Dog park and dog bars to play with other dogs some of those simple subtle signs to look for that things are going really great and they’re having the time of their lives or maybe they’re starting to get a little tired a little overworked and trouble could potentially be brewing so we’re going to go a couple over a couple of key items to help you and yogurtlike the best life and have the best time any anytime you go out in public to socialize with other people and other dogs now before we get into a few of those things we’ve got lots of action going on in the back.
when more content just like this is released let’s go check out some dogs so when we’re looking at some best practices while you’re out and about at the dog park usually these places are designed to be social for humans too so you might meet some other dog loving friends out here have a beer have a glass of wine the most important thing to remember is that you brought a dependent with you so don’t forget to pay attention to ordered their signs if they’re getting too tired or too weary or maybe even getting picked on or picking on someone else,
A little bit it’s super important that while you’re at the dog bar or dog park you’re paying close attention to your dog even if you’re there socializing with friends they always come first hi friendship you go golden don’t they don’t go inch look at this bull terrier coming interarea so one thing you’ll notice is that as other dogs are coming in there seems to be a whole lot of energy around that gate who’s the newcomer what’s going on what do you smell like let me check all of my messages that energy can be a little bit much for newcomers in particular to be greeted with such a high arousal and entry-level it’s better to take things slowly and bring them in much more slowly give them some space it’s one of the very few times I would kind of intervene with dog behavior get a little displacement of some energy here again too much energy hi little,
Frenchie too much energy at the door that’s asking for trouble the husky in particular is letting everybody know about its he’s saying I don’t have a shock collar which is really concerning this is not a place where I would use an e-collar ever hey buddy oh goodness he’s very excited to be here so yeah prong collars bad idea you want the dog park to be a lot of fun and an exciting happy place for your dogs don’t bring aversive to the dog park what I mean by that is don’t use things that are punishment so if you use anew-collar and you only use it for things like recall and good stuff that’s awesome but save that for outside of the dog park oftentimes when people use e-collars and prong collars hanging around the necks of the dogs like necklaces it’s meant as a punishment so it’s very important that they have fun while.
They’re here and we’re not using punishments when we’re at the dog markworthy could form a negative association and the dog bar isn’t as much fun anymore this right here is perfect you see how this little dog’s rolling over it might be a little bit much for him but he ‘she’s swapping rolls so behind you couldn’t see a moment ago he did a playboy and then he jumped on top of another dog so he’s reversing rolls and switching rolls is really good for play again in this situation he’s getting bombarded a little bits it’s a little bit much for him but he’s still kind of having a good time still playing sometimes he’s up sometimes he’s down and that’s a good sign[Music]this little Australian shepherd here is in a pretty submissive role at the moment but has benumb practicing a lot of avoidance you can see here he’s running offend he’s been doing that a lot which tells me he’s kind of tired of play time but anytime a dog is approaching him running up on him he’s running you can see over here he’s hiding just trying to get away that’s a really good time to pull your dog out of play OH this assize needs a break this one that’s coming to you for some shelter here you can’t eat that all right so let’s talk about a few reasons why scuffles at dog park happen,
Three main things too much too fast and for tooling so you think about meeting a new person for the first time you need a slow introduction you don’t just walk up and hug somebody new or embrace them you need time to warm up to them as wells that’s a little bit too much too fast for the most part dogs are the same way with their energy their arousal gets too high and they can’t control all that and there has to be an outlet for that so in talking about too long how long is too long well you want to when you first introduce your dog to dog park or dog bar do it in short skirts 10 1520 minutes at a time not a full hour two hours it’s simply tooling they get tired they get cranky the energy gets off and then scuffles.
Start to happen because of that and also too fast too much movement too fast so as these dogs are coming together with all these different energy levels and they don’t have the ability to getaway and get their own space kind of like you saw with that little Australian shepherd earlier they really need that ability to have that time out when they need that timeout so if you push them into it too fast and it’s just too much because the other dogs aren’t reading their communication signals well that’s where you can start to see trouble now you notice that guy just picked his dog up he should let that dog get on the table and get away from these other dogs this dog’s trying so hard to practice avoidance and by removing him from that safe space that makes,
It really scary for the dog you should let him get up there and get away from all these others so one of the things you hear is a lot of barking a lot of vocalization and people always wonder is that okay is that normal dogs communicate by vocalizing and that’s totally fine let them have fun let them tell you all about it as long as it’s not excessive to where it’s overworking the energy and the group of animals it’s totally normal[Music]so another good practice if your dog’s not familiar with the dog park and even if they are there’s always new dogs out and about is to work around the perimeter so instead of coming showing up getting your dog out of the car in the parking lot and going right into the dog bar let them get accustomed to their surroundings first so if there’s a grassy area kind of like there is here at skip town outside where you can work them on leash go ahead and do that first and let them get used to that environment prior to throwing them in with all this energy and all this mix of all,
these new friends that they’re supposed to meet the other thing that I want to mention too is you’ll notice all of these dogs out here are off leash the majority of the time dog bar and dog park don’t allow leashes because you can introduce reactivity where otherwise you might not so if a dog is on leash when introduced to others and a spine off leash but notion you could have a fight ensues as much as I love to give dogs their own space be a leash oftentimes you won’t see that as a common practice in a dog bar but still give them,
that space still gives them that time to get used to the surroundings before throwing them right in by working outside around the perimeter first the majority of the time while your dog’s interacting at the dog park most the dogs here are pretty well behaved, they do screen them and they keep an eye on behavior so if they’re barking and rolling and tumbling and growling typically recommend not getting involved with them or their behavior unless it gets really serious but even,
if they’re rolling back and forth and tumbling and making a whole lot of noise generally dogs will work things out themselves so err on the side of caution let them do their dog thing and only intervene when there’s a serious miscommunication happening this little guy has separated himself from the pack he’s decided he needs his own time out whitestream this dog knows when he’s done and separates himself from the pack anyway about taking your dog out to a dog bar or dog park this can hopefully help you integrate your dog in a safe and comfortable way for them so that they have a great time while playing and visiting remember the three biggest mistakes see made is too much too fast and for too long so short spurts of positive play and let them get introduced in a way that’s comfortable for them keep an eye on your dog don’t overly socialize with people to where you forget about them and over all just have some fun and tryout some new places right.
