Dog park behaviour. Harmless or aggressive?

[Lauri & The Gang]

Originally Posted by PaddyD

Why would you not neuter a male unless he was going to breed at least twice a year? It's not fair to him to torture him with natural needs that he can't satisfy.

Sorry but that's just bunk. Dogs do not have 'natural NEEDS'. My boy Riggs was intact for 7 years. He was only breed once. In those 7 years he NEVER was tortured. He also wasn't around intact females all the time.

Mauser is coming up on 2 years of age, is intact and has never been breed. He HAS been around an intact female - my Chinese Crested. He's lived through 2 of her heats and while he does go off his food for a bit and gets really obnoxious and whiny during the peak of her heat, he is NOT being tortured. When she goes out of season he's back to normal.

Originally Posted by travistee

...With larger dogs he will growl or bark at them and chase them. ... I don't know what set him off but, he made a loud growl like the dog I described before. He chased the other dog growling and snapping at him. The other dog ended up on his back with Kiai's paw on his chest growling loudly in his face. ... the smaller dog came over to Kiai and growled at him. Kiai did not back off and it ended with Kiai's foot on the other dogs chest.

These are all signs of dominance. Not necessarily a bad thing per day but not something you want in a dog that goes to dog parks.

I think that if a smaller dog wants to show he is dominant with a larger dog, then that is how they sort out the pack order. There was no biting and I think that if the dogs were left to figure it out on their own the other dog would learn not to try to be dominant with larger dogs.

A dog park is NOT the place to do this. There is no 'pack' at the park - it's ever changing. Dogs want to establish pack ranking in groups that DON'T change.

My boy Mauser has been growing more and more dominant towards other dogs. His days of dog parks are on hold until he gets neutered and we see if that changes anything.

Not ALL dogs are good dog park candidates. The problem is that one day your dog could decide to take things to the next level before you can stop him and someone is going to get seriously hurt.

[jsherry]

I feel for you in that it always seems that the people at dog parks seem to blame the GSDs, Rotties, and "big dogs" when something goes wrong; even when those dogs don't start it.

I would do something about the behavior. If for no other reason than to protect yourself from the ignorant dog owners at the dog park!

[GSD_man]

Originally Posted by chicagojosh

...one trainier who taught Schutzand (spelled wrong i know)

yes, it's SCHUTZ HUND

Schutz = Protection
Hund = Dog

The funny thing about this is that the US Schutzhund sport, doesn't really have to much about protection dogs.

[GSD_man]

Originally Posted by trish07

Why didn't you neurtered him? Want him to "have" a litter? If you don't plan to have a litter, I think, you should neurtered him. No male, even human, would love to live an entire life without....well...you know

I don't know for you, but my bf will be upset if he could never have "fun time". This is nature. If you want him to stay "intact", at least, have him for a date 1 or 2 times a years lol....a lot of pressure need to be released

This is a family board Trish07. You need to keep a lot of your sexual thoughts for yourself!

[AgileGSD]

Not all dogs are appropriate for group play and it is up to owners to be responsible enough to see and accept that. IME this sort of thing is not at all uncommon with mature GSDs, especially males. They are dogs who are very "into" their people and many bond closely to dogs they live with. IME most, at best don't have much interest in interacting with strange adult dogs once they mature. And some behave aggressively to strange dogs, who for whatever reason rub them the wrong way. Of course everyone who goes to dog parks will now say how their GSD loves it Obviously not all dogs within a breed will behave the same way. I can say in the 9 years I worked at doggy daycare, mature GSDs proved to be one of the more difficult dogs to manage in group play. I love the breed but they were never intended to be happy-go-lucky, never-met-a-stranger sorts.

There is no reason that your dog has to go to a dog park and learning how to bully other dogs is not really great for socialization. For GSDs, "fun time" is being with their people - think about joining a training class for obedience, agility, tracking or an activity that interests you. Take him swimming, biking or do weight pulling or other owner-dog type activities. Take your dog for hikes a Flexi or long lead or take him somewhere to let him run (use a very long line so you can get him back quickly if need be).