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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
Dawn has a background in competition in breed and the obedience ring, the whelping box, trained her own ‘registered therapy dog’, herding, tracking, lure coursing, water work training, field training, agility, and sailing with her boat trained dog. Dawn was one of the few trainers utilizing ‘positive reinforcement’ based methods before it’s popularity. Dawn has been interviewed by authors for a variety of articles such as Dog Fancy and The Washington Post. The Washingtonian Magazine chose Dawn as one of “Washington’s Best Dog Trainers”. As the owner, and founder of Merit Puppy Training, LLC, she continues to teach group classes and also works as a private consultant.
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8/15/2005
Dog Parks are becoming popular as more space is designated for dogs, now we need protocol to ensure safety and health for all those that attend the off leash parks, and those that live around them. The frequency of dog bites, dogfights, and the smell of feces clinging to our shoes will continue ultimately giving Dog Parks a bad rap. Good manners, common sense = Dog Park Etiquette.
- Scoop the poop, reduce the risk of a bacterial breeding ground that dogs play in, and our neighbors walk through. Carry a bag when you’re out with your dog, and keep your dog off the neighbors’ property.
- Obey the leash laws, keep your dog on leash until you have entered the play area, take off any training collars leaving only a well fitting buckle collar, and keep your leash with you.
- Don’t allow dogs in the play area to ‘rush’ at the entrance way of a new dog entering the park, some dogs don’t like strangers in their face.
- Absolutely NO aggressive dogs, un-socialized dogs, any dog with a ‘history’
of fighting and biting, or uncontrollable barking.
- Carry your dog’s rabies certificate with you, dogs can easily lose their tags while
playing with other dogs.
- Do not wait until it is time to go home to call your dog. Call your dog and praise him for coming, then let him go play again.
- Don’t let your dog harass another dog, if you own a ‘bully’ type dog please look out for the ‘other’ guy. Don’t ruin the play experience for another dog.
- Be honest when assessi
ng your dog’s ability to interact appropriately with dogs, and people, we depend on you knowing your dog very well.
- Be willing to admit your dog is not ‘dog park’ material, you’re not alone.
- Know when your dog has had enough and leave the park on a happy note. Like children dogs can get grouchy when tired or over-heated.
Given so many variables no one can predict with 100% accuracy that a dog in any given situation will not bite or fight. If you have doubts about your dog err on the side of caution and forget the dog park. Dogs are dogs, it doesn’t mean they will get on with all dogs, that’s as silly as saying, “I’m human so I should get along with all humans.” Dogs running loose even within the safety of a fenced park are at some risk. The potential for ‘pack’ mentality to kick in when dogs are running free without owner intervention is possible. The astute dog owner will use their training skills to scan the park and interrupt inappropriate behavior with the ‘first’ sign of any problem. This means keep your eye on your dog. There are times when letting dogs work things out for themselves is possible, the dog park is not always the best choice.
Prerequisite for dogs attending off leash areas should be a string of commands that your dog can follow to balance his playtime with training. Don’t let your dog forget your there, be creative and implement fun training sessions during playtime, remind him that your fun too. Make a habit of calling your dog and teach him to leave his buddies to ‘check-in’ with you periodically.
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