Dog Park Dos and Donts

Your dog is giving you that look again, isn’t he? He keeps staring at this leash, then at your car keys. Then he stares at the window, back to your car keys, back to his leash, then back to you. It’s clear what he wants: he just wants to go see his friends at the park, Mom.

While you’re sympathetic to his want to socialize, you may also be wondering what going to the dog park means for you. Are there certain rules you have to follow? Are there there ways your dog is expected to behave? What does being a good dog park goer entail?

We’ll break all that down and more in the following article. Let’s get started!

Dos

Make Sure Your Dog is Vaccinated

Before you even consider bringing your dog to the park, you have to make sure that he’s gotten his shots. This is both for the safety of other dogs in the park as well as their owners. In order to be considered fully up-to-date, your dog must be vaccinated for following. Rabies, kennel cough, leptospirosis, dog flu, hepatitis, parvo and and distemper. The American Kennel Club recommends that dogs spending time in dog parks should be treated for fleas, ticks, and heartworms.

This may seem like an exhaustive list, but we can never be too safe when trying to keep our fellow four-legged friends and their pet parents safe from infectious agents. Before taking Sparky to the park, consult with your veterinarian to hash out a treatment plan that’s right for your dog. They may also suggest further steps to keep your dog and everyone else at the park safe.

Leash Your Dog (When Indicated)

This is a no-brainer, but it needs to be said: when you’re at a dog park, your dog and the other pups are all guests. Accordingly, everyone must respect the rules of the park. That means, when you’re in a designated leash area, you must leash your dog. Beyond being compliant, it’s also just a common-sense safety measure. You don’t want your unleashed pup to go up to dogs who aren’t comfortable with that level of friendliness. It can get ugly -and- fast. Beyond the potential for dog-dog confrontation, an unleashed dog can run away. Running away from the park many end up in the street and in traffic. That’s never a good thing!

To maximize safety, keep your dog on a leash when you first get to a dog park. Let your dog become acquainted with their surrounding area (and other dogs) from afar. Plus, this enables you can stop Fido from picking up and eating any trash or litter. To make this a good and safe experience, only go to into the off-leash area when you feel safe to do so. Then, you should absolutely remove their leash. Off-leash dogs can more easily communicate body language cues in other dogs. These cues likely indicate their willingness to play.

Go With a Preventative Mindset (but Know How to Take Charge)

Knowing how to take charge in a situation that is spiraling out of control is paramount to guarantee your dog’s safety. However, you should aim to minimize the chance of such a situation from occurring in the first place. Luckily, there are a variety of ways for you to do so.

The first step is to keep moving. This (hopefully) forces your dog to keep checking your position and follow you. Moreover, it’s essential to be able to recall your dog to your side if they’re busy smelling the grass. In the event that they don’t come when called, don’t be slow to go up and grab their collar. Be warned: if you have not trained them to be receptive to a collar grab, this can quickly escalate.

Likewise, you may want to let Fido go off and play with other dogs without Mom and Dad right there at his side. We understand. But that doesn’t mean that you can let Fido out of your sight. In fact, it’s imperative that you keep a close eye on your furry friend at all times. You need to moderate your dog’s interactions to ensure that any play remains friendly. And be sure your pup isn’t bothering some dog who simply came to enjoy his one day away from a dog at home.

Knowing when Playtime is Over

Speaking of interactions with other dogs: you need to know the signs of when play has turned sour. This keeps your dog safe. It doesn’t matter if your dog is the hap-hap-happiest dog in the whole wide world. It’s too chancy that he might just catch another dog when they’re feeling ruff or just not in the mood to socialize. There are a few tell-tale signs that a strange dog is not in the mood to play with your dog.  Their stature will be tense, their head will be held high. The stance may be forward trajectory, lips may be snarled, and ears will be pointed up or forward.

If your dog begins to scrap with another pooch, it’s imperative to know how to put an immediate stop to it. One of the most successful methods of breaking up two fighting dogs is known as the “wheelbarrow method”. This method sees two people grab the back legs of their dogs to pull them away from one another. Best achieved  in a curving motion keeps the dogs from biting the person holding their legs.

However, if one of the dogs has latched onto the other, it’s crucial that you first break their grip. Simply pulling them apart can easily harm the injured dog. To break a dog’s grip, slide a stick into their mouth towards the back of the throat and twist. This should make them release their grip and make it safe to separate the dueling parties.

Clean Up After Your Pup

Look, it’s common courtesy. If your dog poops, please clean up after him. Come prepared with a scoop, bag, and pick up his waste. Not only is leaving his waste everywhere really unpleasant to look at (and smell), but it’s also unsanitary!

Just be a good steward of your local dog park and help keep it clean. If you wouldn’t want someone to just leave their dog’s feces in your yard, why on Earth would you think it’s okay to leave a park infested with your dog’s droppings?

Just pick it up! Seriously! A blog shouldn’t have to tell you this!

Be Prepared and Packed

Just as you might spend at the human park, you should come prepared with the appropriate supplies to ensure a good, safe time. That means coming to the park equipped with a travel bowl, water and dog treats. Keep treats in the car and out of sight of the other dogs. If not, you’ll be swarmed by hungry eyes.

Bringing along a doggy first aid kit isn’t a bad idea, either. You never know what sorts of shenanigans your pup might get up to that require first aid. Lastly, given that many dog parks are being built with dog wash stations, you might want to bring along some wash supplies. We have in mind a good dog shampoo such as Banixx Medicate Shampoo. And remember to pack towels too. Especially if your pup likes to get dirty playing around in the muck with his other four-legged companions.

Don’ts

Don’t bring Puppies to the Park!

While socialization is an integral part of raising any well-adjusted pooch, the dog park is not the place to do it. Puppies experience a critical socialization period from birth until they’re about four months old. During this time, they gain their first impressions of the world around them and take these lessons into adulthood. It’s vital to expose them to many different kinds of dogs, people, and other new animals during this time. This ensure that they’re not afraid or skittish around new things when they’re older. But be smart! Introduce them to these new beings in a controlled setting. Here, Fido can be comforted and assured, by you, that what’s being introduced to him is good.

At a dog park, there’s very little you can control. Sure, most dog parks are filled with responsible pet parents. But you can never predict when some will allow their hulking Great Dane to trample over your fur baby. It only takes a handful of bad experiences with dogs who aren’t under control to transform the dog park into a torturous place for your pup. Don’t let it happen. Be on the alert!

Don’t Allow your Dog to Pester or Bully other Dogs

There’s a whole lot we can say about this, but we think it’s best to keep it simple. If you wouldn’t want your kid to misbehave or bully another kid, then don’t let your dog behave the same way. When you see your dog and a pal ganging up on another, smaller or older dog, Stop them Immediately! Dogs who bully other dogs ruin the vibe of the whole park and wreck the experience for other dogs.

Similarly, if you see your dog about to mount another dog, stop them! While it may be just another behavior for your pup, this move isn’t likely to be welcomed. If you notice your dog is trying to mount another dog, body-block them.  Stop the behavior and repeat as many times as it takes to get the message across. You may even have to take your dog outside the park if they’re too excited. Don’t be afraid to do this. The other dogs and their parents will appreciate it greatly!

Don’t bring Unneutered Dogs or Dogs who are in Heat

Unneutered or intact male dogs who are over the age of one shouldn’t come to the dog park. At this point in their life, dogs are becoming fully mature. They may begin displaying more dominant, aggressive behavior due to their desires to attract a mate. This same behavior can then begin to show up in unwelcome settings, such as at a dog park. If you notice your dog is beginning to act aggressively towards other dogs, consider getting them neutered ASAP.

Likewise, it is extremely ill-advised to take an in-tact (unspayed) female dog who is in season (in heat) to a dog park. For starters, you probably aren’t looking to breed your female with an unknown dog! And, if other in-tact males are in the dog park, your female may stir up trouble and cause fighting. With that scenario, everyone loses. When in doubt, just remember: if your dog has not had their baby making capacities reduced, keep away from the dog park.

Do not Disobey Size Regulations

We get it. Your little floof got his name, Scrappy, because he’s able to hold his own against your bigger dogs during playtime. Thus, you reason, it makes no sense that he should be partitioned away from his bigger brothers in the dog park. However, there’s plenty of reasons why your small dog shouldn’t mingle with the beefier canines.

For starters, even small dogs who are friendly with all the other big dogs can easily get hurt. Especially if they’re in and around a group of much larger dogs who are playing. Not every big dog is agile enough to leap out of the way of a small dog who is bouncing around. Moreover, not every small dog is aware enough of their surroundings to get out of the way of inbound big dogs. It’s naive to believe that other animals will accommodate our pets’ size.

Additionally, and perhaps more crucially, small dogs don’t really stand a chance against larger breeds. If a fight were to break out your little guy will lose. Bigger dogs are simply stronger and more able to seriously and quickly damage a small dog. This is not to say that big dogs are inherently prone to preying upon and harming small dogs. It simply means that big dogs have numerous advantages in a fight.

Regardless of whether you practically live at the dog park or it’s about to be your first time, we hope that this short description of dog park etiquette helps. We want your experience to be safe, fun and joyful for you both!

Banixx Blog

For sure, we know by now that you care a lot about your dog’s health – otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this blog! That’s why we hope you’ll come back to our blog to learn more about how to keep your furry, four-legged friend happy and healthy.  If, on the other hand, you are interested in how to Clean up messy eye boogers or goop or maintain your dog’s nails/claws, yes, we cover that too.  Or are you interested in more quirky items? such as how long can a dog go without peeing, yep, we’ve got that covered.

Sources

• https://www.fitbark.com/blog/dog-park-dos-and-donts/
• https://www.wvlt.tv/content/news/The-vaccines-your-dog-needs-before-going-to-a-dog-park–480539161.html
• https://www.dogsavvylosangeles.com/blog/dog-park-etiquette
• https://sitmeanssit.com/dog-training-mu/austin-dog-training/how-to-tell-if-a-dog-is-being-aggressive/
• https://www.ccspca.com/blog-spca/education/how-to-break-up-a-dog-fight/
• https://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/why-puppies-and-dog-parks-don-t-mix/101482
• https://shewhisperer.com/dog-park-etiquette/