Dog Park fighting
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I think a real fight should be broken up immediately.
A 'show' fight, dominance thing, can be left to work itself out if both owners are agreeable. I am talking about mouthing and posturing, not serious attack-fight.
And if one dog is bothering another, even in play, the owner should intervene. The idea of the park is that everyone have fun, so even if it is play and one dog is not happy about it, the owner needs to stop up to the plate and take their pesty dog away.
Too many folks seem to think their dog's play should be acceptable whether the other dog wants it or not!We are lucky that our park is pretty safe and friendly most of the time, but there are always going to be owners that are either oblivious or indifferent.
Hope Gizmo is OK!
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Did Gizmo try to hump the other dog?
The below picture is the result of a dog fight. AJ had to get staples to close the wound. This happened before I got him. It is the reason I am very careful in how I introduce him to new dogs. I know he has the propensity to be a jerk.
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@AJs:
Did Gizmo try to hump the other dog?
The below picture is the result of a dog fight. AJ had to get staples to close the wound. This happened before I got him. It is the reason I am very careful in how I introduce him to new dogs. I know he has the propensity to be a jerk.
Good example of what can happen. It's why I always keep Kananga on a tight lead when he's meeting a new dog. I've seen it happen before, it's never fun. Usually it catches everyone off guard.
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Not sure what triggered it AJs Human. He was just playing with a group of dogs and this one was among them, suddenly they went at it. Wouldn't surprise me if he did try to hump him…lol
Gizmo did have a small puncture wound on his lower leg. Didn't noticed it til later that day, and he didn't react as I looked at it.
This was the first time taking him to the dog park on the weekend. I usually go in the middle of the day, since I am unemployed. But I guess at the weekend is when the "grumpy" dogs get to play...haha!
There were several fights that day, before Gizmo got his (not the same dog). So I think I am gonna stay away from the park during the weekends. -
You folks are giving me second thoughts. My County is building a new dog park to be open this spring. I went to the old one by myself, just to see what it was like…not impressed. I have driven by the new site just by happenstance and it looks like it might be nice ( and closer/ easier to get to). But now I wonder if I should even try. I don't want to be the "bad" dog owner, nor do I want to have the "bad" dog. The only socializing that he gets are vet visits and the occasional trip to the pet store, and we rarely run into anyone on our walks. He's never been aggressive in these situations or even really seemed to care that much about anything other than the vet's cat. A dog park....I just don't know.....
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You have little to fear. I go almost every other day, and this is the first time Gizmo has gotten into any "serious" fight.
It's natural, and like they said; it does usually work itself out.
Gizmo loves going there, and that's the important thing. He will actually cry and whimper for the whole walk if we pass the Dog park and just go on a normal walk.
The amount of joy he gets out of being at the Dog park is worth the occasional fight.And trust me, when you see your dog running and having so much fun with the other dogs you just can't imagine taking that away from him/her.
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We would have to drive to the dog park. And I guess I would just have to be vigilant when/ if we go there come spring. I guess I should say that my backyard shares a property line with a park. We can go there whenever we want but I can't let him off-lead. I use one of the extended ones, 24' (I think), but it's just not the same as running free like he could at a dog park.
Just as an aside…this new dog park they are building...totally donations. Even though its the County doing it, the money came from dog washes, dog walks, bake sales, etc. The county provided the space. Sometimes the government does work with the people......:)
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Oh, and Nerdy, I do, most certainly, agree about seeing your dog have that kinda fun. With my last boy I also had a fella and we used to stay at his friends house and they had a mutt that they had literally resued from their front yard after being hit by a car. Needless to say they had a fence in the backyard and I took my boy there to visit many times. What joyful playing..it was so-o-o- fun. Lady outweighed Bisquit by over 100 pounds but they chest-butted one another,wrestled one another, and had each others heads in their mouths all the time. It was fun for me to watch. Gosh, I miss that more than that fella!!!
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I've taken my previous basenjis to the closest dog park and everything was fine for the most part. There were occasional dominance type snarkiness events but only once did a real fight start (and the owners pulled their dog immediately). Never encountered a jerky owner. But I was very careful not to go when the prime times were - Saturday mornings (and if I had a day off then around noon) were usually the times only a handful of dogs were there and it was easy to keep an eye on them.
I haven't taken Gossy since she goes to doggy care once a week and has a lot of fun there. Also I've discovered that though she is exceptionally friendly, if another dog becomes nasty aggressive to her, she will definitely fight back. So the dog park will require more vigilence on my part I think - this park is half wooded and kind of large - I'm a firm believer in owner socialization comimg second to keeping a watchful eye on the dogs.
