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When Chihiro was a puppy I took her to the dog park to socialize her. But my experiences there were disheartening; my little puppy was rushed by several much larger dogs upon her entrance each time, and their owners did nothing to hold their dogs back until she adjusted. Add this on top of the fact that my hound dog would rather wander and sniff than bound and play in the fenced-in dog park, and the trip just didn’t seem worth the effort.
Two years later things are different. Over the summer Chihiro learned some negative behaviors from a friend’s dog, so I wanted to socialize her at the dog park once again to teach her proper canine-to-canine etiquette.
These recent trips to the dog park have been much better than the ones from years before. Chihiro still isn’t a fan of being rushed upon her entrance (though she does the same to other dogs when they come in, so I have less sympathy for her), but she’s slowly learning to be less wary each time she visits. The crowd at the park on weekends is different from the weeknight group, less cliquish and more cognizant of when their dogs are being bullies.
However, Chihiro still doesn’t take full advantage of the dog park like I wish she would. She might never; she’s a hound dog that finds following the scent trails of the other dogs more interesting than actually romping with them. I wish she’d try to play keep-away, or even just chase, with her canine acquaintances at the dog park instead of only doing that with us at home, but that’ll probably never be.
We keep going to the park on weekends when the weather is nice, because even though Chihiro spends more time sniffing than playing, it’s still worth it. Even the small bits of socialization she gets, especially upon her initial entrance, are teaching her to be used to and less afraid of larger dogs, and gentler with smaller ones. She will play some chasing games, if not for very long, so usually an hour or so is a good time for some exercise for her.
What my husband likes to joke, however, is that he’s not taking his dog to the dog park, he’s taking his wife. I spend much more time interacting with, playing and petting, the other dogs than Chihiro actually does. While my husband suns himself on a bench and my dog sniffs the edges of a fence, I’m seeking out all of the dogs at the park so I can pet each of them at least once, if they’ll let me.
Some of the regulars to the dog park include mastiffs, mountain dogs, and huskies, all breeds I love but for one reason or another (size or amount of shedding), I don’t know that I’d actually want to own. My regular trips to the park allow me to still have some interaction time with them.
I’m glad that I decided to give the dog park another try, because now it’s one of my favorite things to do on a nice weekend. And oh yeah, I think it might be a good experience for my dog too.
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*(This image by Elsie esq. is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
