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Old July 15th, 2007, 05:22 AM
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lt_danish lt_danish is offline
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Bad dog park experience

*first post in months, good to be back*

So I was feeling bad that I left my dogs all night when I was working a night shift (although my partner was at home) so I decided to talk them for a nice walk to the dog park at 8am. I forgot that the morning dog park people are a 'different breed' of dog park people if you will.

I have recently aquired a rescue chihuahuan (male) of an unknown age/back ground (about 8-10months?) and I have my 10 month old staffy/heeler (female). I had my female off leash as I often do at the dog park because she has been doing very well at recall and not jumping on people. Then I see my dog start to run and I see this lady holding one of those chuck-it ball throwers and another ball in her other back and a fanny pack with milk-bones. I attempted to call my dog but as I learned from our dog classes it would be an almost impossible recall. The woman starts waving the balls around in the air as my dog gets close, then she leaps into the air to try and get on out of the ladies hand. I had called to the lady to drop her balls as my dog ran towards her as she yelled back to get my dog under control.

Apparently my dogs nails had hurt her knee when she jumped on her and I felt really bad. Apologizing but the woman was not just pissed off at me. Another dog owner and on looker tried to assure me that I hadn't done anything wrong.

Sigh, we will have to play on leash again at the dog park I see.

My dog never plays with balls (she doesn't like to drop them, instead eats them) so I don't buy them for her. They are the ULTIMATE prize! Any suggestions on how to make her less interested in balls? This is her only trigger (aside from waving treats in the air) for jumping on people.
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Old July 15th, 2007, 07:22 AM
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Lukka'sma Lukka'sma is offline
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People with tennis balls are one of my biggest complaints at the off leash parks where I live too. They aren't allowed and it is posted that no toys are to be brought into the park. It causes aggression and far too much fighting between the dogs. When I used to take Lukka she would steal all the tennis balls....she also would eat them and spend the next few hours choking and coughing and it was just a bad idea for her to have things like that, so once I was able to get them away from her at the park (which could take some effort) I would walk to the closest fence and when the dogs were not looking I would toss it as far and in as much bush as possible. It never bothered me that the human owner of the tennis ball would be standing there expecting me to surrender it to them and many times I had told them that the tennis ball would not be finding it's way back to them once I got it from my dog. They would be mad...and I would tell them to ****ing bad.
As far as the jumping up part. Lukka has done that before and knocked one fellow flying when she jumped up on him as she was running full tilt toward his dog and at the last minute veered off in his direction and jumped on him. I posted my concerns here and how upset she had made me by jumping on this guy and you know what the majority of the forum said........You go to a dog park, you better expect to get jumped on! So I will now pass that on to you
and I see no reason why your dog can't be off leash. Jumping up and playing is expected at the park. It's the place where your dog can let go and just act silly.
I have no idea's on how to stop the tennis ball triggers but I do hope that you continue to take your pooch and let her have a blast at the park.
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Old July 15th, 2007, 01:53 PM
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Smiley14 Smiley14 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lt_danish View Post
...I see this lady holding one of those chuck-it ball throwers and another ball in her other back and a fanny pack with milk-bones.....
Is this woman STUPID?! Toys and especially treats are banned from dog parks for a very good reason. She is just asking to be the cause of trouble. But yet, she is "pissed."
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Old July 15th, 2007, 02:20 PM
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mummummum mummummum is offline
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I couldn't agree more with the "no balls/toys" in a leash free park. My three dogs know how to play with and to one another ~ they understand their own rules and more importantly, my rules. But a new dog added to the play just tilts the machine.

Maybe I am a little "loose" in my expectations but when I go to the dog park the only thing I do not tolerate is bullying and attacks. I expect serious chasing including rough play and jumping on each other and jumping (in glee) on people and lots of dirt flying ~ in short I expect dogs to act exactly as dogs should in exuberant play.

If I want to play ball with the dogs I do so ONLY when there are no other dogs in the park or I know the owner well and know that I expect them to will stay in "their end". The woman you encountered clearly needs a polite "riot act" read to her about proper park behaviour.

But, if you want to work with your dog on this you could look at the "leave it" (some people use "ignore") command. It will mean having a partner during training. Start off small, with a ball on the ground and graduate incrementally to having your training partner do what the woman in the park was doing ( to me that seems like the ultimate, "Come get me !" target).

Last edited by mummummum; July 15th, 2007 at 02:24 PM.
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