Originally Posted by QuickSilver  Let me start off by saying I feel HORRIBLE about this, and am kind of ashamed to post it. I am really looking for help here.
I have never owned a dog while living in a city. I am in an apartment without a yard. I have been Thor's official owner for about three months, but I have been walking him and taking him to parks for about a year.
Thor is 2 1/2 years old. When I started walking him, I never let him off-leash. Then I bought his owner a 25" retractable leash so that he could roam a bit in parks. Finally, I tought him to Come, and he knows this command better than any other. I would say he obeys it 98% of the time.
The problem, of course, is the other 2%. Thor is extremely timid around other dogs, and I believe has major socialization issues. On the other hand, he is very small, only 4lbs, so maybe he is right to be very cautious.
I have been taking him to daycare once per week help him with his doggy social skills. He loves going there - he races into the place in the morning and comes out with his tail wagging at night.
HOWEVER, his behavior has become erratic. A few weeks ago, he snarled at another dog with the front teeth out and everything - he seriously looked like a miniature Cujo.
Even more seriously, he has actually run out of two different parks onto the sidewalk. I don't know of any completely enclosed parks in my area, but I take him to parks that have limited access and stay as far away from the exits as possible. This has worked extremely well until the past few weeks.
The first time, he ran outside of the park to chase after some skateboarders. Tonight, we were in a park with a few small dogs and a few large ones. The large ones came over and made play bows to him and then walked off, so it seemed friendly. Thor barked at them for maybe fifteen minutes straight. He always barks, but it seemed to be an alert bark, not a "spooky" bark. He was clearly not relaxed, but his tail was up and he would run up to sniff a butt every so often. Then one of them took on after him and Thor was obviously scared - he was squealing and running in giant circles. I was finally able to get close enough to him to pick him up and the owner of the big dog leashed him.
I moved away about twenty feet and then put Thor back down a few minutes later to say hi to another yorkie. At this point, Thor ran to the entrance of the park. I called to him, and he turned around, hestitated, and then ran outside. I felt beyond awful, I'm bawling just thinking about it. Obviously I was terrified that he would be hit by a car, and it also seemed like he did not trust me to protect him.
Does anyone else have experience with this? Is he testing his limits? Is there a way I can keep him safe while giving him some freedom?
If I need to, I will always keep him on leash and always make sure to stay away from other dogs. This is not an ideal solution because he needs the exercise of running around and he loves being off leash so much but if it's a matter of protecting his life, I will do that. I just really hope other people have some ideas. I really want him to be a happy, well exercised dog with some nice doggy friends. Can I make this happen for him? |