# Chicago Area Play Date?



## goldenenthusiast (Jul 28, 2014)

Is anyone in the Chicago area interested in a play date? My 5 month old puppy has been well-socialized.

Well, after today, I am not going to the dog park anymore. He was attacked unprovoked by an aggressive dog and has wounds to the leg. I took him to the vet immediately, and luckily he will be fine physically with a course of antibiotics.

I am more concerned about his emotional well-being. He is an extremely outgoing, friendly pup, and right after the attack, he flinched and tried to run away any time a dog approached. He is extremely traumatized and *I am in SO MUCH pain and sorrow seeing his fearfulness.*

I don't want him to develop any kind of fear or aggression or anxiety around other dogs. I want his friendly nature to continue. Instead of meeting strangers at the park right away, I'd like to arrange some playmates who I know are friendly, so that he can have several positive socialization experiences to erase the bad.

Anyone?


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

So sorry this happened. I live in the western suburbs, but I do know there are several members of this forum who live in the city. I would love to have a get together when it gets nicer for the chicago forum members that are interested. My two boys are 2 years old and pretty rambunctious and may be too much for a 5 month old puppy; they play pretty hard, but are well socialized from doggy daycare.


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## goldenenthusiast (Jul 28, 2014)

jennretz said:


> So sorry this happened. I live in the western suburbs, but I do know there are several members of this forum who live in the city. I would love to have a get together when it gets nicer for the chicago forum members that are interested. My two boys are 2 years old and pretty rambunctious and may be too much for a 5 month old puppy; they play pretty hard, but are well socialized from doggy daycare.


We are actually staying in the western suburbs as well right now, due to earlier bad temps. Normally he lives downtown. I'm flexible for either location, though we are going to head back downtown once the weather improves (probably in a few weeks).

As long as they are friendly with puppies, I'd love for them to meet. He plays extremely well with other puppies, and he also loves to play with the adults as well. Usually he's the one who's too rambunctious, but he's never bullying, and backs off when others growl at him.

I'm just extremely fearful about unprovoked attacks now. They had actually sniffed each other earlier and the dog growled at Rufio, who backed off and it was fine. Then later, the attack happened. How can I gauge these kinds of things? How can I trust any dog? It had seemed fine before.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

I'm so sorry your little guy was attacked, I hope he heals quickly.

There are several Chicago area members, hopefully they will see this thread.


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## Anele (Dec 12, 2014)

I am in the western suburbs but we travel to the NW side of Chicago often, too. We will be bringing home our new pup at the end of Jan. So sorry for your little guy.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

silverdoe said:


> We are actually staying in the western suburbs as well right now, due to earlier bad temps. Normally he lives downtown. I'm flexible for either location, though we are going to head back downtown once the weather improves (probably in a few weeks).
> 
> As long as they are friendly with puppies, I'd love for them to meet. He plays extremely well with other puppies, and he also loves to play with the adults as well. Usually he's the one who's too rambunctious, but he's never bullying, and backs off when others growl at him.
> 
> I'm just extremely fearful about unprovoked attacks now. They had actually sniffed each other earlier and the dog growled at Rufio, who backed off and it was fine. Then later, the attack happened. How can I gauge these kinds of things? How can I trust any dog? It had seemed fine before.



There's actually a lot of information on here about how to read the body language of other dogs (and your own dog) to determine your comfort level of allowing your dog to socialize with another. My rescue golden is more tentative and I've worked with a trainer who also covered this with me. She's on FB (Training Tails with Teri) and has a lot of information on reading dog's body language. It's helped me to understand when Charlie is getting anxious and allow him to feel safe.


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## goldenenthusiast (Jul 28, 2014)

jennretz said:


> There's actually a lot of information on here about how to read the body language of other dogs (and your own dog) to determine your comfort level of allowing your dog to socialize with another. My rescue golden is more tentative and I've worked with a trainer who also covered this with me. She's on FB (Training Tails with Teri) and has a lot of information on reading dog's body language. It's helped me to understand when Charlie is getting anxious and allow him to feel safe.


Thank you for that name, I'll reach out. My boy didn't seem anxious to my untrained human eyes. What I saw is that he backed off, but continued rambunctiously playing with some other dogs. There were probably 4 or 5 all around us. Then he kind of came near or possibly bumped/sniffed the aggressive dog again, not sure if it was by accident or if he persisted and wanted to play. That's when the dog went ballistic and attacked ferociously, pinning my boy to the ground who was shrieking in fear. This lasted at least 10-15 seconds before the owner showed up, worst 10 seconds of my life, I am literally crying.

Do you have any other recommendations for how I can help him overcome this? I am terrified of bringing him to the park now but want him to have positive socialization experiences. At the vet, he sniffed another dog without flinching, so I hope that it means he is starting to feel better.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

silverdoe said:


> Thank you for that name, I'll reach out. My boy didn't seem anxious to my untrained human eyes. What I saw is that he backed off, but continued rambunctiously playing with some other dogs. There were probably 4 or 5 all around us. Then he kind of came near or possibly bumped/sniffed the aggressive dog again, not sure if it was by accident or if he persisted and wanted to play. That's when the dog went ballistic and attacked ferociously, pinning my boy to the ground who was shrieking in fear. This lasted at least 10-15 seconds before the owner showed up, worst 10 seconds of my life, I am literally crying.
> 
> Do you have any other recommendations for how I can help him overcome this? I am terrified of bringing him to the park now but want him to have positive socialization experiences. At the vet, he sniffed another dog without flinching, so I hope that it means he is starting to feel better.


I actually use the information to better understand and try to read the body language of the other dogs that come into contact with my dogs, as well as, the body language of my two. I wasn't really clear about that, but your dog may pick up on it sooner than you. My golden that I've had since a baby (Duke) is very social and self confident. When he went into submissive mode with another golden on the path I wondered what was going on. He understood before I did the language the other dog was putting off. Then the other golden started growling/snarling at Duke who rolled on his back and did submissive peeing. I'm not an expert by any means, but I do want to protect my guys. As far as how to help your pup get over it, maybe a trainer or behaviorist could help.


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Reply*

I live in the Western suburbs, too, and we are very grateful we have a fenced yard. I would be afraid to bring my dogs to the dog park.


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## goldenenthusiast (Jul 28, 2014)

Karen519 said:


> I live in the Western suburbs, too, and we are very grateful we have a fenced yard. I would be afraid to bring my dogs to the dog park.


I normally wouldn't want to bring him to the dog park either, but he LOVES greeting dogs. In the city, we see dogs daily on walks, so it's not bad, but in the suburbs, where we can go days without seeing anyone, he is SO RESTLESS. He growls, barks at the windows and doors, is bored easily by all the games we play with him (fetch with various toys, hide and seek, chasing games in the basement), and doesn't nap well. Then, when he does happen upon a dog in the neighborhood, he practically goes nuts trying to say hi to it, his whole body wagging back and forth. That's how it transpired that I brought him to the dog park, to get his energy out and get him some socialization.

I also don't like letting him in the yard because he's very naughty out there, digs at everything, ignores me when I try to do training with him, doesn't want to play with me, and barks at the dogs he hears in the neighbor's yards. Further, he's realized that the yard is the play area where he does whatever he wants, and he barks at the balcony door, demanding to be let out there. We don't let him out there when he does that because that will teach him he gets what he wants by barking.

Ultimately he just seems much more poorly behaved, neurotic, and restless when he doesn't see lots of people and dogs daily, as he does downtown. How do you get your energy out of your dogs, if not through dog parks or play dates?

Is anyone else interested in a play date?


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

Any ideas where we could meet for a playdate? I would need a secure area because I don't trust Duke's recall. I probably would not bring Charlie as he does better with a set routine and change stresses him out. I live out in the St Charles area, but am willing to drive to a location that works for others.


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