Incident at dog park - feeling awful

[xboatsailorz]

Our 15 week old Jack Russell (female) got too close to an apple that another dog (~2 yo, berner senner-like but don’t know) was chewing on, and got told of. She got a little scared of course, but didn’t seem terrified, said hello to another dog that came afterwards and didn’t even seem too scared of the dog itself. However she yelped quite a bit, and was pawing a lot at her nose, so me and the other mommy exchanged numbers, and i left right after. On the way home my heart was sinking cause it looks like her upper canine is stuck in her upper lip. At home I’ve tried to (with gloves on and a q-tip) gently “unfold” her lip, but she wont let me and i won’t use force til i get some advice. I have a video call with a vet in 10 min, but i feel awful. She’ll be fine, but still, i feel like i risk her not wanting to go to the park. Anyways, hugs and kisses to all of you

 

[tomm57]

@xboatsailorz I stopped going to dog parks years ago, when I realized that I was setting my dogs up for disaster.

I do take my pup to a daycare that I vetted, and he was in their puppy preschool program at your pups age. Small groups, 20-30 minutes of play 3x in 8 hours. Crated and walked outside for potty.

It was fabulous for his socialization.

 

[xboatsailorz]

@tomm57 She’s starting daycare in a puppy group at the end of the month, looking forward to that. I guess the “stress” of getting her socialised will lessen by then also. I think she’ll love it, cause she seems to love other dogs.

 

[tomm57]

@xboatsailorz That’s awesome! Are you in group training classes?

I stopped going to dog parks because I had a mastiff who was the most loving and sweet pup, but smaller dogs would gang up on him. He would be on his back trying to show he means no harm, and 3-5 dogs would be surrounding him and not letting him up. I saw the distress in his eyes and yoinked the other dogs off of him, leashed him and took him home. Never went back.

I realized that if he were to get fed up with the bullying, and snap at the dogs, or worse, get into a fight, he would be looked at as the aggressor because he was 4-5x their size.

 

[xboatsailorz]

@tomm57 Very good point, I won’t push it, and accept if dog parks just aren’t for us, just take small steps and precautions to see if she’s willing, and take better control of the situations beforehand.

We’re going to puppy class in like 10 days! Biggest concern is that she’ll be super distracted by other dogs (think it’s a group of 6), but i guess that’s part of the training! Very excited for that too!

 

[tomm57]

@xboatsailorz It is part of the training!

I have a very very good trainer, and she was very accepting of puppies being interested in one another.

She commented that manners can be learned any time, but enjoying class, other dogs and the whole process needs to start at the beginning.

She said if your pup is aware that you even exist in puppy 1, you’re doing great

And lo and behold, by puppy 2, all of the pups were laying at their peoples feet and pretty focused on them!

Lastly, I won’t harp on the dog park thing anymore, but it doesn’t really matter if she is willing, it’s your job to make the decisions that put her in the best possible position to have a happy and healthy life.

To me, dog parks are too unpredictable. You never know who is going to walk in the gate. And all it takes is one single jerk of a dog to attack yours (not correct it) and you may be set up for 18 years of a reactive dog.

That’s not to say there aren’t other options.

My trainer has farm days with only dogs she’s vetted and invited to play on her farm.

I’ve found people on social media for him to play with by putting a post up looking for puppy friends.

You want to control your dogs experiences as much as possible.

All done harping.

 

[xboatsailorz]

@tomm57 Thank you, very good advice! I’ll look for other venues to play at, and also discuss the whole thing thoroughly with my partner so we’re on the same page.

 

[christoph2005]

@xboatsailorz Dog parks are terrible for socialization.