Do you know your dog park etiquette?

Another place where Donna gets fearful in is the dog park. The first time we brought her there, she had a little bit of fun inspecting the the grass, sniffing the golden retrievers who were older and not too interested in playing with her. Her terror started when a school-age boy brought in his small dog and the first thing that dog did was  to rush towards one of the Golden Retrievers, which in turn ran away from the rushing dog and unfortunately, both headed in the direction of Donna. = =!

Poor Donna tried hiding under the park bench and then jumped onto the bench as the Golden Retriever ran headlong to the park bench and plonked itself by the bench while the small dog played merrily around the two harried dogs. Donna could not be persuaded to leave the bench for a long time afterwards.

At first I felt bad for not having been able to protect Donna from the rushing dogs, but at the same time, I didn’t want to pet and comfort Donna and make her feel she was right for being scared and to reinforce that behaviour. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I sat with Donna on the park bench and watched the other dogs having fun, hoping that by not being tense myself, Donna will stop being nervous and frightened after a while.

Many people may pooh pooh the problem and blame other, insecure dogs for being scared. However,  when you turn the situation around and imagine we were talking about kids at the playground, it would all seem very different

image from – http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/dog-park-etiquette-rules

The next time we visited the dog park, it was empty, but it seemed Donna’s memories have already ingrained a fear of the place for her and the minute she entered the dog park, her tail tucked between her legs and she made a beeline for the park bench.

Thankfully, a lady with a beagle came along and after a suitable period of assuring herself that the beagle was not an alien, that the beagle was harmless, Donna finally got down the bench to inspect the beagle warily. They even had a game of chase-chase. But that fun was short-lived.

A dog walker came along with big dogs – french bulldog, labradoodle, golden retriver, some hound-type of dog – and they all rushed in = = ! So yes, the same flight to the park bench played out.

Inwardly, I wish dog walkers are dog trainers who are good at making sure dogs don’t rush into dog parks, and that parents have good guidance for kids that help the kid to ensure his dog doesn’t rush into dog parks. But then that will be a perfect world, and we know that’s just not going to happen.

So, the help Donna to get rid of her fears at the dog park training continues. And predictable the opening scene has been and will be

Flight to the Park Bench,

followed by These Dogs are Not Aliens,

followed by Perhaps We can Play Chase-Chase,

followed by I am Inspector Grass,

and then the humans will be tired and the grand finale of our soap opera will come along Let Us Go Home.

After the first bad experience at the dog park, I was interested in what we were doing wrong to have resulted in the bad experience for the dog, so I did some research. To be honest, it made me feel better that maybe the problem was not only me, that I was not able to protect the dog, but that it could also a problem with the other owners.

If you are interested to know more about helping dogs play well and safely in the dog park,

Dr Sophia Yin has a great poster on Dog Park Etiquette that can be downloaded for free as well as tips how to train a dog to prevent him from being part of any unhappy situation that may escalate in a dog park in the dog park.

Southslope.org has a nice Dog Park Etiquette Poster with lots of useful tips for adults and for parents with children on how we can help make the dog park an enjoyable place for all humans and dogs and also what to do, if a fight breaks out. Although, I don’t think I can break up a fight, Donna and I at least can stay along the sidelines and er… inspect the grass. :P