[Dailydrool] Dogparks

[Val lbrewerzwick via Dailydrool]

Well, today we signed off on dogparks, wistfully.  The late Commander Bo and the late Harley of Hawaii, in their primes, LOVED dogparks and felt crestfallen if asked to leave before three hours of play minimum had passed. Dogparks were a joyful part of their and our lives. Dogpark!  WAhoo! Dog fun fun fun.

But my current crew, Mariah, Mila, and Ipo are simply not suited to this setting.  Mila, bless her heart, is cordial to everyone at a dogpark but is also fairly disinterested,. After an initial Howdydo to everyone, Mila is predisposed to nap. 

Mariah tends to be a brat.  Initially cordial, she then goes into a volley of defensive  barking if any dog larger than she is approaches her.   She is not exactly aggressive, but rather is fear defensive regarding bigger dogs, I would say, unless the dog is her size or smaller. Mariah gets over this with time if forced to behave, to her credit, but the initial phases are difficult and clearly she does not enjoy herself.  I should no doubt work with her to overcome her biases towards big dogs, but I have not done so so far, except in cases where the big dogs are visiting our home. In those cases, I have prevailed, and peace prevails after the initial rough introductions, but the training has not generalized  from these experiences as of yet and I am remiss in instituting concerted training. 

 And Ipo ( our pit mix) is Miss Protective.  Ipo takes seriously her self-imposed duty to protect the bassets and me ( I do not need protecting at the dogpark, so stand apart from the other owners at a dogpark, who sit together, so that Ipo does not feel she needs to keep other dogs checking in with their people away from me).  But until today Ipo loved the dogbark and ran and played with the other dogs with joy.    Ipo is not a first strike aggressive dog but is rather a somewhat protective of.  I have taken Ipo to the park a couple of times without the bassets, mainly because Ipo has so enjoyed playing with big friendly dogs with joyful abandon.  Today, a youngish not- neutered male mastiff half again larger than  Ipo's size (Ipo is a spayed female, a mid size dog of about forty pounds; the young mastiff was probably 80+ pounds) aggressively jumped Ipo with snarls and teeth.  Ipo appeared to be frightened but was game, of course, true to her partly pit breed, and flashed back with teeth and spirit, ending the assault.  No blood shed.   No injuries.  Afterwards Ipo clearly asked me to leave the park (sitting on my feet and looking up at me, then walking to the gate of the park, and then returning to sit my feet again and look up at me.). So we left. I have no issue with Ipo.

But I have decided we don't belong in a dogpark. I am hopeful that the owner of the mastiff will decide to neuter her dog at some point as well.






Val