A Day at the Dog Park

Dakota's first dog friend, Meg

I have been watching some "Dog Whisperer" lately.  I really respect Cesar Millan, and he's helped me solve many a problem with my dogs.

Lately, I found out that we have a dog park nearby.  I really wanted to take Dakota there, but she has always been strange dog aggressive.  If the dog is accepted into the pack, she's fine, but if it is a strange, dominant dog, she usually will attack them.

Recently I discovered that this was because she is scared.  She is not attacking because she is mean or aggressive, she is simply insecure around other dogs.  I knew that somehow I had caused this, but it wasn't until recently that I figured it out. As a pack leader, I need to protect the members of my pack.  If a strange dog came running toward my baby, I would put myself in the way and protect him.  However, I usually forced the dog to go and greet a new dog, so the dog never learned to trust me to take care of her when strange dogs were around.. 

So, lately, if a dog is too high of energy, I block the dog until it calms down and then I correct Dakota if she growls. 

Yesterday, I felt we were ready.  Grig, Kevin, and I went with her to the dog park.  I was a little nervous, but I told myself it was going to go well. 

Amazingly, it did!  I was excited.  When we first arrived, there were some high-energy dogs barking and yapping, so we didn't bring her in until they left.  Once we did bring her in, she was immediately greeted by a gentle old labrador.  Her owner told me that she is a therapy dog and is great for helping dogs like Dakota get over their anti-social behavior.  It was a great start.

Dakota had a few altercations, but I was able to quickly correct her, and eventually she started to get it.  She stopped growling and only snapped a little warning snap if the dog was getting too friendly.  Other than that, she seemed to really enjoy herself. 

I was hoping that she'd eventually start playing, but we'll try again.  Having no fights was a great first step!

Afterward, we walked home, and had a great conversation.  We met some great people there, and we made some new friends, human and dog. 

Dakota made some new friends!

I think we're going to go again.  Ideally would be frequently, but with our busy schedule, once or twice a week is probably all we can hope for.