Dog owners who isolate their dogs. Why?

[Anonymous]

We adopted a rescue at about 3 years old. He is very reactionary and unpredictable with other dogs. We don’t take him to the dog park because we’re concerned about safety for the other dogs. OP you are very judgy and you don’t know every dog’s story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We adopted a rescue at about 3 years old. He is very reactionary and unpredictable with other dogs. We don’t take him to the dog park because we’re concerned about safety for the other dogs. OP you are very judgy and you don’t know every dog’s story.

I'm not OP but I'm another poster who appreciates dog parks. Do you not see that part of your dog's reactivity is likely because he was never socialized properly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We adopted a rescue at about 3 years old. He is very reactionary and unpredictable with other dogs. We don’t take him to the dog park because we’re concerned about safety for the other dogs. OP you are very judgy and you don’t know every dog’s story.

I'm not OP but I'm another poster who appreciates dog parks. Do you not see that part of your dog's reactivity is likely because he was never socialized properly?

Dog trainer: 90% of it is genetics. If you think of reactivity as a continuum, dogs are born at a certain location. You can move 10% towards friendlier/more reactive with training, and you can absolutely jump 50 pegs down with a terrible experience, but in general the dog's temperament is genetics.

Going to a dog park would absolutely not make a scared dog (most reactive dogs are fearful) more confident.

[Anonymous]

Socializing =/= interacting with other dogs.

Appropriate puppy "socialization" should really be named "acclimation". You want your puppy to think seeing other dogs/people/trucks/noises/surfaces/textures is normal and not worthy of any kind of response, positive or negative. It is just normal.

A dog park is not socialization in any good way.

[Anonymous]

My dog isn’t aggressive but she has serious anxiety around any dog who is not smaller than she is. She growls, doesn’t like anyone to sniff her butt, and is not good with any but tiny dogs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You thinking poodles are not aggressive or that you can judge this by a look says your opinion on dog behavior or dogs in general is woefully uninformed. That and you thinking you could possibly know a dog better than it's owner. By looking at it.

?? Who said poodles are never aggressive? I didn’t. Did another poster? Link? My point is that an aggressive poodle does not kill. A pit bull can and will.

And yes, certain breeds have been bred to be aggressive and also bred to kill- versus a retriever who is bred to retrieve and with a soft mouth. I won’t take a chance with those breeds bred to kill. This is common sense and what most people believe.

Anyone who thinks retrievers come with magically "soft" mouths, genetically, never owned a retriever puppy.

Your "point" is just a regurgitated trope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Socializing =/= interacting with other dogs.

Appropriate puppy "socialization" should really be named "acclimation". You want your puppy to think seeing other dogs/people/trucks/noises/surfaces/textures is normal and not worthy of any kind of response, positive or negative. It is just normal.

A dog park is not socialization in any good way.

This. People try to "socialize" their dogs the way they try to force children to socialize and it's ridiculous.

Dog parks are overstimulating environments that exacerbate bad habits. Add to that poor training and misunderstandings about how to actually raise and acclimatize a dog and you get problems. Zero breeds magically avoid those pitfalls. Dog parks are trouble waiting to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love dog parks but it seems that a lot of people on here can’t handle any stress at all, and despite claiming they know so much about dogs, they don’t seem to understand how dogs behave and learn from each other. It is no wonder there are so many reports of reactive dogs by the people on here. If you go to some of the parenting posts on here too, there are also some clearly high anxiety people who post.

Every dog I’ve ever had has done very well in dog parks. But that is partially because I don’t catastrophize every interaction. As example, there’s a dog we see regularly who always tries to hump my dog. Ok, my dog nips at him when she gets tired of it. I don’t flee the park, swearing to never go back because my dog was ‘attacked’. This last week, my dog took another dogs ball and the dog went after my dog fairly aggressively. My dog yelped and dropped the ball. Lesson learned. None of these interactions would make us stop going to a dog park, and my dog (and me) are stable and flexible enough not to be terrified by these normal interactions. It seems that many people on here are egg shell, and they end up with egg shell dogs. It’s unfortunate for their dogs.

The only exception to this I have is pit bulls. I don’t trust them - their kill instinct is too strong- and we avoid playing in parks with them.

Lengthy rant about how "a lot of people on here can't handle any stress at all" followed by baseless trope about "kill instincts". But sure, sure. It's the other people who are "clearly high anxiety" "egg shell" and the like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You thinking poodles are not aggressive or that you can judge this by a look says your opinion on dog behavior or dogs in general is woefully uninformed. That and you thinking you could possibly know a dog better than it's owner. By looking at it.

All dogs are fine except for "pit bulls" and anything that "looks pit" is a killer on DCUM. Didn't you know? Only pit bulls bite/kill/maim/deserve baseless shaming. All threads in the pet forum can and will be derailed by the anti-pit troll.

It's just the sad reality of how things are here.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t read any answers but I can answer the OP.

Our dog (when he was living) didn’t love dog parks. We tried many many times. He loved it for 2 minutes. Best time ever. Then it was clear he loved people / us so much more than dogs.

After a while, for all the trouble of taking him and going through double dates, having fun for 2 minutes, then just coming over to be pet by us.. we just stayed home. Plus when we moved, we were in a weird traffic position to get to the dog park and back, it killed any more chance of going.

[Anonymous]

*double gates

[Anonymous]

We’ve had a dog for 15 years and absolutely skip dog parks.

It’s overwhelming and I can’t trust anyone’s dog.

[Anonymous]

I was bit by a dog at a dog park, and Urgent Care doc said she sees a lot of people who’ve experienced the same

[Anonymous]

I dot go to dog parks because I don’t want to talk to the other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved the dog parks when mine was a puppy. The concept is great for the dogs and owners that it fits. But around two, he became less predictable and fussier about which dogs he liked. He's big and bulky, so that made me nervous he could inadvertently hurt a smaller dog, especially if startled.

Also, some owners get how dogs correct each other, but plenty don't know and think the dog is being aggressive when they didn't properly observe the preceding behavior by the pup behaving badly.

This is exactly it. It’s often high strung owners

I think we know the difference! My dog was attacked and the dog would not let go of my dog's neck until two men beat the dog off. I think we know this was an attack and not a 'correction' stop gaslighting us.