 Dog Park Etiquette
So- yesterday I took Wall-E to the dog park for the very first time. He is 4.5 months old and he gets so excited when he sees other dogs in our neighborhood and always wants to play with them, so I figured now is a good time to socialize him and take him to the dog park. Well, I took him and as soon as I let him roam free in the small dog area, 7 different dogs (all small dogs) swarmed over to him and started sniffing him and wanted to know who the "new guy" was... well I think Wall-E was freaked out and terrified by all the dogs sniffing at him that he kept trying to jump on me and after a while, I made the mistake of picking him up (I didn't really know what else to do) and holding him for a bit. Well- this lady that was there asked me if I ever watched the Dog Whisperer Show and I said no (I don't have cable tv) and she said that its better not to "reward" fearful behavior by picking Wall-E up because he should be able to hold his own with other dogs... so then I felt really sheepish and kind of embarassed that I gave in and picked up Wall-E. So then I put him down and just let him fend for himself with the other dogs. The whole time at the park (like 45 minutes) he was cowering behind my legs... and everytime I moved away from him hoping he would play with the other dogs, he would follow me like my little shadow. So now I feel like its my fault that I coddled him too much as a puppy and now he doesn't know how to play with other dogs... is this normal? Will he grow out of this fearful behavior and eventually learn how to play? Anyone out there have similar dog park stories? Are there any tips on how to socialize him slowly so he's not traumatized by the dog park? Thanks for reading and sorry for the long story!!! |