Phoenix and the Dog Park - Rescue Dog Mistakes

Phoenix meets Marley

This is the second post in my new series on my "Rescue Dog Mistakes". If you haven't seen the first post please click here!

One of my biggest mistakes and regrets from when I first got Phoenix was taking her to the dog park too soon. A lot of pet professionals caution people against dog parks. There are a lot of reasons for that and one of the major ones is anyone can bring any dog into the dog park at any time. You have absolutely no control over it and from my experience it can be extremely chaotic at times. I've seen serious dog fights, people knocked over, dogs knocked over and rolled, a small dog picked up and shook like a rag doll by a bigger dog, children running around with no one watching them and the list goes on and on. When I went to the dog park, I spent most of the time extremely stressed out and worried that something bad was going to happen to my dogs. Or that they would get frustrated by being bullied and they would get mad and bite another dog. At the time I didn't know there were other things I could do with my dogs, until I got Phoenix and had to figure something else out.



Another thing pet professionals caution against is getting dogs who look like their past dogs because people will sometimes assume that just because the dog looks like their other dog that they will act similar and have a similar personality. This usually leads to failure. The dog doesn't live up to their expectations, they can't get past the new dog not being the same as the old one and everyone suffers. I did this, too.. Accidentally. I assumed that just because Phoenix looked like Zoe that she would enjoy the same activities that Zoe did and that eventually she would learn to like other dogs and have fun playing with them.

If you look closely at the picture above, Phoenix does not look very happy. This is also one of the worst ways to introduce dogs, full on face to face in a highly stressful (the dog park) situation. It's better if you introduce dogs with parallel walking, or walking one ahead of the other, especially if one dog is nervous. The nervous dog should never have to deal with a strange dog that they don't know in their face. 

The other dog in the picture is Marley and he belongs to one of my best friends, Jeff. Marley's ears are back and his body is leaning back. Phoenix's body language is making him nervous.

In this picture, Marley is not smiling. He has a fear grimace and what is known as "whale eye", his ears are back, too. I didn't get it on camera, but Phoenix promptly snarked at him and bit him on the nose, prior to this picture. Phoenix looks very stressed. She is very tense, her eyes are very worried. 

 

Marley turns completely away from her but still keeps an eye on her. Turning away is a really good neutral response, showing her that he isn't a threat. He's such an awesome dog for putting up with her snarking him!

 

This was taken a few days later. After a bunch of walking together she is a bit more at ease with him. She doesn't want to sit next to him but she will stand there for a photo. You may find yourself asking, why did I continue to take her to the dog park after she snarked my friend's dog??? Well, I (wrongly) assumed that once she got used to it she'd like it and I wanted to socialize her. I know now that dog parks are the worst places you can take your dog for socialization. I wish I had known that then.

 

Six months later, having almost daily interactions and walks together they are friends. 

I honestly feel like I totally screwed up taking Phoenix to the dog park so soon. She should have been more settled in and had more training on her. I also made the mistake of going during some of the more busy times at the dog park and she had some bad experiences. She got bullied and she got run over. She was never comfortable there to begin with add in some overly pushy dogs and I had the perfect recipe for disaster.

Phoenix never wanted to a be a dog park dog. Eventually we stopped being regulars. I only took Phoenix in when the dog park was slow and only when I knew the dogs that were there. I would meet up with friends that I knew and we'd walk. I would play fetch with Phoenix in the soccer field or take them to run in the Marsh. We'd plan play dates to the beach or go hiking with my friends who had friendly dogs. On the days I did want to go to the dog park and it was busy Phoenix would wait in the car while I took Zoe to visit her friends. Then I'd put Zoe in the car and work with Phoenix on counter-conditioning and desensitization outside the fence. 

 Playing in the Marsh.

When we moved to California we pretty much stopped going to the dog park. The nearest one was over an hour away. Occasionally I would still take them to that park if we were in town but only to the small dog side. Phoenix is actually really good with the little dogs and likes to visit with them. It's the big pushy/rude dogs that upset her.

Phoenix plays appropriately with a small dog.

I really wish I had a do-over on this one! I would not have taken her into the dog park and instead I would of had play dates with my friend's dogs and do other dog related activities. After all of my experiences over the last three years with both dogs, I don't feel like dog parks are the safest places to go. I've learned there are way more fun activities to do with my dogs other than go to dog parks. I've discovered that I really enjoy hiking with them and the quiet of the forest with just me and my dogs. I do my best thinking out there! 

I've also been taking them to a large thousand + acre park that is dog friendly but it's so huge that you can get away from everyone pretty easily and you only run across a dog here or there. Phoenix does so much better only having to deal with one or two dogs at a time and she's doing so much better these days with handling strange dogs!

 Phoenix at the Thousand Acre Forest.

What do you think about dog parks? Have you ever had a bad experience there? What are your favorite alternate activities? Comment below. :)