Our dog park has a 25 pound limit in the small dog area. Kingsley is pushing 22 lbs and will be over that limit in probably a couple weeks. While he plays really well with the small dogs (the one's that are willing), he's really bad at "taking the hint" with dogs that obviously don't want to play (i.e. baring teeth, barking/biting his neck). Even when older small dogs don't want to play with him, he'll still pursue them relentlessly.

My concern is how he'll be able to handle the big dog park once he's not allowed in the small one. I've taken him in there a few times for about 10 minutes each time so that he can get used to what it feels like playing with dogs much larger than him.Today he played with a HUGE GSD more than 3 times his size. If they're friendly, they'll run and play as happily as he does with the small dogs.

But there's always at least one (or two) much larger dogs that don't want to be bothered by a puppy, and have lunged at him, teeth bared. One even went so far as biting his face. Today, one pit just did NOT want to be bothered. Even when Kingsley walked away, the pit still tracked him. The owner had to leash him up. The pit still wanted to get to Kingsley. Thankfully, the owner left quickly without anyone having to ask him to. I immediately took K to the small dog part, but still. He doesn't have much longer where he's allowed in there.

Granted, K is only 4 months and still needs time to learn. But he'll have to play ONLY in the big dog park very soon, and I'm afraid that he'll get hurt by big dogs for not knowing when to leave them alone.

Does anyone else have any experience with this?

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I wouldn't be worried at all. Our park doesn't even have separation between little and big dog's and mine have always done well, even being at 4 months old. They have to learn to leave other dog's alone and when enough is enough and an older dog is the perfect teacher. Our 21 week old pup plays with a 150 pound St. Bernard all the time, she's actually more afraid of hound's with their loud obnoxious howl.

I would be more worried about an aggressive dog coming into the park. We usually leave when those type of people/dogs come to the park.

The older dogs will teach him, no doubt about that. Karli is very in your face, licking and begging to be chased. Older dogs don't tolerate that. There's one older husky who does not play any more, he just comes with his sister to hang out while she rules the park (Maggie is queen bee for sure) and Karli tried to play with him a couple times. He nipped at her and she learned, Buzz is off-limits. Now she just hides behind him when she doesn't want to be chased anymore. Its nice that the owner of the pit knew it was time to take his dog out. He's only gonna learn if he's allowed to play.

Vegeta plays with older dogs at a buddy of mine's house (they have 4 dogs in the house), and I let them do their things until its obvious he is done (he starts to get excessively mouthy and loud). The older dogs will certainly teach the younger pups. It's really a "you live and you learn" kind of thing when it comes to play. It's good for all the dogs because Vegeta learns to tell when enough is enough from other dogs and the older dogs learn how to play with a puppy 1/3 to 1/4 their size.

I wouldn't worry to much about them playing. It's the aggressive dogs that clearly aren't playing that I'd worry about. Or the owners that don't pay a lick of attention, nothing annoys me more then a dog owner that brings them into the park then just sits and reads a book while they play. If you want to read a book, that's fine, keep your dog on a leash then...just watch your dog. Not only for your dog's sake, but for my own.

I'm just worried because I don't want a serious accident to happen and I'm nowhere near as fast as a dog. I try to stay close to Kingsley, but sometimes he just sprints to the opposite side of the park.

Has anyone had their dog straight up attacked at the dog park before?

Almost yes. Dog parks are very..touchy. You never know what kind of people/dogs will show up at the park the same time you do. The only thing I can say is to make sure you don't go during peak hours.

I don't think puppies belong at the park, that is just my opinion. Personally it aggravates me as a fellow dog owner to see a young puppy with rambunctious adults at the dog park. Most puppies, regardless of size, can't handle the play of the adults and either they get all whiny which just pisses the adults off, or their owners get all pissy and blame us adult dog owners. I get really stressed out when I see a puppy because I know something is just bound to happen. It just scares me is all. If you feel confident enough, then I guess go for it.

When Sheba was younger, we went to the dog park when nobody was there. Seriously, nobody. I took her once when she was a puppy into the small dog park, and everybody FREAKED out at her play style, so I left and I never brought her back. I took her back around 6 months old when she was better suited for rough play.

I'm all for puppies learning from older dogs, but not when they are at such a fragile age.

Yes. A lab dropped a tennis ball because her owners didn't want her playing with them for whatever reason, and Pippa ran by her to grab it. She lunged at Pippa. Pippa didn't submit though, she went right back for her.

The owners came over to get their dog and I grabbed Pippa. They left almost immediately.

But that was a weird situation. I've never seen a dog get attacked because a puppy is being annoying, more so because someone tried to be dominant and someone else didn't like it. And of course there will always be poor socialized dogs, and things could happen, but that's the risk you take going to the park.

And I would argue that Kingsley is old enough. Especially if you're staying in the small dog part for the time being. Puppies need to learn how to play and I'm a firm believer in that happening as young as possible.

I'd say Kingsley's fine too. But I've been bringing Korra since about that age. I bring her during the week when it's less crowded. Usually it's just dog walkers there, and the people there in the middle of the day are way nicer than the people on the weekends. It's a good way to ease them into the whole big-dog side, if you're worried. It depends on your area though, I'm sure. Korra's manners have vastly improved. If a dog warns her, I'll do a "gotcha!" (collar grab) and make sure she gets the message. Took a while, but she knows a bit better now. Not that she's anywhere near perfect lol.

I took Yuki to our dog park starting at 4 months with no issues. IMO its better to take them when they're young so they can learn whats appropriate and whats not from a young age. Luckily our park had a 0-35 limit so Yuki was able to be on the small side until just recently, but I often took her on the big side as often as I could when she hit about 25-30 pounds and she did just fine. Yes, I worry about aggressive dogs, yes there HAVE been aggressive dogs and incidents where it scared the crap out of me. And honestly, I only go to the dog park maybe twice a week now as Yuki can take longer walks being older. The dog park was her 'outlet' to all her energy before, but now that I can take her on structured walks without worrying about damaging her muscles, I don't go there as often. I'm not worried about what MY dog will do, I'm worried about what OTHER peoples dog will do.

You peeps have it made with dog parks. None in our area.

There is one about a 20 minute drive with no traffic, but if anyone here is from Cali knows you have to add another 30 mins or so due to traffic. haha

lol that sucks. what part of cali are you from? i'm originally from south texas and we (they) JUST recently got a dog park. it was an hour drive to get to the nearest one before.

I'm in Pomona (Phillips Ranch area). The nearest one is in San Dimas which is close but by the time I get out of work the 57FWY is...how should I say "forget about it" mode.

Maya has been attacked multiple times, if it's just a small spat she'll fight back or it will be her who started it. But if it's anything more then that she'll immediately submit, though at that point the other dog doesn't back off until the owners grab it.

One of the not so great things about taking a younger dog to the dog park is that it can learn bad behaviors just as easily as good behaviors. I would watch out for dogs that seem rude or are displaying bad behaviors then maybe leave and go for a walk.

I would just be very conscious of who Kingsley is playing with. The only time one of my dogs has ever been attacked in a dog park was when he was younger, we went in the middle of the day and it was only me and another dog in there. The dog came after Darwin, drew blood and gave him a pretty good hematoma on his neck. Since then I've never had any issues with him itself. Like others said, the most time I see any type of issue in the park is if one dog is trying to play too rough/try to dominate another and the other doesn't want anything to do with it.

At home our dog park isn't split up by size and people are pretty good about keeping track of their dog and leaving if they get too rough. But on the weekends it's a hectic mess there even thought he park is rather large. I would definitely try not to go during peak hours while Kingsley is still learning. At school we have two dog parks within the city, and one of the them is predominantly populated by college students with unaltered pit type dogs that most have extremely bad manners and the owners are completely unaware of what their dog is doing in the park at the moment. I go to the other park that most people who live in the town go to. If you have a park with a lot of irresponsible owners, I'd definitely stay away.

But I think dog parks do help your dog learn how to interact with others, and socialize. Just make sure as Abby said they aren't picking up bad habits. (I'm working on that issue with being home for spring break and Watson my 5 month old being around my sisters jack russell who has very slim manners).

Im only read part of this post but.. U might wannaa think about trying to find a trainin center by you thay does puppy play dates.. Next wed. Koda had a puppy play date when about 4-5 puppies go and play for a hour.. Its like 10$ at the place im going.. Im hoping it helps with him learning to plau

Take pictures and write a post telling us how it goes!

I started bringing Cally to the park when she was a pup and I agree that puppies should be able to be at the dog park even at that young of an age. It teaches the pup how to approopriately socialize with the other dogs and it also teaches the adult dogs how to socialize with a puppy. I do get what your saying to an extent Kelsey But I also believe that it is definitely beneficial to the pup and to the older dogs.

On topic though, I think that sometimes you just have to let them sort it out on their own (just know your pups limits). If your pup gets a little nip for being too pushy than that may be what the need to learn that the other dog does not want to play. If this doesn't work then you can keep an eye out and watch when the other dogs are showing him warning signs and if you see the signs and your pup doesn't realize then you can remove him from the situation. Redirect him towards a dog that looks like they want to play or make him sit by your side for a minute and then go back to playing.

There have been a few dogs that are agressive at our park but people are usually pretty good about leashing them or keeping a muzzle on them while they play. The only one time I had an issue really was a couple weeks ago- Cally was on leash and a off leash dog walked by us and just lunged at her and started attacking her. The owner finally caught him and then made him go the other direction while telling us "he's never done this before" and then she walked the other direction and we saw him attack another dog. That's the most serious and none of the pups were injured.

I hope you find a way to allow your pup in the "big dog" area comfortably!

Part of the socialization process of dogs is to allow them time out of the house and into different environments. This is particularly important to their socialization process--especially early on--because it allows the puppies to learn what is acceptable and not acceptable in different environments.

The key term here is "learn". It'll certainly be stressful to any dog owner (including, yes, the owner of the dog and not the puppy) as the older dogs help to "teach" the puppy what are acceptable forms of play. I do believe (and may stand to be corrected here) that puppies can learn even by watching as well. Huskies are a very intelligent breed and watch and listen to everything--they will no doubt be paying attention to the dogs even if you just walk to the larger dog park and make him watch instead of participate.

The key for both owners involved is figuring out what is no longer "teaching" and instead what may be aggressive behavior.

Bringing a puppy to an empty dog park will help him or her expel some energy but they will still need to "learn" these important things from older dogs. Another choice, however; could be to allow them some time with a trusted neighbor or friend's dog before taking them to the dog park as well.

Hope this was helpful!