am i being too sensitive?

tadpolenyc

tadpolenyc

O.G.
Sep 9, 2006
27,862
2
#1
i adopted a dog, sam, from our local rescue shelter about a year and half ago. she was incredibly submissive, shy, and fearful. it took me over half a year to get her to trust me and to socialize with other dogs and/or people. she's still very skittish, but is much improved.

i take her to the dog park every night. last night we encountered an overly eager dog that kept trying to hump sam. i gently pushed the dog away and even removed myself to the other end of the park to get away from it. it continually would chase us down to attempt to mount sam even though i was repeatedly pushing it away or standing between them. the owner meanwhile was doing NOTHING.

i work all day and hardly get time to spend with my dog. i go to the park to enjoy my time with her not to be chased by a dog whose owner thinks the dog park is her own personal backyard. plus with sam being so submissive, i do not like when other dogs try to exert their dominance over her as it upsets me. am i being too overly sensitive about this or is an enclosed area not a good enough excuse for owners to neglect their pet? what would you do in these situations? it's happened to me more than once.
 
#2
That behavior is completely unacceptable! Next time it happens, tell the owner that his/her dog is acting inappropriately and that they need to supervise them. I don't know why people think it's ok for dogs to behave like this... it isn't. No one should have to "babysit" another person's dog for them. Unfortunately dog parks seem to attract a lot of idiots.
 
#3
You are a lot nicer than I would have been. Next time tell the idiot of an owner to get his dog away from your dog. Yes dogs go to the park to play off leash. That doesn't give anyone the right to allow their pet to act badly. What even happened to common curtesy???
 
#4
It's because of the reasons you listed above, that I do not take my dog to a dog park. I think they are great in theory, but are just an accident waiting to happen in practice. Too many people are lazy and don't actually watch their dogs while they are in the park. And there are also a lot of very poorly socialized and badly behaved dogs.
 
#5
I tend to avoid dog parks, and this is one reason why. However, I have other options but lots of city dwellers don't.

My sheltie, Dusty, is very shy, and gets overwhelmed by aggressive dogs. My corgi, Polar, is reactive, and well, she can be a jerk. I am constantly on alert with her. We tend to do better on walks in the neighborhood rather than the dog park visits. I feel badly because they are never off leash outside as a result, but the sheltie is a flight risk anyway so I just can't risk it.
 
#6
thank you for the comments and advice. that makes me feel better. i don't want to touch or mess with other people's dogs without their permission, but i feel like i have to when their dog just doesn't know when to quit. for some reason if an incident were to occur, you know those owners would be the ones to blame you for it even though they were too busy reading/talking to their friends/on the cell to prevent it from happening in the first place.
 
#7
I am not at all a fan of dog parks, for the reason you mention- plus - you don't know the health or vaccination status of the other dogs, they may infect yours with something.

Then there are the real idiots who bring trully aggressive dogs there.

No, no dog parks for me!

My dogs are not required to like other dogs, they just need to be on leash, act civilized and obey my commands. If another rude-ass loose dog gets into heir faces while they are leashed, well, I am getting soon a sturdy, long, hiking stick , and will carry it with me when I walk. Can't stand loose dogs who run up to mine on the street.

Youu say your dog is submissive - that is why the other dog is trying to hump her (heck, I have a female here who humps her sister because she is dominant to the sister). Maybe dog parks are not for her, just long, pleasant walks with you. If you find some enclosed area where you and she can run and play fetch or whatever, that would be nice!
 
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#8
What a shame that an irresponsible dog owner ruins your time with Sam at the park. You had every right to stop the dog, when the owner was refused to take control of her dog. I'm sure that's a rule violation.

I hope Sam isn't affected badly by what happened.
 
#9
Well its not the dogs fault as he is just acting in his nature but his owner should be a little more responsible. If you want to be sure this Romeo is kept at length you should have a word with the owner,
 
#10
It's unfortunate that you and Sam have to be subjected to an irresponsible dog owner. I've never been to a dog park, but I would be upset if that happened to my dog.
 
#11
You are definitely NOT too sensitive. I would have told the owner to keep his dog away for me. It's a shame that you would have to ask for this. The owner should have taken care of this before his dog could bother you again.
 
#12
moi et mes sacs said:
Well its not the dogs fault as he is just acting in his nature but his owner should be a little more responsible. If you want to be sure this Romeo is kept at length you should have a word with the owner,
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no, i don't blame the dog at all. she was cute and good natured, not at all mean, just very eager and unaware of boundaries. i was angry with the owner. i didn't even realize who she was or if she was even there until i was leaving the park and her dog tried to follow us out.

i got in an altercation last summer over the same issue because a man left his (unneutered) boxer unattended, and it was aggressively attempting to mount sam. when i tried to distance his dog from mine, it became even more aggressive and ended up clamping his teeth around her neck. thankfully, i was able to remove her from the vicinity in time, and she came away unscathed just a bit shaken up. but, ahhh, you should've seen how angry i was. it's just so rude that owners think it's cute to let their dogs run around unchecked. there's just no excuse for it. this is why i go so much later in the day now, but even when there's only two dogs in there, it still happens. :rolleyes:
 
#13
aklein said:
It's because of the reasons you listed above, that I do not take my dog to a dog park. I think they are great in theory, but are just an accident waiting to happen in practice. Too many people are lazy and don't actually watch their dogs while they are in the park. And there are also a lot of very poorly socialized and badly behaved dogs.
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I agree! Owners would sit and read book at the dog park I used to go too, they didn't even bother to glance up and check what they're dog was doing. My Daisy is pretty timid and was hurt on more than one occasion at the dog park while I had her on her leash! One dog just ran by and bit her on the mouth for no reason at all. That was the last time we went there.
 
#14
Well, having just experienced a dog attack where one of my dogs was really hurt, I can tell you that I now carry pepper spray and if any dog comes up to me off a leash and shows any behavior that could hurt my small dogs, I will pepper spray the dog, and most likely the owner as well.
I love dogs, and do not want to hurt a dog, but at the end of the day I have to protect my dogs and myself.
 
#15
Irishgal said:
Well, having just experienced a dog attack where one of my dogs was really hurt, I can tell you that I now carry pepper spray and if any dog comes up to me off a leash and shows any behavior that could hurt my small dogs, I will pepper spray the dog, and most likely the owner as well.
I love dogs, and do not want to hurt a dog, but at the end of the day I have to protect my dogs and myself.
Click to expand...
Spray the owner FIRST, they usually deserve it! :graucho:
 
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