Where and where not to take my puppy

[hero4u]

Hi Everyone. I would like to socilize my 7 month old puppy more. Where I live most of the dogs here are adults and do not like to play like Buddy does. There is one puppy here but he only see's him by chance when the woman owner is around which- isn't often. I took Buddy to the local doggie park here in the town I live and again all the dogs were adults and towering over him. One dog ( MALE ! ) was even trying to hump Buddy and I became a bit upset when the owner wouldn't pull his dog off of mine.. Buddy enjoys being around other dogs and I want to expose him more to it. I found this place a vet/ daycare center about 15 miles from where I live and they even have a water park part of it called Barkerittaville and it looks great for dogs.. I called them and it is only $20.00 for the whole day there although I do not know if I would want to keep Buddy there all day. I was afraid to ask if I could just bring him there for a few hours and or possibly accompany him while there to see if he likes it.. I was at Pet smart the other day and there were all these dogs running around in this room with a woman watching over them and one lone bulldog over in the corner looking scared and alone. If I had known how to get in touch with the owner of the bulldog I would have liked to called them to let them know their dog wasn't a happy camper at all. Anyways I kind of fear taking Buddy to places like public dog parks where people can take their dogs and who knows if all the dogs are healthy and had all their vaccanations. Here at least. All the dogs have proof of vacanations. Here is a little video clip of the place if anyone wants to check it out. Its cute and looks fun for dogs. Thanks everyone. Hero http://my.vetmatrixbase.com/barkers...5_barkeritaville_from_a_dogs_perspective.html

 

[Vikinggirl]

Wow that looks like a super cool , fun place. I wish we had something like that here in Canada. It looked really clean too. The only thing that would worry me would be the water, because most Bulldogs don't swim very well or not at all. They tend to sink, and you have to be careful with getting water in their noses and airways, they can drown. If they had an area that doesn't have the water , a dry place to play that would be ok. Also they shouldn't mind if you stay there with your dog, then you could watch him yourself. I know at Petsmart here you can stay with your dog, so you could take your puppy there and see if he and the other bulldog like each other. You could try and wait around until the owner of the bulldog comes to pick up their dog, and talk to them, maybe you can arrange play dates with them at a local park. I don't blame you for not taking your puppy to the dog park, here they have parks for dogs called leash free zones. I haven't taken my two to one because of the same worries you have. You don't know if all the dogs are vaccinated, you don't know if they have worms or not, and a lot of owners at these places don't clean up after their dogs, you don't know if there are aggressive dogs there, and your dog might get bitten or hurt. We have one park here, where a big dog, attacked a smaller dog and killed it. I a fortunate that my backyard backs onto a wooded trail, and a river, so I can take my two guys for long walks down there, and there is also a lot of shaded areas, so it's nice and cool in the summer. Now that winter is coming, I don't know where I will take them to play. I also have two of them, so they have each other to play with. You could get Buddy a buddy to play with, a fur brother or sister. Lol.

 

[Vikinggirl]

Also when I first got my puppies, I didn't let them around any areas where other dogs had been, or around other dogs until they had had their second shots. After that my vet said it was ok to let them socialize with other dogs that I knew, like from my neighbourhood, that way you know the dog, and the owners, and you can make sure they have all their shots. I started letting them out in the front, we live on a court, and we have 2 other dogs here, they all get along, so they would play together, that's how I socialized them with other dogs. We started with familiar dogs in the area, and then we met a few other dogs down on the trail, so they got used to being around other dogs. We would keep them on leash until we spoke with the other owners, and asked them if their dogs were friendly, for the most part they were, and the dogs played well together, but every once in a while, you get an older dog, that doesn't like other dogs, or I had one lady who had a female dog, who didn't like other females, so she would growl at my female Blossom, she didn't mind my male. So the lady would just keep her dog on the leash. If you can find a park, and get to Know the regulars, then you get to know the dogs and their personalities. Sometimes you get bad dog owners who have aggressive dogs, and they don't do anything to correct it, or stop it, like you encountered with the humping dog. The other suggestion I have that you could do, is put an add in your local paper for either other bulldog owners or other dog owners who might also be looking for a doggie playmate for their dog, and arrange play dates with others. Good luck, and I hope Buddy finds a friend.

 

[Baconator]

One thing we did with Bacon to start his socialization when he was a puppy was to take an intro obedience class. It was helpful for us being first time dog owners and it got him around other dogs in a leashed controlled environment. We don't like the dog park in our town because we have been told that people bring unsocialized and aggressive dogs there to "see what happens" BAD IDEA!!!! I agree with [MENTION=6311]Vikinggirl[/MENTION] regarding the water park, you can get a life vest for your bully, we have one for Bacon just be careful around the water especially the first time. There are people on here with bullies that swim like champs and other people with bullies that float like bricks, so air on the side of caution until you know how Buddy will do. Also we all love pics here so please feel free to post away.

 

[PenelopeRosebud]

Hi there. Our Penelope is also 7 months old and we had the same difficulty finding the right dogs for socialization. Thank goodness for meetup dot com and our local English Bulldog Meetup group. While the parks can be hit and miss for finding playmates, one of my favorite things ever is watching bulldogs play together. Our halloween get-together was amazing - 35 bulldogs in costume. It has been truly great for our dog and for us too to meet other bulldog owners. Hopefully there is a group in your area

Happy Plays!

 

[DesertBum]

Hi there. Our Penelope is also 7 months old and we had the same difficulty finding the right dogs for socialization. Thank goodness for meetup dot com and our local English Bulldog Meetup group. While the parks can be hit and miss for finding playmates, one of my favorite things ever is watching bulldogs play together. Our halloween get-together was amazing - 35 bulldogs in costume. It has been truly great for our dog and for us too to meet other bulldog owners. Hopefully there is a group in your area

Happy Plays!

Where are our pics?????

 

[PenelopeRosebud]

Where are our pics?????

Photos! I have a million. I've taken so many more puppy pictures than we ever did of our people kids I am working on my tech skills - not so very cyberskilled but I promise many, many photos will follow. Have to get them off my phone and off my camera and on to my computer. Soon! I'm a naughty little EBN member - haven't even done Indtroduction.

Despite the lack of skills on my part, I am on here 50 times a day and EBN gang is awesome xoxo

 

[hero4u]

Thanks everyone. I toured the place this morning and it is huge and the pool is less than a foot deep so I don't think anything can happen. They have techs all over the place as well. I was amazed at the place. Huge. tons of dogs. Only one bulldog there in day care named Sarge and he wasn't social.They had to keep him seperate from the other dogs, I am going to bring Buddy there soon. The have webcams set up so you can watch your dog online if you want Buddy is a very social puppy. He runs up to anyone and everyone wanting to greet them. Almost naive. Palm Beach county doesn't have an ebd meetup group. There is one south of me in the next county down ( Broward) but they meet kind of far ( Ft lauderdale) although they HAD a meetup up here one time last year I believe it was..

 

[dalmatina38]

Amber goes to the park when we do,which is usually on the weekends. Honestly, Amber started her socialization as soon as she hit the front door. With a Great Dane, a Maine Coon cat, and a tabby cat, the race was on from day one. lol; she gets plenty of play time with her fur buddies but we are still going to get her another EBD just for her because the Dane is getting too old to play as rough as Amber does. When we get to the park Amber is more interested in chasing our daughters softball then playing with other dogs. She could careless; her only concern then is where is the ball and how can she get it so we can chase her. She does occassionally play with other dogs both little and large but she has always been rather active even as a puppy. We wanted an active bully and she fits the bill. Good luck.

 

[hero4u]

Buddy is socialized. I hope everyone doesn't think he isn't socialized it is just he doesn't have any play pals his age. Here all the dogs are either adults and or have behavioral problems like barking ect. I just want Buddy to enjoy himself on occasion with some other puppys rather than the one he plays with on rare occasions here.. Thanks everyone Hero