Click below for our a map to our New Dogpark
This seems to be the biggest gripe dog trainers have about Dog Parks - they see dogs with behavior problems when they are allowed to spend so much time there as part of their daily exercise routine that they start to place a higher value on romping with their canine friends than interacting with their human companion - kind of like if kids get to spend an entire summer at the cottage as then have to go back to school and regular routines that are boring in comparison. Some settle back into the routines better than others. Owners need to break up the pack occasionally and ensure that their dogs will come back and "check in" when called. Owners have to be fun too! If they won't, then they have had enough play and need to leave their friends and find other activities to focus on, because it is affecting their obedience and respect for their owners, which can lead to problems outside the dog park. Many people don't make the connection between Fido's free play with other dogs and issues that may start to crop up elsewhere.
I agree that parking a few blocks from the park and walking in and out might help, even parking your car a few blocks from home and walking the dog to and from the house, but you may have to stop going to the park altogether for a while, and start spending the time doing other one-on-one activities with your dog, even a good game of fetch. Have you thought about taking a class that you both might enjoy? Agility or Disc Dog (Frisbee routines, competitions for distance and tricks, you can do some amazing things with a couple quality Frisbees and your imagination) that your dog might learn to enjoy and teach him to focus on and interact with you to have fun rather than other dogs. I HAVE to train my dogs to do stuff like this - I have Border Collies. If just allowed to run in the dog park, they would treat the other dogs like sheep and constantly try to stop them running or gather them up while becoming selectively deaf. Most other dogs hate being sheep. With no training they just wouldn't stop and come back when called or listen to directions, they are so focused on their "work”. Just my two cents worth,
From Luan at TorontoUnleashed.com
