This is kind of long, but an interesting tail.
My mind is still reeling a little bit from what happened at the dog park just now. Remi has finally reached the age he is allowed into the park according to the rules. Wooot! Though, I admit, I've taken Remi in there once before, because there were a couple of nice dogs, very low key, and the owners were both cool with it. I usually just feel it out and see what happens, but at the very least, he can sniff dogs through the fence and socialize a bit.
I realized Remi was 3 pounds shy of the "large dog" section of the park. Remi can (surprise) be a little bit of a bully, so I like to keep him with the larger dogs who don't seem to mind him as much as some of the smaller breeds. However, there were literally like 20 dogs over there, and that was just way too intense for me. I took him into the smaller park, where he got a long with the other 2 dogs OK. One of the dogs that were in there were NOT very social, and I kind of wondered why they were at the park to begin with. But I like to feel out a situation, and if my dog doesn't seem wanted by another dog, I try to demonstrate boundaries. I don't let my dog bully another dog (Unless I'm helping an owner train their dog) Otherwise, I don't find that acceptable.
After about 30 minutes, I took Remi into the big dog park because the dog he did get along with had to go. Also the number of dogs in the large section dropped to about 5-7. He started playing with everyone very well. I mean, it was awesome. Good, solid wrestling, no aggression. Remi somehow pinned a boxer, which I found amusing. Remi is funny; he finds someone that he wants to play with, which is usually a big athletic dog, and that's it. He doesn't want to play with 12 dogs all at once. He picks a BFFL. About 30 minutes later, someone brings in an English bulldog/beagle/mutt mix and all hell breaks loose.
Remi can play rough. And when these 2 started playing, it was amazing. It was aggressive, but both dogs were happy and lovin' it up. Somewhere along the line, another dog gets involved. He is like the instigator in the back of the room that keeps barking aggressively at Remi. The EB/beagle mix starts getting a little rough and relentless with his attacks. The ganging up thing really puts Remi off and he tries to get away from this super aggressive playful dog. At this point, he is just getting pummeled because he's no longer defending himself. The owner tries to get control of his dog, but really can't. Remi is at this point obviously done playing. He looks scared and is getting pushed around and my mom instincts are in full swing. I lift Remi up and hold him until everyone can get their dogs under control. The old guy finally gets his EB/beagle mix, but this other, big gray dog, is still barking aggressively at Remi. In fact, he's jumping ON ME and lunging for him.
At this point I start yelling for the owner. Hey, get your dog! Hey, who's dog is this?! Hey, come get your dog!!! Everyone else starts doing the same thing. 30 seconds later, which felt like a LIFETIME BTW (minutes after the actual scuffle happened when everyone tried to get their dogs) the owner finally turns around and gets her dog under control. She was halfway across the park!
She genuinely apologized, and I was polite, but I was also shaking with anger.
Anyway, that really had me shaken up. So I took Remi out of there, whom I thought was tired anyway. As I was leaving, I start talking to a woman in the small dog bark, who invited me over after they saw what happened. I have to admit, my ego was bruised. :crying::crying: I felt like a bad dog mom who made the wrong call. Should I have left him in the small park? Remi, who easily springs back from the incident, starts playing with this woman's dogs through the fence. I decide to bring him in, and long story short, they get along famously and there aren't any incidents. Remi was tired, though, and normally he can be a little rough with small breeds who aren't elusive. The faster your dog is, the better our dogs will love each other.
Interesting tidbit while I'm in the small dog park with this other awesome lady: We observe in the large dog park not 1 fight, not 2 fights, not 3 fights, but 4 fights involving the same crazy playful dog, and his new instigator buddy, the big gray dog. These dogs did not know each other before today, but I couldn't help but notice that every fight people had to break up over there involved these 2 animals.
Glad I got out when I did!!
Moral of this long story? Teaching boundaries is so important. If Remi gets too rough with someone, I make him sit and give him a little time out to he can calm down. If you take your dog to the park, you have to watch your dog. You can't just talk to your friends and ignore them in a pack environment. Even dogs you know really well can still respond differently if they become cornered or ganged up on, or egged on.
My mind is still reeling a little bit from what happened at the dog park just now. Remi has finally reached the age he is allowed into the park according to the rules. Wooot! Though, I admit, I've taken Remi in there once before, because there were a couple of nice dogs, very low key, and the owners were both cool with it. I usually just feel it out and see what happens, but at the very least, he can sniff dogs through the fence and socialize a bit.
I realized Remi was 3 pounds shy of the "large dog" section of the park. Remi can (surprise) be a little bit of a bully, so I like to keep him with the larger dogs who don't seem to mind him as much as some of the smaller breeds. However, there were literally like 20 dogs over there, and that was just way too intense for me. I took him into the smaller park, where he got a long with the other 2 dogs OK. One of the dogs that were in there were NOT very social, and I kind of wondered why they were at the park to begin with. But I like to feel out a situation, and if my dog doesn't seem wanted by another dog, I try to demonstrate boundaries. I don't let my dog bully another dog (Unless I'm helping an owner train their dog) Otherwise, I don't find that acceptable.
After about 30 minutes, I took Remi into the big dog park because the dog he did get along with had to go. Also the number of dogs in the large section dropped to about 5-7. He started playing with everyone very well. I mean, it was awesome. Good, solid wrestling, no aggression. Remi somehow pinned a boxer, which I found amusing. Remi is funny; he finds someone that he wants to play with, which is usually a big athletic dog, and that's it. He doesn't want to play with 12 dogs all at once. He picks a BFFL. About 30 minutes later, someone brings in an English bulldog/beagle/mutt mix and all hell breaks loose.
Remi can play rough. And when these 2 started playing, it was amazing. It was aggressive, but both dogs were happy and lovin' it up. Somewhere along the line, another dog gets involved. He is like the instigator in the back of the room that keeps barking aggressively at Remi. The EB/beagle mix starts getting a little rough and relentless with his attacks. The ganging up thing really puts Remi off and he tries to get away from this super aggressive playful dog. At this point, he is just getting pummeled because he's no longer defending himself. The owner tries to get control of his dog, but really can't. Remi is at this point obviously done playing. He looks scared and is getting pushed around and my mom instincts are in full swing. I lift Remi up and hold him until everyone can get their dogs under control. The old guy finally gets his EB/beagle mix, but this other, big gray dog, is still barking aggressively at Remi. In fact, he's jumping ON ME and lunging for him.
At this point I start yelling for the owner. Hey, get your dog! Hey, who's dog is this?! Hey, come get your dog!!! Everyone else starts doing the same thing. 30 seconds later, which felt like a LIFETIME BTW (minutes after the actual scuffle happened when everyone tried to get their dogs) the owner finally turns around and gets her dog under control. She was halfway across the park!
She genuinely apologized, and I was polite, but I was also shaking with anger.
Anyway, that really had me shaken up. So I took Remi out of there, whom I thought was tired anyway. As I was leaving, I start talking to a woman in the small dog bark, who invited me over after they saw what happened. I have to admit, my ego was bruised. :crying::crying: I felt like a bad dog mom who made the wrong call. Should I have left him in the small park? Remi, who easily springs back from the incident, starts playing with this woman's dogs through the fence. I decide to bring him in, and long story short, they get along famously and there aren't any incidents. Remi was tired, though, and normally he can be a little rough with small breeds who aren't elusive. The faster your dog is, the better our dogs will love each other.
Interesting tidbit while I'm in the small dog park with this other awesome lady: We observe in the large dog park not 1 fight, not 2 fights, not 3 fights, but 4 fights involving the same crazy playful dog, and his new instigator buddy, the big gray dog. These dogs did not know each other before today, but I couldn't help but notice that every fight people had to break up over there involved these 2 animals.
Glad I got out when I did!!
Moral of this long story? Teaching boundaries is so important. If Remi gets too rough with someone, I make him sit and give him a little time out to he can calm down. If you take your dog to the park, you have to watch your dog. You can't just talk to your friends and ignore them in a pack environment. Even dogs you know really well can still respond differently if they become cornered or ganged up on, or egged on.
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, shame isn't it?
There will be fights and some bullying, but generally, everything is OK. (Fingers crossed... 
)
