.Visiting the dog park presents an opportunity for dogs to exercise and socialize, but it also requires responsible behavior from owners to maintain safety and harmony.
Understanding proper etiquette is crucial to prevent incidents and ensure a positive experience for all park patrons.
In this comprehensive guide, we outline six vital do’s and don’ts that every dog owner should follow to promote a secure and enjoyable environment at the dog park.
By following these guidelines, you not only protect your own dog, but also contribute to the well-being of the entire community of canine companions.
Don’t bring your unsocialized, shy, or anxious dog to the dog park.
Contrary to popular belief, the dog park is not the place to socialize your dog. Socialization is a very misunderstood concept and a buzzword that is often used incorrectly.
If you have an adult dog or a dog over 4.5 months old, the socialization window in your dog’s brain has already closed.
When a puppy is between 6-18 weeks old, their brain has a decreased fear response to novel people, places, objects, animals and places, making it the ideal time to show your puppy that the world is a safe place.
Socialization refers to the process of mindful, methodical exposure to novelty while carefully shaping these experiences to be fun, safe, and positive for your puppy.
If you attempt this process with an adult dog, positive results are possible, but limited because the biological window of socialization is closed. There’s a good chance that your dog’s natural response to novelty may be fearful instead of neutral.
When a dog is fearful, the process to change their experience into a positive one is a bit more complicated and often requires professional guidance.
When working with an adult dog, you are competing with past experiences, learned behavior, and decreased neuroplasticity. This does not mean an older puppy or adult dog can’t learn to become more comfortable with other dogs, but the process to achieve that goal is going to look different and have different results than socializing a 6-18 week old puppy.
The dog park is a high energy, high risk, high stress environment for dogs. Only dogs with confident, polite, and playful behavior are appropriate for the dog park setting.
Taking a shy, anxious, or unsocialized dog to the dog park is like pushing someone off the high dive when they have yet to learn how to swim.
Pushing a dog into an uncomfortable social situation is not going to help them become more social. It will only serve to reinforce and confirm their fears that interacting with other dogs is a scary experience.
Desiring to increase your dog’s sociability and confidence is a wonderful goal, but the dog park is not the place to do it. Instead, reach out to a certified canine behavior consultant to help you create safe strategies for improving your pup’s confidence and sociability.
2. Don’t leave your dog unattended.
For the safety of your dog and other dog park patrons, always keep your dog within your line of sight. The dog park is not the place to plop on a bench and zone out on your phone.
You are responsible for keeping your dog safe from any undesirable interactions with other dogs or people.
If you are not present to defend and protect them from a rude dog, they will be forced to take matters into their own paws and protect themselves the only way they know how: with their teeth.
You are ultimately responsible for your dog’s behavior and could be held liable for any harm, even if your dog was simply defending themselves.
Even with friendly, sociable dogs, play fighting can turn to real fighting in an instant and require swift intervention to prevent injury. Always stay physically close to your dog when they romp around with buddies, just in case things get a bit too heated.
3. Don’t allow your dog to bully, hump, or harass other dogs.
Many people misinterpret their dog’s behavior as excited and friendly, when in fact, their behavior is very unpleasant and rude towards other dogs.
If your dog charges, tackles, and rolls other dogs without clear invitation and reciprocation, you need to intervene. Your dog may be having a blast body slamming other dogs into the ground, but if the other dog isn’t 100% into it, you need to put a stop to it immediately.
If your dog intensely stalks and chases other dogs, you would be wise to interrupt that behavior. Chasing other dogs can accidentally trigger a dog’s prey drive, resulting in serious injury or death for the other dog.
A few good-natured laps around the park are fine, but if your dog is zeroed in and focused on chasing one specific dog, you need to interrupt and redirect his attention.
Playful biting is a part of healthy dog play, but if your dog grabs, holds, and attempts to shake other dogs while playing, you need to interrupt that behavior, so it doesn’t escalate into an altercation.
Though it is often unrelated to dominating behaviors, humping other dogs is still a rude habit and should be stopped by the human owners. Humping usually occurs due to extreme excitement and overstimulation.
While it is not exactly an aggressive behavior, humping is a trigger for conflict and should be avoided.
4. Do practice & have a strong recall with your dog.
Most dog parks feature signage notifying patrons that they should maintain “voice control of dog at all times”. This means your dog should have a strong recall and come back to you when called.
When a dog is oblivious to their owner’s vocal cues, they pose a safety to risk to other dog park patrons. If the owner does not have the ability to recall and gain control of their dog during tense situations, fights can occur and quickly escalate.
As a responsible dog owner, it is your job to train your dog to return when called. Building a strong recall can be very challenging in a distracting setting such as the dog park.
However, if you intend to frequent dog parks, it is your responsibility to ensure your dog has solid recall skills.
To learn more about recall and how to teach your dog this essential life skill, check out our other blog posts, Mastering Recall: The 3-Minute Daily Training Routine for your Dog and 3 Steps to Mastering Recall Training with Your Dog.
If your dog’s recall skills are shaky or non- existent, take a break from the dog park until you’ve leveled up their recall game.
5. Do monitor your dog’s activities at the dog park.
Unfortunately, many people use the dog park as an opportunity to mentally check out, relax, and let their dogs run wild. This is extremely rude and unfair to other dog park patrons, because unmonitored, off leash dogs are a potential hazard to everyone.
It’s great to kick back and chill with your dog, but the dog park is not the place for your to do so.
While at the dog park, it is your responsibility to observe, monitor, and manage your dog’s behavior. If your relaxing on a bench catching up on social, you won’t be able to see if your dog is interacting safely and appropriately with other dogs.
For all you know, your dog could be harassing other dogs or furiously digging their way out under the park fence.
Everyone’s safety depends on mutual cooperation and responsible dog ownership. Keep your dog and other dogs safe by carefully monitoring your dog while at the dog park.
6. Do be prepared for an emergency.
Despite our best efforts, accidents and fights do happen. It’s best to be prepared so if a situation does arise, you can act quickly and prevent further harm. If you intend on frequenting dog parks, it’s a really good idea to know how to safely break up a dog fight.
There are different types of dog fights, some more serious than others, and each have different safety protocols. To learn how to identify and safely break up different types of dog fights, check out this detailed breakdown by credentialed canine professional, Cathy Madson.
Here is a link to How to Break Up a Dog Fight. There is also an excellent free PDF download available on the website for how to break up a dog fight if you’d prefer a hard copy.
In addition to learning how to safely break up a dog fight, it’s also a good idea to pack a few safety items in your dog park bag. In my dog park bag I keep a can of Spray Shield, a citronella spray that acts as a sort of doggy pepper spray. It doesn’t cause any permanent harm or damage to dogs, but it is unpleasant enough to interrupt a dog fight.
Another useful item I like to keep on hand is a tool known as a break stick. This tool is used to force a dog to release its jaw in a situation where a dog has grabbed another dog and will not release them.
This tool prevents potential bites to human hands and forces the dog to release its grip. There are different brands available, I personally use the Lenwen Break stick, available on Amazon.
The final item in my dog park bag is a doggy first aid kit. I always keep one of these kits in my car and an additional kit in my dog park bag. There are different options available ranging from $30 for a basic kit, or up to $120 for a more extensive kit.
Hopefully you won’t ever need to use your first aid kit, but it's best practice to have one ready just in case.
Help keep your dog and other dogs safe by following our 6 tips for a safer dog park experience. It is up to us as human guardians to practice responsible dog ownership and prevent accidents at the dog park. Like and share this article with a fellow dog park patron!
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