# Male Dog-to-Dog Aggression - Dog Park



## victoriasola (3 mo ago)

Hi friends! Let me preface by saying I have an intact male golden (who just turned a year old on August 26th)... he has been visiting the dog park his whole life and LOVES other dogs but recently we have gotten into some scuffles specifically with male dogs. He can be playing in perfect harmony for 30 minutes but, if he encounters another male who he doesn't jive with, he starts puffing out his chest/stares down/is full on ready to fight. I am assuming this is all contributed to his unneutered status but I am just wondering if this has happened to anyone else? If so, did it correct after being neutered? I am keeping him out of dog parks and daycare until after his surgery in a few weeks but am just concerned about this behavior being hard-wired and him not being able to partake in any dog-friendly events in the future.


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

Don’t take him to dog parks anymore. You’re setting your dog up for failure and to get into fights there. He obviously doesn’t feel comfortable with other strange males especially.

Often times neutering can make this worse, as testosterone is a confidence hormone and without the confidence aspect many neutered males are less tolerant of strange dogs. 

As dogs age they tend to want to spend less and less time with new dogs. Find a place you can take him off least to run and hike without forcing interaction with strange dogs. Or have a meet up with someone you know with a dog he gets along with. Dog parks in general are a disaster waiting to happen.


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)




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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Neutered dogs are even worse.


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## iPappy (Nov 30, 2021)

Neutering will not correct this. If that were the case, there would be many castrated ex-cons walking the street in perfect harmony.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

I figured out right around when my dog was your dog’s age to keep him the heck out of dog parks. I don’t even like walking him by one.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

iPappy said:


> Neutering will not correct this. If that were the case, there would be many castrated ex-cons walking the street in perfect harmony.


Doesn't mean it wouldn't be a good idea.


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## victoriasola (3 mo ago)

Megora said:


> Doesn't mean it wouldn't be a good idea.


No worries there, he's getting neutered either way! LOL. Was just waiting until after the year mark per my breeder + vet's recommendations.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

victoriasola said:


> No worries there, he's getting neutered either way! LOL. Was just waiting until after the year mark per my breeder + vet's recommendations.


Heheh, I was not referring to neutering the dogs. 

The dogs - there is no reason to neuter.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

YES it is 100% completely normal. It's caused by those two things between his back legs. They make testosterone which makes them want to fight other males. This occurs in dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs, elephants, whales, humans, gorillas, and just about every other animal you can think of.
Anyone who says same-sex aggression within intact males is NOT cured by neutering, obviously thinks it'd be great to give a bunch of stallions to 4H kids (cue people talking about their stallions who were so gentle their grandkids could lead them around on string). There's a reason many domesticated animals are regularly castrated and this is it. It WILL reduce secondary sex characteristics caused by testosterone, which includes posturing and fighting with other intact males.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

K9-Design said:


> YES it is 100% completely normal. It's caused by those two things between his back legs. They make testosterone which makes them want to fight other males. This occurs in dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs, elephants, whales, humans, gorillas, and just about every other animal you can think of.
> Anyone who says same-sex aggression within intact males is NOT cured by neutering, obviously thinks it'd be great to give a bunch of stallions to 4H kids (cue people talking about their stallions who were so gentle their grandkids could lead them around on string). There's a reason many domesticated animals are regularly castrated and this is it. It WILL reduce secondary sex characteristics caused by testosterone, which includes posturing and fighting with other intact males.


You know why my horse was gelded? 

It was because he was so flighty and insane as a 2 year old that he flipped the buggy he was being trained on, he ran around the arena and kicked the glass for the observation room in (there were people in there who had to duck and run from the falling glass), and then kicked his way through a door to get outside - and kept running. 

My barn lady who was working with him at the time he did all had him gelded and thrown back out to the field. He was gelded because he was basically so flighty as to be untrainable.

He was brought back in as a 4 year old and trained up to be a show horse. Barn lady always regretted gelding him because he was a fantastic show horse.

But he picked and chose who got to ride him. He liked me and didn't really try killing me when I rode him.... other girls, they would get on his back and try taking a hold and he would take off and nothing they did could stop him until they were removed from his back. Gelded horse. Half-crazy because he was a redhead. 

Did he fight with other horses after being gelded? YES.

He could not be turned out in fields with certain horses, especially his full blood brother who he hated. If they got turned out together by accident by somebody (raises hand sheepishly), it took 3-4 people going out there to get between the horses to keep them from killing each other.

He still would go up to the mare's field and flirt with the ladies and it wasn't until he was pushing 30 that he was allowed to go out with young horses as a babysitter. Because he was a very good old man - when he was old.

The barn had stud horses - including my horse's dad who got hand walked out. Some of them were fairly aggressive towards other horses. Some like my horse's dad weren't. I've ridden stud colts and helped break them and many of them were pretty decent as long as you kept your head on. Different animal completely than dogs + golden retrievers tend to be a lot more mellow than some other breeds.


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

K9-Design said:


> YES it is 100% completely normal. It's caused by those two things between his back legs. They make testosterone which makes them want to fight other males. This occurs in dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs, elephants, whales, humans, gorillas, and just about every other animal you can think of.
> Anyone who says same-sex aggression within intact males is NOT cured by neutering, obviously thinks it'd be great to give a bunch of stallions to 4H kids (cue people talking about their stallions who were so gentle their grandkids could lead them around on string). There's a reason many domesticated animals are regularly castrated and this is it. It WILL reduce secondary sex characteristics caused by testosterone, which includes posturing and fighting with other intact males.


All true but that does not mean neutering is a shortcut to training or that going to the dog park is ever a good thing.


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## GoldenDude (Nov 5, 2016)

I’d keep the testicles and lose the dog parks.


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

GoldenDude said:


> I’d keep the testicles and lose the dog parks.


I agree. No dog parks


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## victoriasola (3 mo ago)

K9-Design said:


> YES it is 100% completely normal. It's caused by those two things between his back legs. They make testosterone which makes them want to fight other males. This occurs in dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs, elephants, whales, humans, gorillas, and just about every other animal you can think of.
> Anyone who says same-sex aggression within intact males is NOT cured by neutering, obviously thinks it'd be great to give a bunch of stallions to 4H kids (cue people talking about their stallions who were so gentle their grandkids could lead them around on string). There's a reason many domesticated animals are regularly castrated and this is it. It WILL reduce secondary sex characteristics caused by testosterone, which includes posturing and fighting with other intact males.


I really appreciate your response! Thank you for actually providing insight into my dilemma instead of suggesting no neutering or dog parks (which is not in this deck of cards) LOL


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

victoriasola said:


> I really appreciate your response! Thank you for actually providing insight into my dilemma instead of suggesting no neutering or dog parks (which is not in this deck of cards) LOL


Go ahead and neuter. 

Keep doing dog park. 

Because we all know that is all you need to turn an aggressive dog into the usual dog that plays with EVERYBODY.


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## victoriasola (3 mo ago)

Megora said:


> Go ahead and neuter.
> 
> Keep doing dog park.
> 
> Because we all know that is all you need to turn an aggressive dog into the usual dog that plays with EVERYBODY.


Thank you!


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

victoriasola said:


> I really appreciate your response! Thank you for actually providing insight into my dilemma instead of suggesting no neutering or dog parks (which is not in this deck of cards) LOL


We are all saying no dog parks because a lot of us have seen what can happen. Same with day care. Dogs really don't need that much play time with other dogs.


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

victoriasola said:


> I really appreciate your response! Thank you for actually providing insight into my dilemma instead of suggesting no neutering or dog parks (which is not in this deck of cards) LOL


Go ahead and neuter, for sure. But really reconsider the dog parks.



victoriasola said:


> Thank you!


She was being facetious.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Hildae said:


> View attachment 896816


This is good. Thanks for sharing. I saved it to share with others.


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

diane0905 said:


> This is good. Thanks for sharing. I saved it to share with others.


Good, pass it along, I'm all about saving dogs from bad dog park experiences. My mother's dog was attacked by a pair of pitbulls at one, and every year there are a few local stories of dog deaths at the dog park. (Usually a larger dog getting a smaller dog) Mine will never be at a dog park.


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

Hildae said:


> Good, pass it along, I'm all about saving dogs from bad dog park experiences. My mother's dog was attacked by a pair of pitbulls at one, and every year there are a few local stories of dog deaths at the dog park. (Usually a larger dog getting a smaller dog) Mine will never be at a dog park.


When Logan was younger (one and under), he visited two. One had only one other dog in it, and he ended up being fine, but the park was so dirty. We didn’t stay long because I saw other people coming with big muscular dogs and had a feeling it was a real bad idea. We left as they were about to enter.

The other one felt “safer” (wrong) in a private neighborhood in the mountains because it was almost always empty. When we went in it, Logan picked up a hellacious rash. I emptied and refilled the water bowls because I didn’t like the idea of him drinking after unknown dogs. I take a collapsible bowl with me usually for restaurants and such.

Logan was rolled outside of that dog park (we weren’t even going in — just walking by) when he was on leash and a man’s dog wasn’t and charged. My husband broke that up. That did it for me.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

victoriasola said:


> I really appreciate your response! Thank you for actually providing insight into my dilemma instead of suggesting no neutering or dog parks (which is not in this deck of cards) LOL


Look, as stated in the post you responded to, neutering will make a difference to your dog's attitude towards other intact male dogs. It will not, however, change his attitudes or reactions to neutered dogs that he doesn't like, nor will it magically make the dog park into a safe place for him.

Dog parks are inherently dangerous places. They are populated by a lot of untrained dogs with no manners. You can't throw a bunch of random dogs together in a confined space and expect them always to get along. It doesn't work like that. It's inevitable that, at some point, your dog will either engage in or retaliate against impolite or bullying behaviour and get into a fight. It's what dogs do in unstructured situations. Dog parks are one of those ideas that are wonderful in principle but disastrous in practice.

In addition, if you rely on dog parks for your dog's "enjoyment", you're teaching him that other dogs are more fun than you. This creates a lot of additional unwanted behaviour (e.g. lunging at other dogs when walking on leash, pulling to get to other dogs instead of walking quietly with the human, ignoring of commands when other dogs are present, an outward focus that makes all types of training difficult, etc.).

I'm sorry that "no dog parks" isn't in your deck of cards. The diagram published by Hildae in post #3 above is spot on. I urge you to read it. Neutering will probably (but will not always) resolve the problem with intact males, but it isn't a "fix-all" solution, it won't make the dog park safe, and it's certainly not a replacement for training.

Best of luck, and I hope things work out for you.


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## JerseyChris (10 mo ago)

It has been said many times in this thread but there really in no benefit to a dog park. There are just way too many things that can go very wrong and few that go well. It is best to avoid them all together.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

JerseyChris said:


> It has been said many times in this thread but there really in no benefit to a dog park. There are just way too many things that can go very wrong and few that go well. It is best to avoid them all together.


I'm going to interject here a smidge because while I see a general agreement from everyone that dog parks are terrible, I'm going to chip in something that needs to be considered. Not being facetious here, just nudging people to consider the full picture - what it may be?

First, majority of us telling the original poster that they need to stop using dog parks.... I'll wager majority of us live in houses with big yards/acreage. These boxes were checked off before we or our parents purchased the first golden retriever. Etc.

But what if we lived in a city somewhere? With no yard? And unsafe streets for walking. 

And then we are talking about ownership of a breed that deserves the good life - meaning being allowed to run OFF LEASH.

A minute or two ago, I was smiling over a video on FB showing the other side of showing dogs in conformation. This was a handler/breeder and a puppy owner letting 3+ dogs loose to run and play not far from their camping site on the fairgrounds where the show was. The dogs had a ball - appeared to be 2 adults and 1 halfgrown pup. All intact dogs. 

That is a different life than one afforded to a dog that not only faces a lifetime of being on leash, but whose owner rotates through a variety of tools while struggling to control the dog who is missing out on a very huge part of his existence as a sporting breed dog - ie, being able to RUN.

Where this does gets further complicated is when people who own dogs who have shown aggression or reactiveness towards other dogs. Same thing with dogs who are completely awful with the behaviors that other dogs will not (and should not) tolerate. For the safety of these dogs who may not do harm themselves, but will get their faces ripped off by a bigger or meaner dog someday.... the owners should NOT turn these dogs loose with other dogs!!!!!

Where does that leave the owner and dog or what options do they have?

I think or would hope that dog parks have sections or areas where unfriendly/nasty dogs can kick their heels and RUN. I would assume so? Or certain places you can bring your dog have the ability to give the dogs run-run-run time by themselves for an alotted time?

If not - then maybe there should be places like that?

I sincerely feel bad for the dogs might have a miserable existence being walked ten million times a day by their demanding owners. Imagine being in the position where you are expected to go for walks every day, but with one leg tied to a 2 year old human toddler's leg and you are expected to maintain the same pace and speed as that infant.... and quit walking when that baby is done. That's sad.

So should dog parks be an absolute NO FOREVER - yes, if that means you using a disease ridden city park where your dog is turned loose with other dogs. Doesn't matter if your dog is intact or not. The excuses for crappy behavior on the part of the dog evolves after the dog is neutered. When they are intact, it's their fault for being too macho because of testosterone. After surgery, it's everyone else's fault that the dog is literally the same or worse. Expectations and excuses are unfair to the dog who is set up for fail all the time.

That said - there is a need for the dog to have place and space to run. Just take the other dogs out of the equation.


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## chelseah (Dec 8, 2020)

Megora said:


> That said - there is a need for the dog to have place and space to run. Just take the other dogs out of the equation.



Sniffspot let’s you find a place to rent for a bit to let your dog run and play. I haven’t used it because I have a yard, so no personal reviews. I did bookmark it in case I need it for travel in the future.


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

Megora said:


> I'm going to interject here a smidge because while I see a general agreement from everyone that dog parks are terrible, I'm going to chip in something that needs to be considered. Not being facetious here, just nudging people to consider the full picture - what it may be?
> 
> First, majority of us telling the original poster that they need to stop using dog parks.... I'll wager majority of us live in houses with big yards/acreage. These boxes were checked off before we or our parents purchased the first golden retriever. Etc.
> 
> ...


Correct, there are situations where a person doesn't have their own space to let a dog run. That said, it doesn't really justify taking the dog to a filthy fight club full of untrained and usually poorly socialized dogs. It's just going to create problems for everyone, the dog, the owner etc.

There are other options. Sniffspot is a thing now. Asking a friend to use their yard, making friends with a farmer who has more space, public land, and as a very last resort, going to the dog park during hours when no one else is there at least (I still wouldn't but it's technically an option) etc. When my friend moved to a new house, she fenced her yard in for her dog (who loves other dogs) pretty soon all the neighbors with friendly dogs were coming over to let the their dog play in the yard with my friend's dog. It benefitted everyone, she made a ton of friends with neighbors, the dogs got to run and play etc. So there are options beyond "nothing" and "disease infested fight club for dogs" aka dog parks. Without knowing anythig about the OP and their life, I can't say what is and isn't possible for them specifically.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

Megora said:


> (...)
> But what if we lived in a city somewhere? With no yard? And unsafe streets for walking.
> (...)
> Where does that leave the owner and dog or what options do they have?
> ...


Interesting post and great questions! As someone who has actually lived in that situation with a young Labrador, back in the day, I can tell you about some of the solutions I found. We lived in a second-floor apartment with no yard, in an inner city area where the streets were relatively safe (if they had been unsafe, I wouldn't have got a dog). There was a dog park four blocks or so away, but after witnessing a couple of really nasty dog fights and one really nasty human fight there, I crossed it off my list. What did I do? Training classes. As many as I could. Obedience to start with, with a focus on recall and loose leash walking. That allowed us to get out of the city on weekends, into the mountains, where the dog could hike with us off-leash and could be relied on to come back to us when called. Next, flyball. Indoors, but at least the dog got to run. She enjoyed it, I didn't. So we switched to agility. This was great during the summer, but outdoor agility in winter isn't an option here in the frozen north. So we explored our city. We found a wooded area with relatively unused trails, about half an hour's walk from our home, and I used to take the dog there to be off-leash whenever I could - at least a couple of times a week. There is also a very large central park in our city that is heavily used on nice days but is virtually deserted on rainy days, of which we have quite a lot. So we would go there on rainy days and the dog was able to run around off-leash as long as park security wasn't there.

I think our Labrador had a good life during our downtown period (about five years). For this kind of arrangement to work, though, you have to be creative and committed to training. None of the above would have been possible if my dog hadn't had a great recall. She never really played with other dogs until we eventually moved out of the city, into a house with a yard, and got a second dog. But she didn't seem to miss it and was never an enthusiastic play partner even with that second dog. She much preferred to do stuff with us.


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## JerseyChris (10 mo ago)

Kate, you have made some great points and I do agree, these dogs DO need a place to run off leash. I feel very lucky to have over an acre of fenced in yard that my dogs can run in. We have 7 dogs at home and they love to run around any chance they get. There is also a reason that a lot of breeders will not or be very cautious to sell a puppy to a family with no fenced in yard. There is a reason those certain questions are found on pretty much every breeders application. These dogs do need space to run and get the proper exercise.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

JerseyChris said:


> Kate, you have made some great points and I do agree, these dogs DO need a place to run off leash. I feel very lucky to have over an acre of fenced in yard that my dogs can run in. We have 7 dogs at home and they love to run around any chance they get. There is also a reason that a lot of breeders will not or be very cautious to sell a puppy to a family with no fenced in yard. There is a reason those certain questions are found on pretty much every breeders application. These dogs do need space to run and get the proper exercise.


We do not have a fenced yard - but it has never mattered because the dogs are trained + we have a decent sized yard for the dogs to run. They have space to cover a lot of ground. _No collars or huge assortment of tools needed._ They just learn right from the time they are babies.  By the time hormones kick in, they already are fully border trained and know the rules, etc. Also overprotective owner.

Just pointing that out because it is a separate thing that gets annoying from time to time. The people on my street who have fenced yards + dogs... are also the same people whose dogs keep jumping the fences and running. A fence is no replacement or reprieve of the owner's responsibilities.


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

Nope. I live in a neighborhood of ranch homes built in the 70’s and 80’s. Small yards. We do have a fence. If I want to work on Utility, I have to go to a park or the school.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

ceegee said:


> Look, as stated in the post you responded to, neutering will make a difference to your dog's attitude towards other intact male dogs. It will not, however, change his attitudes or reactions to neutered dogs that he doesn't like, nor will it magically make the dog park into a safe place for him.


This is 100% what I meant. Neutering will curb aggression between your dog and other intact males. It is absolutely normal and predictable for adult intact males to want to challenge each other. It's how they stay in the gene pool. This will go away with neutering. Now, if he were a resource guarder, hall monitor, a bully to submissive dogs, or any other manner of non-sex related aggression, none of that will be addressed with neutering. 

I'm not wild about the dog park but to take an intact male to one is asking for trouble.


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## Reggie 2214 (10 mo ago)

Emmdenn said:


> Don’t take him to dog parks anymore. You’re setting your dog up for failure and to get into fights there. He obviously doesn’t feel comfortable with other strange males especially.
> 
> Often times neutering can make this worse, as testosterone is a confidence hormone and without the confidence aspect many neutered males are less tolerant of strange dogs.
> 
> As dogs age they tend to want to spend less and less time with new dogs. Find a place you can take him off least to run and hike without forcing interaction with strange dogs. Or have a meet up with someone you know with a dog he gets along with. Dog parks in general are a disaster waiting to happen.



Agree 💯 dog parks are setting our dogs up for failure on so many levels. My dogs have a small safe group of friends that they can play with. Their also taught to ignore other dogs while on walks, stores, dog show, trials etc.


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## Hildae (Aug 15, 2012)

Reggie 2214 said:


> Agree 💯 dog parks are setting our dogs up for failure on so many levels. My dogs have a small safe group of friends that they can play with. *Their also taught to ignore other dogs while on walks, stores, dog show, trials etc.*


Us too. They know that unless we say so, other dogs are to be ignored. You just can't trust everyone to be honest about their dog and it's level of friendliness etc.


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## ComeBackShane (Mar 20, 2021)

Eighteen months ago I "rescued" a 2.5 yo neutered Lab. He was highly reactive, "going off" 50-100 times/day, hand shy and hyper-vigilant. He's tall (26") and quite fit at almost 80 pounds. His prior owner clearly had no clue and all we got in the way of a history was "didn't get along with new dog introduced into the home (Princess)." All this sounded like fun?

We've had several mistreated rescues and we recently moved to be near a trail system in the local foothills (unfortunately, almost as bad as the local "dog park").

This guy needs vigorous exercise and opportunities to unlearn a lot of bad lessons. There is a large park nearby with two fenced in baseball diamonds and a designated off-leash area. One of the diamonds is up a hill, out of sight and out of mind for most of the area's dog owners. It is NOT off-leash but inside of the fenced in diamond, I run my dog (who has a ridiculously high drive, loves to retrieve and he has a solid recall) while always keeping him on a check cord.

I can hear the chaos in the rest of the park as even the "responsible" owners repeatedly scream for their dogs to "come." In 18 months I've probably met two owners/dogs with a solid recall. A small minority of the others are more situationally aware and they "read the room." When I've called my dog over and have taken his check cord into my gloved hands the non-verbals are screaming, "control your dog." For those oblivious to the non-verbals (letting their dog into the ball diamond - this has happened over my objections to wait for me to get my dog out of the area if they are going to insist), I'm not shy about saying/shouting in a firm voice, "control your dog." Sometimes the response is, "This is a dog park, you shouldn't have a dog 'like that' here." I heard this pretty much verbatim earlier this week. My response is to inform them that they are out side of the off-leash area and that (if for no other reason), we all have a responsibility to "control" our dogs. 

Even with a recall that has been 100% in the presence of other dogs that are clearly making my dog anxious, I can't avoid an encounter with a dog/owner that has no recall or respect for my dog's space. For these situations, I carry a couple different repellents.

The bottom line is that after 18 months, we've carved out a space for my dog to get the exercise he needs and to have controlled interactions (through the fence) with the one dog (maybe two) that my dog seems to actually like. His reactivity in most situations has been reduced dramatically (maybe one or two times/day). His hackles no longer go up and he no longer feels the need to go aggressively to the fence every time a dog or person walks near the diamond. 

I'm sure that to some number of the people who come to the park wanting to treat every inch as an unsupervised "free for all," I'm the jerk with the "mean" dog that shouldn't be allowed in public. I'm also sure that some number of these same people go on an on with their friends about how much they support animal rescues and always adopting their dogs. I'm not there to please them. Honestly, I don't want anyone at the park to like me or my dog (inspite of this, a few do but being too nice attracts unwanted crowds). I want them to recognize that I handle a difficult dog responsibly and predictably and to respect our space (if we show up to the ball diamond and someone else is using it - in any way, we leave). I have a pretty good idea of the diamond users' schedules. I go out of my way to try and minimize any conflicts. Most of them know us and will let us know how long they intend to use the field.


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## goldielynn (Sep 5, 2020)

Megora said:


> So should dog parks be an absolute NO FOREVER - yes, if that means you using a disease ridden city park where your dog is turned loose with other dogs. Doesn't matter if your dog is intact or not. The excuses for crappy behavior on the part of the dog evolves after the dog is neutered. When they are intact, it's their fault for being too macho because of testosterone. After surgery, it's everyone else's fault that the dog is literally the same or worse. Expectations and excuses are unfair to the dog who is set up for fail all the time.
> 
> That said - there is a need for the dog to have place and space to run. Just take the other dogs out of the equation.


Pretty good points here. I will say that if this applies to OP, and if you want to still go to dog parks despite the risks, I'd try to go during off-peak hours, maybe super early in the morning when there aren't too many dogs. We stopped going to dog parks and dog beaches all together at around a year, and if we did at that point, we made sure that the park was really large and wasn't overcrowded with dogs. I think the propensity for scuffles to happen increases when your dog or the other dog have nowhere to run to. My comfort level was if the park had fewer than 10 dogs if you need some sort of barometer and you should always check to see how the dogs are getting along before you bring your unneutered dog into the park. If there's too much commotion amongst the dogs there, I'd try again another time.

Also not always the case, but you'll usually find the space for smaller dogs at the dog parks is usually chiller where if you go at the right time, you can have the entire area to yourself, or share it with only a few other dogs. Again, we don't frequent dog parks anymore, but we usually liked to put him in the small dog space even though he was twice the size. Our puppy never really loved to play with small dogs, and he's so gentle with them, so he wouldn't pose too much of a threat to them, but that meant he had access to so many more balls and space to explore!


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## GoldenManila (2 mo ago)

My single greatest regret with our intact male is going to the dog park when was about that age (1 year). Our guy loved dogs up to that point, no issues on walks, but he got mounted by another male the first day and it was like a switch went off and he flipped out on this other dog growling and snarling. I grabbed him and headed out. I was stupid though and we went back a week later but I kept him leashed to see what is body behaviour was like. Within 5 minutes he was set upon by a doberman who was so out of control he tore a hole in our boys harness which otherwise would have been my dogs back. Milo was leased which probably heightened his fear as he couldn't fully protect himself. Took two attendants and the doberman owner to remove the doberman from my dogs back. On the way back to our car same day an off leash Golden Retriever ran at him with a beagle and they attacked him again . this was on the street not even in the dog park, Milo was again on leash at the time. From that day Milo has been fear aggressive to any intact large male. We have noticed it on a few occasions since then that there are some dogs who just go crazy at the sight of Milo. I feel so sorry for him at times as he can be 10m away and I don't know if it a s mell or a stance that he has but it can really do a number on another dog. He got attacked by another Golden on a seperate occasion in a park, again Milo on leash with me standing waiting for a treat and another coming into the park saw him and just went crazy. There were other dogs there in the park too and this one didn't seem to care about them but my guy was the target. Thankfully it was not a dog park and the dogs were all on leash but that owner only just keep him/her from reaching my guy.

We are resigned to the fact that he will never be off leash around other dogs but he's a happy boy and thankfully loves humans of all types and they are his favourite playmates. Long story short know what you are getting into with Dog Parks. Given my time again I would never take my dog there as that day will forever have a bearing on my guys behaviour. he is still un-neutered as he can is anxious with noises and of course male dogs now and I fear it getting worse as some studies suggest after neutering.


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