Well I took Ruger to this HUGE dog park we have here in Jacksonville. Its like 45 plus acres with lakes, woods, fields, sand pits, etc. Lets just say he acted completely different then I expected him too. He wouldnt leave my side the whole time and when these little puppies would come up to play with him he would get pissed and show his teeth and snap. I didnt realize how attached Ruger is until yesterday. It wasnt until the last hour I finally gave him a nudge to go play in the lake and he finally ran and jumped in. He only made 2 German Shepherd friends out of the about 70 dogs that were there. I was happy he left my side and went and played with his own kinds lol. Overall I think the park was overwhelming for him and ran his nerves a bit high. I bet it was a little stressful. Anyone else had this problem?

How old is he Kyle? Has he had a lot of socialisation before? I expect you are right in your assessment that it was all a bit overwhelming for him - if you take him regularly enough I am sure he will learn to love his time playing with all the other dogs. German shepherds are a good breed for huskies to play with, cos as we all know, huskies play rough! In our experience German Shepherds can hold their own. Dino has quite a lot of GSD playmates. We have just over the last 3 days started to take Ava to the park and she is still quite nervous around other dogs, she runs and hides behind our legs barking and growling at any other dog that shows her attention but I am sure once she gets used to it she will be fine

He just turned 8 months, but is always socializing with other dogs like my 6 year old lab and my sister will bring her Australian Shep over from time to time and they always get along. I think your right about he just needs to warm up to the idea of having a play time with other dogs. Like I said in the end he seemed to start warming up, but was still really timid and just hung around me the whole time...

I think the 'hanging around' you thing is probably because he is still quite young and he is in an environment that he is not quite sure of just yet. That seems to be the way with huskies they like to stay close to their people for security probably until they are about a year old and then watch out!!! Give him time and you will be posting on here tearing your hair out because he runs off everytime you try to put his lead back on lol

haha well I guess I have a little bit more time before hes a little devil. Until then I guess ill enjoy him being calm and cautious haha.

Yeah, Gunny is about 1 year old and he leaves my side at the park. First time I took him to the dog park, he was humping all kinds of dogs. Probably trying to dominate! I was sooo embarrassed but then he stopped and played around. I haven't taken him back there again, but today I decided to let him off the leash at a school park by my house and for a bit he liked to run after this white little mutt. Fortunately I was able to get his attention to play ball instead.

Haha I wish I could of seen Gunny trying to dominate the whole dog park But I plan on taking Ruger back to the park when I get back from D.C. to see if it was hopefully just the first time jitters he had...

wow, I wish I could let Stella off the leash! She will run and not come back! She likes going to the dog park, and will play with all the smaller dogs, but not the bigger ones. She forgets she is a big dog too. =)

Yeah, I think the only reason Ruger stayed by my side was because he wasn't to sure about his surroundings. On his next visit I have a feeling he will be a bit more comfortable. But when it comes to little dogs, Ruger couldnt stand them. He showed his teeth a few times...he only hung around dogs of his own kind...mr anti social

I’m worried about that with our 2 we have not done the dog park yet but the 2 of them get a little crazy around the smaller yappy dogs, not sure if they want to play or go after them.

Yeah, if a little dog jumped or barked at him he would get defensive.

I don't know, but Gunny seems to like dogs of all sizes and he's a medium sized dog. He humped dogs both small and big.

Well Sierra and Jack met Gunny on Sat at the dog park and they did great! they even came to us when we called them, there was a small dog that was picking on Jack but it was all fun, Sierra just walked around the fence area and did not seem to socialize to much with the other dogs, 3 other huskies came in and it was fun I kept getting knocked into by other dogs messing around and Gunny was humping other dogs it was funny! Jack was violated a few times by some other dogs. We will be taking them back again soon.

Awww thats great you had a good time - I bet Gunny enjoyed meeting some new buddies too!

I wish I was closer Dino & Ava would have loved it

So we took Sierra and Jack to the dog park again and had a problem with Sierra. There was a lady there who was dog sitting a mid size dog like our huskies but im not sure what it was any way she also had this small poodle must have been like 5 lbs and she was all white and fluffy and the lady kept her on her lap most of the time. Well Sierra discovered the dog and started sniffing and then barking and sniped at the dog. Well we then played a fun game of keeping Sierra away from the lady and small dog. Well the lady stood up and Sierra grabs a hold of the dog’s fur on the leg! I think Sierra thought this dog was a rabbit or some kind of food but it worried Ken and I. the lady was like don’t worry I have the dog im not letting it go and I was like ya but who is going to stop Sierra! The lady finally left with the other dog and all was well. Was there something we could have done? Has this happened to you at dog parks?

Have you taught Jack and Sierra not to jump up on people? Even if it's harmless jumping up some people still may not appreciate it. Case in point, I was at the dog park yesterday with Dakota and Faith. Since we were in the large dog section I was holding Faith to keep her out of harms way. All the dogs were fine except one, a bully breed of some sort (I think) kept jumping up on me to get a sniff of Faith. Now I love all dogs, but I didn't appreciate it much especially all the mud he generously applied to my white shirt...I'm a clean freak what can I say. I just pushed the dog off, he jumped up again and I pushed him off again.

Do the dogs respect peoples' space when they ask for it, even strangers? My dog doesn't jump on people much b/c we work on that issue with him but when he does I make sure to remove him promptly from the situation and redirect his attention elsewhere if necessary.

She was not jumping since the lady was sitting down with her leg crossed and the dog in the fold of the leg so she was just walking up to her and sniffing and then backed off and started barking at the dog and then tried to nip the dog. When the lady was standing she did not jump on the lady but jumped on to her hind legs to get taller to grab the dogs leg she never touched the lady. every time she went near the lady we were standing near her and would make a wall between her and the lady and would push her a way and try to get her to go play with us or the other dogs but it only worked for a few min and she was back again. She has never bugged a person before at the park and it was only because she had this smaller fluffy with dog.

Sorry, I misunderstood. Sounds to me like you did everything right.

This is an old thread, but figured it was the best place to put the issue I'm having.

I love our dog park, we go literally almost everyday. Ever since I started going, there was this one dog, a Plott Hound to be exact and he's the same age as Hayden and has always had aggression issues even as a small pup. The owners come every now and then, but it wasn't until here recently the dog and the owners started to really piss me off. If any dog (especially mine) comes anywhere near or even looks at the Plott Hounds ball it will attack very viciously. The owners try to calm the dog "oh hey buddy come on buddy" but have ZERO control over this dog.

Today we came into the park and as soon as my dog's step foot in the park, the Plott Hound grabs on Brandi's throat and starts attacking her! I start yelling trying to get the dog off, but thankfully Nicky backed up her sister and body checked the Plott Hound and started biting him to get him off Brandi, which thankfully worked. The owner said absolutely nothing like it didn't even happen. The dog attacked Brandi about two more times, with the owner still doing nothing and then finally he started going after Hayden. My fiance couldn't take it anymore and ended up hitting the dog very hard on the nose with our Chuck-It. The dog let out a yelp and ran away and the owner took the dog to the other side of the park and we didn't have anymore incidents.

I feel bad that the dog got hit, but I felt like we had no other choice. The woman looked pretty pissed off and I don't want to make waves with anyone at the park. Any advice?

I would check the dog park to see if they are there from now on. I mean you could go when they are there again and stay on the opposite side of the park but it doesn't necessarily prevent any more incidents. It is nice that your other dog helped out the one who got bit. Did your dog(s) get injured? You could call the park service people to talk to hounds owners. Usually they get suspended for like 6 months or something and if they think it's necessary they can ban them. I mean who would knowingly keep taking their aggressive dog back to the dog park? Idiots. Good job in protecting your pup.

Hayden_69 wrote:

This is an old thread, but figured it was the best place to put the issue I'm having.

I love our dog park, we go literally almost everyday. Ever since I started going, there was this one dog, a Plott Hound to be exact and he's the same age as Hayden and has always had aggression issues even as a small pup. The owners come every now and then, but it wasn't until here recently the dog and the owners started to really piss me off. If any dog (especially mine) comes anywhere near or even looks at the Plott Hounds ball it will attack very viciously. The owners try to calm the dog "oh hey buddy come on buddy" but have ZERO control over this dog.

Today we came into the park and as soon as my dog's step foot in the park, the Plott Hound grabs on Brandi's throat and starts attacking her! I start yelling trying to get the dog off, but thankfully Nicky backed up her sister and body checked the Plott Hound and started biting him to get him off Brandi, which thankfully worked. The owner said absolutely nothing like it didn't even happen. The dog attacked Brandi about two more times, with the owner still doing nothing and then finally he started going after Hayden. My fiance couldn't take it anymore and ended up hitting the dog very hard on the nose with our Chuck-It. The dog let out a yelp and ran away and the owner took the dog to the other side of the park and we didn't have anymore incidents.

I feel bad that the dog got hit, but I felt like we had no other choice. The woman looked pretty pissed off and I don't want to make waves with anyone at the park. Any advice?

I wouldn't feel bad at all. I would probably end up leaving, but that's me. If they can't control their own dog or don't seem to care to, you are definitely reasonable to step-in and protect your own dog in the incident. Were there any witnesses? Maybe you can 'befriend' some of the other dog owners. They'd be more willing to stick up for you in case this happens again. If she really was a responsible person, she would have come up to you and apologized. I'm sure you would apologize if your dog attacked theirs. But that's not the case. In my opinion, you didn't do anything wrong. You were protecting your baby. Hope they don't give you any more issues, but I would be on the look out if I were you.

Thanks, when my dogs have acted up in the park I always take responsibility and ask if their dog is ok and apologize (thankfully this hasn't happened in a very long time). There is also a sign on the door of the park that states "first sign of dog aggression must be removed from the park", which she failed to do. I've never had any issues with anyone at the park and everyone knows us and I'm friends with several people there. Thankfully, my friend was their with her GSD and saw the entire thing.

Unfortunately, we do have a crazy person in our dog park. She's a 30 year old and comes to the park 4-6 hours every single day with no dog. She sits on the bench and likes to start shit with the other dog owners, it's very weird. When asked why she's here, she claims for the love of dogs. She makes a lot of people very uncomfortable and has actually made several new people stop coming, because she's very creepy. Anyway, got a little side tracked, but the 30 year old saw my fiancé hit the dog and she went over to the Plott Hounds owner and started instigating crap and trying to make the situation bigger than it already was.

Very frustrating! I hope I don't see the Plott Hound people for a long time.

on the subject of creepy dog park people- we have one of those. the top parking lot (which is blocked from view by trees when your in the dog park) is used by either druggies or some sort of sex transactions or something else thats sketch. there's always creepers hanging around up there in their cars near the public restroom (which no one uses for that reason). one of the creepers comes down to the dog park with no dog and stares at all of us. people have tried to say "hello" but he's not friendly, not nice just flat out creepy. ive thought about asking the folks who run the park about the strange activity going on there but just decided it wasnt worth my time. Still, if we ever get there and theres no other dogs or owners i leave. its not worth waiting for people to show up when the person who may show up is the creeper (as i call him).

I would be afraid the creepers were scoping out nice dogs to steal, but that's just where my paranoid mind goes when people are around watching me and my dog.

TwisterII thats EXACTLY what i thought the first time he showed up. he said 6 words to me after staring at the dogs for 30 minutes "What kind of dog is that". So i lied and said "Husky border collie mix" . and my friend who had his GSD with us kinda looked at my sideways but kept his mouth shut. eventually the guy wandered away. im probably paranoid about it but i figure it might make her "less" valuable to say she's a mutt.