Giant Breeds at dog parks.

Criosphynx

What are your guys opinions on Giant dogs at parks?

I went to the park today only to have a Newfie *puppy* trampole Emma twice before we could get away and we had to relegate to the other side of the gate. Its method of play was to pounce bodilly on the other dogs.

It was obviously intimidating and sent many dogs scattering. It tried to *play* with a basset to the point that the dog was scared out of its mind and attacked it finally. None of the dogs would play with it and it spent its time chasing an pouncing on uninterested parties.

Later in the day another newfie, older and calmer came in but you could still see the apprehention in some of the other dogs. Several fights broke out during this time. During one the Newf tried to *help* and just got in the way and it took almost a full minute to break up the dogs.

Personally, i've had a HUGE unaltered bullmastif decide Scooter looked hump worthy and grabbed him, and i couldnt get it off of him to save my life. Scooter paniced after a while and i ended up yelling "whos dog is this?" while it drug me around.

What do you guys think, huge liability? Or "big dogs get to use the park too"? Im on the fence. Most large breeds seem well behaved but the fact that i can't phsically control one if i need too is a scary thought.

FriendsOfZoe

I am always very wary when there are dogs that are a lot bigger than Zoe at the park (because she is about 3x too big to be in the small dog section)...mostly, they are fine and play well. But if something goes wrong with a giant dog, it can go very wrong very fast.

I think that owners with giant dogs need to be even more cautious than the average dog owner because their dogs CAN hurt other dogs while just playing. As I said, most giant dog owners I've come across are cautious and responsible. But it only takes one...

dane&cockermom

i think anyone should think twice before bringing their dog to the park period. there should be a scanning process to determine if you can control your dog well enough in order to get into dog parks. lol.

but seriously, giant breeds need socialization too. and what's worse than a 150-200 lb unsocalized dog on the end of a leash dragging it's owner towards another dog cause it hasn't been around them?

Criosphynx

Yeah i guess its like letting a GSD play with my Chi. Seems like there needs to be four sections now, Huge, average, small, and tiny (the smalls dogs here apear to shrink every year)

TeddieXRuxpin

Here, there is a section for larger dogs and a section for small dogs.

Personally if you take your small dog in a park with larger dogs you're asking for problems. While Ted plays great with Buster 70+, Mahalo 50+, and Duncan 40+ I wouldn't trust an unknown dog to play over, around, by him. I know for a fact Ted would go right up to the biggest dog and try to get him to play. It wouldn't be that dogs fault imo if he's playing and this little one gets hurt. Big dogs play the same, just 10x harder. I don't think a big dog should be banned from a park because of it's size. That's just stupid to me.

No that DOESN'T mean I think they should be illbehave or be able to rule the roost either. No matter the size the dog should be well behaved and have a GRAND call back. But if you haven't noticed most dogs in the park don't have a call back let alone basic training.

If Ted were 80-90 pounds he would smash every little dog, but because of his size he doesn't hurt them.

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Criosphynx

true true, but what puppy is seriously going to be under very much control in a park situation?

The guy who owned the first Newfie could only get the dogs attention about 50% of the time. He was trying very hard tho, i'll give him that.

But when i moved away he made a comment like "oh look not everyone likes us" to his dog.
I was like WTH my biggest dog is 27lbs, it has nothing to do with liking you buddy, its about my dogs safety.

JenTN

Bo is a large puppy (prob. lab/dane mix). I would like to be able to take him to the dog park one day, however I am waiting until he has a better recall and better training in general. However, if he behaved in the manner you described, we would pack it up and leave rather quickly

B-Line

I was in the park last night with a 130lb. Giant Schnauzer..
It was a great dog and I loved playing with him.

The owner did have him on an electric collar. I asked her why, to which she responded, "CAUSE he's 130lbs !!!"

She also had two wolf dogs with her. Her entire herd was well behaved and great. I had no issues with them playing with my pup.

I have no issues with big dogs, assuming of course they are handled by owners who understand the responsibility and take care.

Criosphynx

i totally get that, really i do. But some of these breeds look almost twice as large as the average "large" dog. So aren't the owners of average "large" dogs asking for trouble too then?

dane&cockermom

well then that's your call. i've had people move their dogs away from gwen. and if i seen gwen getting out of control with a smaller dog, i take her away from it, or i leave. hell, i've had people leave the park completely because of gwen coming in. he has just as much a right to be there as you do, and if you're having a problem with the size of his dog, or the way it's acting, then you can deal with his "oh look not everyone likes us" comment and move on, or leave the park.

sorry, i'm a little riled up from this silver lab debate on another forum and i'm feeling kinda snarky. lol

Criosphynx

LMAO. Cute...


i don't have an issue with large dogs ussually, i just found the guys comment bothersome. I was using common sence and did the smart thing by leaving and he took it personally. I should have gotten comments about staying if i chose to stay, but i bet i wouldn't have.

And exactly, i have a right to be there too, my dogs have solid recals and don't cause problems, but i had to leave. heck, i could have been leaving, just to go do dishes or somthing but he assumed, which makes me think there have been problems before with his dog.

Im not complaining but it just seems like a silly system.

TeddieXRuxpin

I'm not sure what you mean by that. A great dane or newfie can easily get up to 200 pounds, not saying they all do or even that it's the average. And there are many breeds that are ove 90+ pounds. I don't think it's right either way. You can't tell big dog owners to leave because you have a small/tiny dog and you can't tell a little dog person that either. I think there should be more parks like we have here.

The small section is 25 and under and the larger side is anything over 35 pounds.

Criosphynx

i mean that an "average large dog" like GSD, labs etc are about half the size of a giant breed, thats all.

Im not asking anyone to leave. Im just asking what you guys think about risk/liablity versus benefit.

dane&cockermom

i probably would have said something snotty back to him like "well if you were able to control him...blah blah blah" or "if he wasn't jumping all over my little dog..." and so on and so forth. i don't take crap from people at the park. lol

ETA: of course, if my dog is pestering another, i pack up and leave. if she's bothering another dog and not responding to me, she doesn't earn the right to be there to play

Criosphynx

haahaha, i normally do too but the guy was elderly and i could tell he was trying. Plus i get too riled up and it buggs me all day.

However i did tell a girl with an obnoxious Doxie that was obsessing and humping Scooter that he would probably stop if she neutered him. I said it, and then waited for the backlash and it never came... phew.

Durbkat

Does your dog park not have a small dog section? If so then your dog should be there if they don't like to rough house. Because I have seen many people bring their little dogs over to the large dog side and they come to the small dog side within 5 minutes of being on the large dog side because their dog can't handle rough housing. I have never seen a small dog on the large dog side for more than a few minutes because all the large dogs seem to be attracted to it and won't leave it alone and they just gang up on it and then a fight breaks out, it never fails. And they come running over here with their little dog clutched in their arms. lol

I hope I didn't come off rude but it just blows my mind everytime I see people take their little dog over to the large dog side. We have some large dogs here, mostly great danes and labs and goldens.

TeddieXRuxpin

I didn't post for it to come off that way. I don't think I'd go to the dog park if there weren't two sections. I don't think you can win either way really. If it were just one huge park with both large and small dogs I wouldn't go.

I think risk/liability falls on both the small and large dog owners. But that's just me.

Criosphynx

There are two sides. I was on the large side because all the dogs there at the time where about 30lbs max and calm. I would have left no matter what large dog came in (in fact by left i mean we went to the small dog side)

It just would have been stupid to sit on the small side with no dogs when all the small dogs were in the other part of the park.

Shortly after we *left* several wiems and labs and gsd came in, they were still pretty warry of this exuberant giant fluff ball.

Durbkat

I agree, if its just one huge park then I wouldn't go. You can't expect someone with a great pyr to not go to the dog park because there happened to be more small dogs than large dogs at the park. Just as the same applies if someone wants to bring their small dog there but there are more large than small dogs at the park. You have to think is it worth taking a chance on getting your dog injured or worse just so it can get its exercise.

There have been many times where I have gone to the park and there was not a single dog in the small dog side and any small dog that came went to the large dog side. If you brought all 3 of your dogs then they can play with themselves and you can toss a toy for them. Thats what I do with Snoopy. I just play fetch and run around with him.

Criosphynx

there is two sides. My point is even the large dogs are dwarfed by the giant breeds. Isn't that just as risky, is my question.

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