I have been HOUNDING (no pun intended!) my boyfriend to take me and Layla to the dog park. I'd never been there before, and his border collie goes every weekend! So a couple weeks ago the day finally came where he said "Hey, let's go to the dog park!" Layla hasn't been getting out of the house much lately and I was excited for the chance for us both to get out and get some exercise and for her to socialize and have other dogs to run and play with since she has always been so playful, but none of the dogs she's been around ever wanted to play!
First of all I took her to his house. His older dog, a sheltie, apparently doesn't like other dogs
She growled at poor Layla so she got put outside. K.C., the collie was a little apprehensive, sniffing at Layla's face and then running away. I didn't expect them to play right away so I was glad they were getting to know each other.
Finally, at the dog park, Layla didn't want anything to do with ANY dog. They'd come up and sniff her and she'd run between my legs, or jump up at me for me to pick her up. She completely ignored everything and would wander into the tall grass or sniff along the bottom of the fence and wouldn't come when I called. She wouldn't even run around with the little dogs.
I thought, oh she'll get used to it. We were there for 2 hours and nothing changed. We took her again this past weekend for a couple hours and it was the same. She actually seems SCARED of other dogs. If one comes up behind her she sits down so they can't sniff her butt. If they get closer, she lays down. If they get even closer, she rolls over on her back. This is of course, if I'm not RIGHT there for her to hide behind.
Layla seems to be more interested in the people there than the dogs. How do I reassociate her with dogs? She used to love being around dogs, and now she's just different and I don't know when it happened
I want her to have a good time and run around and play!
I know after just two trips she might still be getting used to it, but is there anything I should be doing to make her feel more comfortable? Maybe it's just overwhelming, but last time there were only 2 or 3 dogs there for about the first hour and we hardly even saw them!