Attacked at the dog park
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Lisa, your walking group is really cool. Those photos were great. I wish we had something like that around here. Unfortunately, I am a nervous nelly when the dogs are off lead, and the dogs pick up on it, so I don't know if that would work for us. But it seems like a great training and socialization group.
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I was really nervous the first walk I did. And I am still probably much more ready to leash up my dogs then some of the other people that go. Rio was a great "starter" dog for the walks because she has never really wanted to be very far from me and is very responsive to her name. I think if Sophie had been the first one I tried I wouldn't have been able to do it. She is so much more bold than her sister and on that first walk I would probably have been such a nervous wreck that I wouldn't have come back.
We are really lucky to have the type of places we do to take the dogs for their walks and the group of dogs is just great. It is really a special opportunity.
Here is a link to photos of the group on a walk.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9610696@N03/sets/72157603219229770
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I know you can't help but feel guilty–but you shouldn't (easy for me to say). I was in that situation once where a big rottie came after my little B in a training class, and I just froze--I couldn't do anything. My boyfriend--who was on the sidelines watching the class finally yelled at me--pick him up!!!! Thank goodness it wasn't worse--and he's on antibiotics. It sounds like he will be fine.
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Jenn-it's not your fault and you did the best you could given the situation. If all of the owners were more like you the incident probably would never have happened. Don't blame yourself your intentions were good & you wanted to do something good for your dogs. These things happen & no matter how many signs we get it's all beyond our control.
More and more studies are showing that humping is a stress reliever for dogs and not always about dominance and not even most of the time is it about dominance. When the dog first started to hump the female pit bull the owner should have gotten involved and if the beagle couldn't be redirected to other activities they should have left.
I totally agree with this. There should be NO HUMPING…it just causes too much excitability in all dogs. Even at home C3PO tries to do this once in a blue moon & I do not allow it & he's asked to calm down in his crate with a treat.
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So glad Chase is not badly injured. Like Lisa said, some parks are great, and it depends on having a group of diligent regulars that are willing to step up to the plate if necessary. We have a great group, but we watch the gate for dogs coming in that are posturing or acting stressed, then we call ours in close. But they do so love to run in the huge park, and get into a big 5 or 10 dog chase, or fence-run with the fluffy squeaky-toys in the small dog park. It can be a joy, but there is an inherent risk, even with vigilance. We love some, and won't go to others.
Anne in Tampa
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So, how is your dog now? Ok?
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So, how is your dog now? Ok?
Thanks for asking. Chase is doing great now, he is a resilient little guy! All of his bite marks have healed and we went to the dog park this past weekend with youngandtired & Sahara. He was fine at the dog park, except now he kept trying to hump a couple of other dogs. I stepped in and made him time out for a while.
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Glad to hear he's all better!
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I'm glad things ended up okay for your dog.
At the dog park in my area, if dogs become aggressive they are not allowed to return (I'm not sure how that is enforced). I would suggest putting up a notice at your park, explaining what happened to warn other dogs and their owners. Maybe the pit owners will see that and take the hint. -
Attack isn't the only part of dog parks I dislike. I think they are dirty and a pet owner doesn't know if the other dogs are being well taken care of and vetted. My vet agrees and went a step further to say that highway rest stops were one of the worst places for disease.
