The dogs that go to our dog park are well behaved and have responsible owners. From the way others describe their dog parks, yes? I would avoid those. Maybe we lucked out with ours.

I have standard poodles and many other dogs don't like the way they play - alot of growling, whacking the other dog with their arms etc.. in a way that other dogs seem to find off-putting, so i keep them apart after several incidents where the poodle play pose set off a reactive response from labs, goldens. I let them try it out sometimes with doodles since some of them enjoy the poodle weirdness sometimes not

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Well I own Goldens so yes, I know how they tend to act. When puppies, they have little shark teeth and are bitey, but let’s get real. They aren’t doing damage. And when they’re older, you can see the genetics come out. Their genetic instinct is to retrieve. Versus a dog who was bred to kill? Yes, the golden is a far safer bet.

A golden killed my chi, so no, I don't consider anyone's dog a "safe bet" automatically just because of breed. If I don't know you and trust that you know what you're doing, I'm not going to trust your dog. Since I don't know everyone at the dog park, we don't go. My dogs are happy, well-adjusted, and friendly. They're not "isolated" at all; they're protected from the stupidity of randoms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What is your medical degree in?

Why would I have a medical degree? I have a degree in biology and extensive certifications in animal behavior. I have had hands on over 1000 dogs in my career. I can look at a litter of 8 weak old puppies and tell you if they’re going to be social or fearful. I am on call with multiple rescues in my city who use me as a volunteer consultant when they have fearful dogs in their care.

You cannot make a fearful dog social by taking it to the dog park 100 times. You absolutely can take a social dog to the dog park and destroy its confidence with a single really bad interaction.

What you can do with a fearful/reactive dog is provide controlled settings where only neutral experiences are possible. When I have nervous puppy clients I take them literally everywhere with me and we do nothing. We sit and observe the world from a safe distance. I want them to think there is 0% chance a strange person or dog is going to engage with them, so there is no reason to respond when they see another dog. Taking a puppy to the dog park does the exact opposite—it tells the puppy every strange dog and human ever is going to approach them and they need to be alert at all times. To an already fearful dog, that’s terrifying and causes reactivity to increase.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Well I own Goldens so yes, I know how they tend to act. When puppies, they have little shark teeth and are bitey, but let’s get real. They aren’t doing damage. And when they’re older, you can see the genetics come out. Their genetic instinct is to retrieve. Versus a dog who was bred to kill? Yes, the golden is a far safer bet.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What is your medical degree in?