you when bouncer finaly gets to meet lucy (my dads dog)?
Re: Dog Park Disaster (?) You certainly did the right thing. It is the sort of situation that can very rapidly get out of hand.
Re: Dog Park Disaster (?) [quote author=Leanangle link=topic=7834.msg109860#msg109860 date=1410802071] Sounds like you done the right thing, can I borrow you when bouncer finaly gets to meet lucy (my dads dog)? [/quote] Absolutely! . Bit of a commute, but I'd love a return trip across the Pond!!!
Re: Dog Park Disaster (?) Thanks, everyone....I'll plan a quick return visit just as a pop in and meander a bit to help make it positive again...just need to sort out when the galumphing boxer/Dane will NOT be there!!
