[adrenaline681]

Hello, the first time I went to a dog park I had a bad experience with other dogs becoming overly dominant with my dog and pinning him in the ground. After coming here to ask about it people suggested not to take him to dog parks since there are dogs that are not trained properly and could become aggressive.

Since then I've just been walked him, maybe sometimes I let him say a quick hi to some dogs during the walks but I've been mostly focused on have him sit down when other dog is passing by and have him pay attention to me by giving him some treats and let him watch the dog pass (before he was pulling very hard to try to meet the passing dog).

I dont have friends that own a dogs so is very hard for me to find other dogs that he can be around, we take him to puppy classes once a week but there are many tiny dogs that just run away scared when he gets close to smell them prompting him to chase them and it all becomes a chaos so I don't let him play with them. There are 2 other dogs in that class that are around the same size so he plays a bit with them but that's all.

One day last week I passed through this fenced park where there were only a small dog and a golden retriever puppy which was around the same age than mine, so I thought it was a pretty safe environment for my dog to meet other dogs in a more free environment. He started chasing the golden puppy and then the golden puppy started chasing him, most of the time it was the other puppy chasing mine but sometimes they would take turns, my dog ran a lot and he seemed to be having a lot of fun.

Today I went to the park again and i thought, "well lets give it another try". When I walk in I'm watching very closely how other dogs react to my puppy before removing the leash and letting him go free. After a few minutes, all the dogs seemed friendly so I let him go free. We were there for about 10 min and this is the video of my dog playing with the other dogs at the end of our session.

PS: At the end this black and tan dog came (you can see in the video) and he was barking and behaving quite aggressively, getting into a small fight with the golden that you see around [you can see it around the second 0:59] (i was so surprised that the owner of the aggressive dog didn't seem to care at all). When I saw that I rapidly took my dog out of the park and left before anything could happen to my dog.

Now the question: Is this type of play healthy for my dog? Maybe not to take him there daily but maybe once or twice a week for 10-15min.

I can't really think of any other way of having him interact with other dogs and I want him to grow up thinking (hey other dogs are cool I have nothing to be afraid of)

VIDEO:
4 Month German Shepherd puppy playing chase

Many thanks!

 

[Thecowboysgirl]

What you describe about the nasty dog is why lots of ppl dont like dog parks. If you advocate well for your dog and other people's dogs and be careful maybe you'll get away with it. The trouble is sometimes bad things can happen very fast and have lasting consequences.

Your puppy was having a nice time. The BC at the beginning was not, but later seemed to be able to get your puppy to stop chasing it and feel better. If your puppy continued to chase an unhappy dog I'd step in but here they seem to have worked it out ok.

 

[adrenaline681]

What you describe about the nasty dog is why lots of ppl dont like dog parks. If you advocate well for your dog and other people's dogs and be careful maybe you'll get away with it. The trouble is sometimes bad things can happen very fast and have lasting consequences.

Your puppy was having a nice time. The BC at the beginning was not, but later seemed to be able to get your puppy to stop chasing it and feel better. If your puppy continued to chase an unhappy dog I'd step in but here they seem to have worked it out ok.

Maybe you are right but this is just a piece of the 10 minutes, he was there playing and the BC was chasing him before, and if you see around the minute 0:29 the BC goes back to where my puppy is and kinda does a "squatting" motion and then runs away (im not an expert but that looks like he is teasing him to chase him more).
To me, it seems the BC is also having a good time. Not sure what other people in here think.

But yea, you are right, if I notice the other dog is not enjoying it I will definitely take him away.
Also, this is only the second time he has been free in a park playing nicely with other dogs so he still needs to learn the do's and dont's and learn to tell the difference between when a dog wants to play and doesnt.

 

[davewis]

I struggled with this as well.

In the end, I decided that since I wanted a pet dog who enjoyed the company of other dogs. I wanted him to learn normal dog social cues. If, as he gets older, he doesn't like other dogs, I would like him to behave civility around them.

After quite a bit of searching, I found a daycare I liked and trusted. I bought a 10 pack of 1/2 day visits. My plan is for him to go twice a week for five weeks and then reassess his progress towards our goals. I figured it was better to learn social skills in an environment I trusted than to learn them in one I didn't trust.

I checked out a couple of puppy play-date type events. But at 6-months, 70 pounds, and high energy, it didn't feel like a good fit for us.

 

[MineAreWorkingline]

I think the Border Collie had a blast with your puppy. IMO, the BC was disturbed by the black Schnauzer looking dog. If you continue to go, I would ask the BC owner when are they usually are there so your pup can play. He was having a great time and getting excellent exercise set at his own pace.

 

[tim_s_adams]

I watched the video several times...and didn't see anything at all to be concerned about!

The BC was tucking it's tail just prior to a spin. IMO that's more technique than it was discomfort. You can tell by how quickly the tail goes back up after the spin.

And the schnauzer was just being a schnauzer and having fun.

You can learn a lot by watching your dogs' reaction, more than you can by attempting to read the other dog yourself. Notice how your dog happily gave chase to the schnauzer? Clearly that was play and in no way defensive.

I'd say your dog had a great time!

Personally, I think that letting your puppy work through a little stress is a good thing! Life is not all roses. Best they learn how to handle that early on...