More to watch out for at dog parks

In my last post, I discussed the dangers of taking a young puppy to a dog park, because getting a deadly virus can be a real threat.  But disease is not the only danger you need to watch out for if you take your puppy to the park.  Your pup's inappropriate behavior can elicit aggressive and dangerous responses from the other dogs.

First, puppies learn the correct way to signal intent from their mothers.  Like:

     -  Is it okay to approach?
     -  I want to play with you!
     -  I accept your dominance, so please back off. 

Puppies are often taken away from their mothers before they have had adequate time to learn the correct way to signal intent.  They also don't know how to interpret the signals from other dogs.  If your puppy doesn't back off when another dog wants him to, it may incite an attack!

And think about the situation from your puppies perspective.  He is taken to a new place that is not his home, and his first instinct is to be fearful.  There are a lot of new sights, a lot of new sounds and a lot of new smells. On top of that, there are other strange dogs that are bigger than me.  Overwhelming is an understatement!  So when that one big dog approaches in an overly-friendly manner, panic can take over and your puppy's fight or flight reflex may kick in.  He can jump at or nip at this new stranger, which again, can incite an attack. 

Even if your puppy has been completely schooled in all the customary signals and behaviors that are appropriate for a group situation, it doesn't mean he is safe from  aggressive behavior.  The other dog may not be fully socialized, or worse yet, abused.  So when your sweet little pup tries to be friendly, he can get an unexpected hostile response.  

Dogs are evolutionarily pack animals.  The pack is stable because a) it has a well-defined hierarchy that is established over time and understood by the entire group, and b) it functions as an exclusive units and bonds together to keep intruders out.  The dog park scenario functions in a manner that is contrary to all of those evolutionary behaviors.  Strangers are thrust together with different group members almost every time.  No one knows who are the legitimate pack members and who is the intruder.  They also are not sure who the alpha, or boss is.  And if there are two or more dogs there that are evenly matched in level of dominance, they will do what they have done for centuries in order to survive, they fight to determine who should be the alpha and lead.  

This post may seem over-critical and a "worst-case scenario" for dog park behavior and I must admit it is.  More likely than not, there will not be any aggressive fights for supremacy.  That being said, this blog is for puppies, and how to deal with what may cause them problems.  And with puppies who tend to be smaller, more timid, and far less experienced should an incident actually occur, I feel that it is better to be hyper-vigilant to avoid injury, both physical and emotional.