Dutch Shepherd Forum

A new dog park opened up in my town recently. I've taken my dog Kali twice so far. She seems to like it quite a bit, but I'm wondering if we can do something to help her be a little more friendly. She is VERY protective of my and my family, and won't let any dogs get near us usually. I'm just wonder how your dogs do at the dog park, and if you have any advice.

Thanks, Kalinoodlesoup

I don't take Bramble to dog parks. Closest we've gotten is working obedience on the road to the park.

The risk isn't worth the reward for me. One incident and not only could Bramble be hurt, or catch some bug (germ kind or flea kind), but then we'd be without the work she does.

Plus Bramble is still dog reactive when she isn't in work mode.

But again Bramble is training to be a service dog so our risk reward calculation is a little different.

A lot of us here have an unpopular perspective on dog parks.
I took my Shiloh Shepherd to a dog park for a short time when she was younger. There were a few very gory dog fights resulting from negligent owners with dogs that had no reason to be there off leash and un-muzzled. My dog Aurora, was easy going and gregarious. There were precious few owners there that watched their dogs for signs of mood change. Also, Aurora contracted two separate communicable diseases while we were frequenting the dog park.
I love to let Endeavor have down time to run and play with another dog. I think a lot of us here do that by finding just one or two dogs & owners that our dogs naturally flow with.
I reckon the most important thing I can say is to not let the dog park be the pinnacle of your dogs existence. Your dog should always look at you as the most interesting thing around. It's tedious to build that engagement. And it's ongoing. My only advice is to never let the dog park take the place of your own time with your dog.

I'm terrible at catching mood changes. I miss those ears going up, then respond too late.

Sheesh...I have this vision of dogs playing, Rocket playing and suddenly a happy dog comes running over and jumps up on me.
Play time over. Mr Hyde and Taz are back.

Perfect timing for this article....

https://www.collared-scholar.com/play-s ... periences/

Used to take Grace to the dog park by me. Haven't been back since she was calmly sitting next to me and another dog ran up to pick a fight with her. The other dog, a shepherd mix of some kind, just came bolting over and bit her paw as Grace reared back. She needed 4 staples to close up the wound. She was miserable with her cone of shame on for two weeks. We just do dog daycare now, the actual monetary cost is worth her getting to play/socialize/whatever in a controlled environment with known dogs.