(Marco at a Rally Obedience trial which helps fine tune obedience skills)
Luckily Marco’s play
skills have come back but I take some preventative measures. Marco needs to
keep focused on me in a sit or down or moving heel when a dog is approaching.
He is not allowed to charge them. If the dog seems like a “target” he would
usually try to herd then he cannot go play until he has truly calmed down and
preformed a nice curving greeting.
A few weeks ago we were
practicing at Southland when a large retriever approached. Marco has a hard
time with retrievers so he was waiting in his down stay while my other dogs
went over to say hi. The dog hung out with them and we had no issues. When the
couple who owned the retriever came over the lady asked why Marco couldn’t
play. I said because he tries to herd larger dogs and we’re working on this behavior
issue. She promptly said I don’t mind if they play rough. This took me back in
all honesty. My response was that I did mind and that her dog could get hurt.
She didn’t seem to think anything bad could happen from my slightly smaller dog
tackling hers.
Needless to say Marco
didn’t get to play with that dog. He was an older guy who had interactively
positively with everyone else and didn’t need a maniac Aussie hanging off his
back. He also never approached Marco on his own for a sniff greeting so I took
that to mean that he didn’t want to meet Marco.
What I learned from
this is that most people don’t understand what appropriate play is. And this
isn’t the first time this has happened with Marco. A gentleman with an Airedale
had the same response. I find this disconcerting. Marco looks pretty innocent
by nature. He is a mostly white dog with startling blue eyes. He is around
45lbs and fluffy. He can get away with murder except I’m not fooled. I’m
attempting to do two things by working with him at the park. The first is restoring
appropriate social skills and the second is keeping everyone else’s dog safe. I
don’t understand why the owner of the dog at risk would be alright with Marco
hurting them.
You need to protect
your dog. This means if you see a dog coming that looks like trouble then go
the other way. By trouble I mean: out of control, distance increasing barking
(those barks that make you want to back up), snapping, crazy chasing or
roughhousing, mounting and other undesirable behavior. This has nothing to do
with breed for the record but the individual dog. I also check out the owners…
are they paying attention, interacting with their dog, pausing to reward at
times, etc. If they aren’t then I am out of there or my dogs are in stays with
me. I’m responsible for their wellbeing because they can’t be. Just like if you
have your kids at the playground you need to pay attention and would stop
another child from hurting them. Dog parks are unruly places that really need a
bylaw officer presence but don’t seem to have it. So take some responsibility
and do right by your dog. Rough play with a stranger dog is never okay. Two dogs
that know each other well can have a slightly more aggressive style and still
be able to calm themselves down (within reason) but a strange dog will not have
that relationship with your dog.
Pay attention to your
dog and keep him/her safe. It’s your job as your dog’s guardian.
