# Psychological Issues



## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

Poor Teddy and yes he does have reason to be intimidated by new dogs, can't blame him. Firstly I would advise staying away from offleash parks, to avoid the risk of another traumatizing incident for Teddy. If possible socialize Teddy with known safe dogs, of friends, neighbours, to build his confidence. You want to do this offleash in a fenced yard, so that Teddy can choose to interact or not. Supervised (by knowledgable trained staff) playtimes at dog training facilities can be a real help in building confidence.
When meeting new dogs on walks, make sure Teddy gets to decide to meet the other dog or not, pulling or pushing him to meet a dog that he is not comfortable with can make his fears worse. Make sure he has a loose leash and if he wants to back away from the dog, let him. I would expect him to show initial fear (caution) and then once he figured out the other dog was okay, want to play. You can take along some good treats, and when you see another dog, feed Teddy a few treats, helping him make the association that good things happen when he sees another dogs.


----------



## Bentleysmom (Aug 11, 2012)

I'm sorry for Teddy and you. It's been said before and there are differing opinions on this so you will be the one to decide, but I do not believe in taking my dogs to dogparks. I'm a "reformed dogparkaholic".
I love the idea of the DP but it isn't safe IMHO. I used to take my dog to one years back and we really enjoyed it, for a short time. Then I started seeing the trouble, in a perfect world only perfect people with perfect dogs would go to these parks and follow all the rules and use common sense. We all know this perfect world doesn't exist.
I saw too may dogs get in fights and since my Buddy was an abused dog that I was trying to socialize at the DP it really set our training back. I saw all of the good behaviors that Buddy had been working on for so long were starting to get replaced with bad behavior. I decided no more DP's for us.
We live at the intersection of 3 lakes and we have a ridiculous amount of beautiful little parks in our community, awhile back there was talk of turning one into a DP. As a community we got together and said no! DP's just can't be controlled and there will always be that one dog, that one person, that causes trouble.

Instead we have created our own dog "recreation". Most of us have fenced in yards so we have play dates. If it's my turn I either make or buy treats for humans & dogs and they all come to my house for 2 hours. We talk and watch the dogs run around in the yard, these dogs live in the same neighborhood so they get along and all of the adults are relaxed so the dogs are too. We know that all of the dogs have their vax (and same vet  ).(each week somebody from the group is on "poop patrol" and picks it all up) We also do holidays with the dogs. 
Since kids no longer trick or treat we dress up our dogs and they trick or treat. We make homemade treats for them and it's a blast for all of us!
I don't know where you live but maybe you could try starting something like this in your neighborhood. You'll be surprised how many people immediately love the idea and jump onboard!
It's a really good way to meet the neighbors that you never get to talk to and whenever somebody new moves in we welcome them with a flyer letting them know about our dog parties. Even people that don't have fenced yards get involved, the important thing for us is not who's turn is it but just that our dogs get to meet and play in a safe, controlled environment. 
Don't be shy about asking people to try it, we all said "Why didn't we start this sooner?!" We've been doing it for 9 years now. Our only problem is that people from other communities want to join in, we decided to limit it to only our neighborhood so it doesn't get out of control.
Best of luck to you. Sorry, this got so long :doh:


----------



## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Sign up for a group training class so that he can be around other dogs that are under control and not charging up to him. It will help him relax around other dogs, plus more training is always a good thing. And maybe you can meet some people in the class with nice that would be willing to set up play dates too.


----------



## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

MyLissyK, I was just going to say that! Training itself is a great way to build a dog's confidence and training in an environment where there are other under-control dogs will help everyone relax.


----------



## Braccarius (Sep 8, 2008)

Tahliadvds said:


> My 6 month old boy, Teddy, has been attacked twice in a off leash park.
> 
> The first time he interacted with a bigger dog who chased him. When he went to chase her back she attacked and bit him on the nose drawing a lot of blood. We have since been careful at this park, avoiding it when this particular dog is there. 2 weeks ago, (2 months later), we took him back. Out of nowhere a French Bulldog came running up to him pinning him by the side of the head and throat to the ground. He would not let go and my partner had to kick and punch it to get if off poor Teddy. Teddy ran off but this dog caught up to him and pinned him down again. After getting him off and getting this stupid morons details we left. Thank goodness Teddy didn't sustain any physical injuries but there are a lot of emotional ones.
> 
> ...


I'm sorry but this is the exact reason I don't bring my dogs to dog parks anymore. What he needs is time with animals that are calm and balanced in order for him to gain confidence. Chances are though, given what you've said, that he may NEVER become as confident as he should have been should those incidents never occured.

Good luck! Avoid dog parks!


----------

