Dog Socializing Question.

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MrsBeeks

Boxer Booster
I have this little nagging thought that keeps bugging me, so I thought I would throw it out there and see what you all think. :)
As I have posted before, I have been taking Dutch to a local dog park in the mornings after I get the kiddo's on the bus for school, and Dutch and I LOVE to do it because it is such a great way of tiring Dutch out, and also socializing him with all sorts of different doggies and people. I will only take him to this park in the am, because it is basically the same group of people there all the time, and so I am fairly confident that there will be nothing but lots of fun, balls out play. However....lately, this one dog that is there has been constantly picking on Dutch, as I had brought up in a previous post, he pins Dutch and then stands on top of him snarling. I, and/or other friends at the park can usually get on the situation immediately and stop it before he gets Dutch pinned, and then the other dog will go on his way, but after a while he always comes back and tries it again, and again, and again. As soon as this dog leaves to go play with others, Dutch bounces up like nothing ever happened, and resumes happy, confident play with any one of the other dogs that want to play, seemingly without a care in the world...until the dog comes back to try and pin him again.
Anyways, today I noticed when ever this dog comes near Dutch, Dutch's ears will go back, he tucks his tail and either heads straight for the nearest person, or hits the ground and rolls onto his back and freezes. So my first concern is.....will this constant issue with this other dog effect his behaviour/temperment/confidence as he gets older....should I stop taking him the dog park if that dog is there??? I am scared that it will cause him to become fearful of all dogs if it keeps happening, and I don't want that to happen. I want to continue to let Dutch play at the park because he really has so much fun, and is always so excited to go, but I don't want to do it at the expense of his confidence and behaviour. Dutch is such a happy go lucky, friendly pup, who is always eager to play and have fun, and I don't want that to change. :(
I really value your thoughts and opinions on this matter because I am really torn as to what to do.
Thanks so much!!
 

LILYLARUE

Boxer Insane
Well, personally I would stop going, but, that's due to Lily being attacked too many times in a dog park and now is suffering fear reactivity because of it.

There are so many red flags here for me to be comfortable suggesting any other alternative. I will let other's with better experiences answer.

Here are my red flags:

1. Where is the owner of the dog when the dominance happens? Why does everyone else have to do what is the responsibility of the owner. If the owner is lax, then a firm talking to is in order for them to learn their dog's behavior isn't acceptable. The owner should be more diligent here.

2. Dutch has already formed a reaction to just a visual of the offending dog. This means he has learned a behavior already because of his interactions with this dog. Dutch will at one point stop submitting. As he matures, he possibly will stand his ground with this dog, or any other dog that gives him the same dominant energy.

3. The offending dog has now found a repetative pattern of behavior from Dutch. As he is thwarted from his actions of dominance, he may change his pattern. He may stop. OR He may go right for an attack next time. It's difficult to say why this dog has the need to dominate dutch. Boxer's often seem to become the dominated party.....I think because of their happy go lucky personalities, that they seem overly confident to other dogs. Not really sure, but it happens more often than some other breeds I've noticed.

This is the worst case scenerio that I post about. Again because I rarely hear good stories about dog parks. And it only takes one bad incident to change your dog forever.

I hope others will chime in and give some advice.
 

MrsBeeks

Boxer Booster
Thank you so much for your answer!
I am feeling very much that you are right, and sometimes I need that little bit of insight/support from someone else to nudge me in the direction I know I need to go. :) I am terrified that something will change Dutch's wonderful personality....he is such a happy pup, and to see him be that stressed out over another dog upsets me. I am also afraid that, as you said, once Dutch is a bit bigger and more confident he may turn on the other dog and we would have a huge issue on our hands, and I don't want that.
I did take him today again, and we got in a good 45 minutes of play with Dutch's buddies Dex and Koda before Dutch's nemesis arrived, and so I was happy with that. Something kind of interesting happened tho', that kind of took me by surprise, and maybe it is just a form of resource guarding, but I have never seen it happen this way. Dexter is another boxer that is always there at the same time we are, and he and Dutch play like CRAZY together and ignore most other dogs except Koda the shitzu...he's their team mascot I always say. ;) Anyways, the other dog saw Dutch from across the park and headed his way and when he got close and Dutch lay down, Dexter stepped in front of Dutch and growled at the other dog. The other dog left without incident, and Dutch and Dex continued to play like nothing happened, and we left shortly there after that before the other dog had a chance to try it again. Like I said, I'm sure it was just Dex resource guarding "his" playmate, but it looked kind of funny....looked like he was sticking up for Dutch. :P
Anyways, Thanks so much for your post, and I think I will follow your advice and find another place that Dutch can play and have fun with out risking his beautiful happy nature. :)
 

TwoDogs

Boxer Insane
I absolutely agree with LILYLARUE's assessment of the situation and how it has and could possibly further affect Dutch. However, I believe that the "dog park or no dog park?" question should be answered on an individual basis. That is, if your dog park is frequented by responsible owners with well-mannered dogs and you can go at regular times and your dog matches up with like-minded dogs with similar play styles then a dog park can be a really great place to exercise and socialize your dog. But if it isn't then it isn't and you risk doing more damage than good.

Personally, if I were in your shoes and it was just this one dog creating a problem for me and my dog, I would take a bit of (somewhat) subtle action. I would arm myself with a bottle of water--the kind with the sports top so if you squeeze the bottle the water squirts out in a strong stream. Next time this dog approached my dog I would calmly walk between them and squirt it in the face and tell him "Leave It". Kind of just like what Dexter did.

Since the owner doesn't even appear to watch their dog, they probably won't even notice but even if they did you can say it was just an instinctive reaction on your part based on his dog's previous behavior. From the sound of it, you would have plenty of other people in the park to back you up.
 

LILYLARUE

Boxer Insane
I absolutely agree with LILYLARUE's assessment of the situation and how it has and could possibly further affect Dutch. However, I believe that the "dog park or no dog park?" question should be answered on an individual basis. That is, if your dog park is frequented by responsible owners with well-mannered dogs and you can go at regular times and your dog matches up with like-minded dogs with similar play styles then a dog park can be a really great place to exercise and socialize your dog. But if it isn't then it isn't and you risk doing more damage than good.

Personally, if I were in your shoes and it was just this one dog creating a problem for me and my dog, I would take a bit of (somewhat) subtle action. I would arm myself with a bottle of water--the kind with the sports top so if you squeeze the bottle the water squirts out in a strong stream. Next time this dog approached my dog I would calmly walk between them and squirt it in the face and tell him "Leave It". Kind of just like what Dexter did.

Since the owner doesn't even appear to watch their dog, they probably won't even notice but even if they did you can say it was just an instinctive reaction on your part based on his dog's previous behavior. From the sound of it, you would have plenty of other people in the park to back you up.

I love the idea of the water bottle!!!

And I agree with TwoDogs. Dexter was not so much sticking up for Dutch, but teaching a dog that his behavior isn't acceptable. Pretty cool!! Lily did this once in the dog park when we took Bella for her first and last time. Lily stood overtop of laying Bella as a dobie was getting in Bella's face. Lily just protected Bella and told off the dobie! The dobie of course turned and left. Haha
 

MrsBeeks

Boxer Booster
Thank you again so much!! I really appreciate this feedback, advice and support! I'm really thinking that I will take a break for a little while....it will be sad because Dutch really does enjoy it, but I don't want to risk it. I will take Dutch tomorrow, armed with a water bottle that squirts....an AWESOME idea, thank you, in hopes of talking to Dexter and Koda's owners to see if they would be interested in finding a different place that the three of them can play like crazy and have fun, without having to worry about the other dog picking on Dutch.
There will still be lots of off leash hikes and play time for Dutch, just maybe not at that park. :)
 

Sansal

Boxer Insane
Have you ever tried talking to the owner? If he is there again when you go it might be worth a shot to talk to him and tell him that you are uncomfortable with the way his dog is acting towards yours. Personally, we don't go to dog parks so much anymore, but when we lived in Providence we used to go every morning, and we would meet the same group of people every day - sounds like your situation is similar - it was fun. It happened at least a few times that we had to talk to someone (and some people still didn't get it) but some owners actually did get the message - especially if there is a group of people with well behaved dogs sticking up for each other. Maybe this guy should leave when you come to the park :)
 

MrsBeeks

Boxer Booster
We went back to the park this morning to talk with Dexters owner, and as sad as it is, after today, I don't think I am going to take him back there at all. Our usual same group was there, but there were a few new ones, and one lady whose dog charged and pinned Dutch first thing that he got into the park. The lady came over and told me that her dog hates boxers and is "very aggressive" towards them.....so I'm thinking...if that is the case maybe you shouldn't bring her to a dog park where you might run into a boxer? Anyways, she took her dog and headed off to another part of the park, but, it just made Dutch to nervous for my liking, so that was it for me. We found Dutch's buddy Dexter and I let him have a little play with him so that we could leave the park on a good and happy note....he was so sad when I clipped his leash on him to go...i felt awful.
BUT, I'm not willing to risk Dutch's awesome temperment, for a one hour romp in a dog park....we will stick to the dogs that we know, and the situations that are more predictable and easily supervised.
I did however get a chance to talk to Snickers owner....Snickers is the one that has the hate on for Dutch....she apologized and told me that she was "not okay" with Snickers behaviour....not that it matters much now, but atleast she apologized I guess. :)
Anyways, thank you all again for your advice and your help, you have no idea how much I really do appreciate your guidance. :)
 

Sansal

Boxer Insane
That's too bad, but I think you are doing the right thing. Maybe you can arrange for some playdates with the dogs he likes :)
 
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