Treats At The Park?

[Erny]

I might get flamed for this but once a family brought fish and chips to the fenced dog park! My big boy hung around them like glue and they had to hold the chips way up high as his nose was going crazy. I didn't call him away as I thought it was a stupid thing to do in the first place.

I don't agree that you have the right to use that as a justification for allowing your dog to pester them without making any effort to control him.

[koalathebear]

From memory, the Forde dog park in Canberra has a sign that says no food or toys to be brought into the dog park. The day we took Elbie, we were the only people there so we had food and toys but if anyone else had come, we would have left. I understand the rationale for no toys but it did seem a little bit odd because I thought that it was natural for people to be throwing a ball around for their dog etc.

[Simply Grand]

I might get flamed for this but once a family brought fish and chips to the fenced dog park! My big boy hung around them like glue and they had to hold the chips way up high as his nose was going crazy. I didn't call him away as I thought it was a stupid thing to do in the first place.

I don't agree that you have the right to use that as a justification for allowing your dog to pester them without making any effort to control him.

Wuffles, I totally agree with you. The dog parks in Canberra are very clearly off leash dog areas. They are not huge spaces, and there are areas around them, outside the fence, for people to picnic/bbq/eat etc, where dogs must be on lead. The fenced dog parks are definitely for dogs, and the expectation is that the humans are watching the dogs, not hanging around eating or entertaining themselves when they're in there.

I understand that in other places it may be different, but it's pretty well understood here that you don't go into the fenced dog parks and eat people food.

Treats are different though, from what I've seen a lot of people bring them in for training, me included. I don't give them to Sax unless there are no other dogs around, and I move him away from the other dogs to do training. Having said that, if other dogs approach looking for a treat I just pat the, tell them "no treats for you" and carry on. Saxon has a nose for other people who have treats and often runs up to them, I call him away, they generally notice that and tell him no, or sometimes ask if they can give him one, I say if they want to and he has to sit for it. They do that and again, we all just carry on. No dramas.

I think we generally have well behaved dogs and humans in our dog parks here, we're lucky, apart from the odd problem of course. But there are some accepted "etiquettes" which are easy to learn by watching, and I've found that people are pretty good at chatting to new-comers and filling them in too. I think maybe we are helped by having specific fenced off-leash dog parks, while every where else, including bbq areas, kids playgrounds etc, are on leash, so it's very clear where the "dog" areas are.

[sas]

Dog parks are places where you should always be recalling your dog and interacting it, so if you have done food based training then yes imo you should definately have food and No don't feed other peoples dogs.

[dandybrush]

i take treats in all the time, its not your fault that someone else cant control their dog

[halfthewords]

I only take treats to our local (now unleashed dogs prohibited) oval because it is unfenced and Jag is easily distracted. There are rarely dogs there. The treats ensure I get the dog back because he'd prefer those over chasing a rabbit any day!

I would never take treats into a dog park as such where there will be large numbers of dogs, having seen how some dogs in the shelter I work at respond to food in the presence of others. A food aggressive dog sometimes attacks over seemingly nothing, others feel they are resource guarding. Mischa is FA and she is fed separately, and never given treats around our other dogs. I think as long as you are careful about who is noticing you have treats, you should be fine. Of course, dogs have a very good sense of smell.

[wuffles]

I might get flamed for this but once a family brought fish and chips to the fenced dog park! My big boy hung around them like glue and they had to hold the chips way up high as his nose was going crazy. I didn't call him away as I thought it was a stupid thing to do in the first place.

I don't agree that you have the right to use that as a justification for allowing your dog to pester them without making any effort to control him.

See, I knew this comment was coming

I don't really feel like I need to justify myself Do they need to justify themselves for taking food into a dedicated dog park? Who knows. There are no rules or laws either way.

I'm probably more lax about these things than most people on DOL. I don't let my dogs bug other people when we're out and about, but I do let them act like dogs sometimes. I don't let them run up to people when they're off leash in an unfenced area but I don't have issues if other people's dogs run up to us. I've been to the local oval with the intent of doing training but other dogs have been playing and have come up to us so I just let Ava have a run with them instead. I remove them from the gate at the dog park when another dog is entering, but people never do the same for me. I don't think we can expect every single dog owner to have the exact same opinion when it comes to what is acceptable and what is not

[GSD's 4EVER]

I'm probably more lax about these things than most people on DOL. I don't let my dogs bug other people when we're out and about, but I do let them act like dogs sometimes. I don't let them run up to people when they're off leash in an unfenced area but I don't have issues if other people's dogs run up to us. I've been to the local oval with the intent of doing training but other dogs have been playing and have come up to us so I just let Ava have a run with them instead. I remove them from the gate at the dog park when another dog is entering, but people never do the same for me. I don't think we can expect every single dog owner to have the exact same opinion when it comes to what is acceptable and what is not

Good post. This is how owning a dog & taking it to the park used to be.

[poodlefan]

KTB:

I understand the rationale for no toys but it did seem a little bit odd because I thought that it was natural for people to be throwing a ball around for their dog etc.

That's fine if there are no other dogs around but throwing a ball in a group of dogs encourages competition to get it and that can lead to aggression.

Aussielover, I think you're being very responsible about the use of food. I can't stand people who shovel food down their dogs heads (or any other dog's) in amongst a group of dogs for the same reason that ball throwing in a group is unwise.

But if you're not rewarding the other person's dog for its failure to recall to its owner, perhaps THEY need to use treats.

[poodlefan]

Ooops - double post

Edited November 21, 2010 by poodlefan

[corvus]

I don't think we can expect every single dog owner to have the exact same opinion when it comes to what is acceptable and what is not

So true. I find we all tend to get along quite well if we are tolerant and polite. I expect dogs to come running up to us wherever we go, so I made sure my dogs were socialised to it from an early age. I expect to be mobbed every now and then and so I made sure my dogs were socialised to it. I expect to meet rude dogs and begging dogs and dogs that don't know whether they want to bite or play and I expect spats to break out over resources, so I keep on my toes and watch every dog that comes in and adapt to the situation. And my dogs do, too, because they have been doing it all their lives. Training for us never stops. Animals are always doing something. You can either take charge of their reinforcement or leave it to chance. I can't control other people or their dogs, so I treat them as environmental variables and training opportunities for my guys. We have never been shouted at or got dirty looks or had rude comments and have never done it to other people. There are always some idiots out there making doggy outings less fun than they could be, but that's the world we live in. We handle it as best we can and move on.

[koalathebear]

KTB:

I understand the rationale for no toys but it did seem a little bit odd because I thought that it was natural for people to be throwing a ball around for their dog etc.

That's fine if there are no other dogs around but throwing a ball in a group of dogs encourages competition to get it and that can lead to aggression.

Well I'm quite paranoid about my doggies. We only go to the dog parks when there are no other dogs there. We've only ever let our dogs socialise with other dogs at puppy class, at BDOC during class and in the off-lead area after class when other owners are also supervising play and also with friends/other DOLers whose dogs we already know ... On walks, if we see another dog coming, we normally pull away to the side and only permit a 'greeting' if the dog looks friendly and the owner is willing. I've just read too much about how difficult it is for a dog to recover once it's had a very negative experience with another dog. I was just a bit puzzled about the ball thing because I wasn't sure what else you'd actually do at a dog park if not making the dog chase around after a toy.

[poochmad]

We always treats to the park. However, we're very lucky where we live as more often than not, we're the only ones in the dog park, so can do what we wish. What bliss.

[Kirislin]

we cant control what other people do, or bring to the park so it's us to contol our dogs. I dont like it though when a particular friend of mine keeps giving my dogs treats even when I ask her not to.