Don't ruin the dog park for your pooch. Here are some bad habits you should break ASAP!
Dog parks are one of those places that seem like a brilliant idea — and would be, if we all knew how to behave. But we don't.
First, let's look at what many dog owners do wrong.
1. Not picking up after a dog.
First, it's simply good manners to scoop up after your dog does her business. It's gross to walk into a park that has poo everywhere and worse, it's really bad for your dog.
2. Not exercising a dog before taking her into a park.
This might sound counterintuitive. Well-behaved dogs are exercised dogs. So get those zoomies out of your dog before you bring her into a park situation.
3. Bringing dogs with rude greeting skills.
Introductions are important and make a difference in how dogs will get along. Allowing your dog to go charging up to a dog that has just entered the park is rude. The new dog is possibly on edge, examining its environment and level of safety, so your dog running full speed to that new dog could be asking for an instant fight. Knowing what's polite in the dog world and what isn't, and knowing how to help your dog be a polite pooch is essential to having positive experiences at a dog park.
4. Leaving prong collars and harnesses on dogs while playing.
Having metal contraptions where another dog is roughly shoving its mouth is inviting broken teeth, broken jaws, broken paws and legs, and potentially a huge dog fight if another panicked dog can't detach itself from your dog's neck.
5. Keeping dogs on leashes inside an off-leash area.
First, dogs on any sort of leash in an off-leash dog park is a bad idea. New owners often feel more secure keeping their dog on a leash, thinking that it'll be easier to control a dog whose quirks and reactions they haven't quite learned yet. However, a dog on leash is essentially a tripping hazard, especially if the leashed dog begins to play.
6. Bringing a female in heat or pregnant female.
If you want to see all hell break loose among a group of dogs, then watch when a dog in heat is brought into the mix.
7. Bringing puppies less than 12 weeks old or dogs with incomplete vaccinations.
There are so many diseases and parasites in a dog park to begin with — it just makes you shudder. Puppies under 12 weeks or that haven't been fully immunized against common diseases need to be kept well away from dog parks.
8. Small dogs in same play area as large dogs.
Some dog parks don't have separate play areas, and if that's the case where you are, be careful about bringing your small dog to such a park. Small dogs can often be viewed as prey by large dogs. If you bring a small dog to a park where large dogs are playing, it's on you if something happens to that tiny pooch.
9. Picking up and carrying a small dog.
The act of small dogs being lifted up triggers a treeing instinct in many dogs, moving them right into prey drive and exciting them into jumping on you to get at the small dog. In a dog park, where all dogs are extra stimulated and excited, picking up a small, panicked dog could be enough to get you knocked over or possibly even bitten.
10. Bringing in a dog that lacks recall skills.
Recall is about being able to disengage your dog from an activity that is escalating and having her return to you until tempers calm down. Recall skills are important not just for your dog's safety, but for the safety of every dog she is interacting with. No recall skills, no dog park.
11. Allowing dogs to bully other dogs.
You might think it's cute when your dog is bouncing all over another dog, but it's not. Learn when play gestures are cute and engaging — and socially appropriate to dogs — and when they're just flat out obnoxious and rude. If you don't, you're asking for a fight between the dogs, or getting yelled at by the owner of the poor dog being bullied.
12. Letting the dogs ‘work it out.'
Yeah, that just doesn't work. So many people at dog parks think that if they leave the dogs alone, they'll get through whatever social drama is happening. Dogs can be good at working things out, but dogs meeting for the first time in a stimulating environment are not on the best path to being able to work out differences. If a dog is being picked on, or there are signs of dislike between two dogs, it's up to the humans to intervene and keep everyone mellow and happy.
13. Bringing dogs that have resource-guarding problems.
Dogs who don't like to share toys, or who like to steal toys and hoard them, are not going to have fun in a dog park. Not only that, but that kind of dog is also a potential danger to other dogs that want to play with toys and don't take her cues to back off.
14. Chatting with other humans rather than supervising the dogs.
A person's number one priority at a dog park is a dog, not conversation with other humans. Too many people feel they can let loose their dog in a fenced park and then just have a nice chat with other dog owners. But if you're busy chatting, you're not watching. Dog parks are for dogs; coffee shops are for chit chat.
15. Spending more time looking at a smartphone screen than at the dogs.
Dogs know when you're mentally disengaged and they can often take advantage of that — breaking rules because they know they can. Don't make other dog owners have to manage your dog for you because you're texting or tweeting or posting a picture of your cute dog to Instagram.
Now that you know how certain things can be bad for dogs when you take them to the park, it's important to stop doing them! It can be hard to resist chatting with other dog owners or exercising your pooch before you take her out. However, your future experiences at the dog park will be a lot better!
For more information on these bad habits, visit Mother Nature Network.
