I agree with Toedtoes, I have never had the luxury of living near a dogpark where there was staff to enforce rules, even when I lived in a large American city. I've heard of some that do (though never anywhere near me), but these are high-end facilities that require a membership fee to use, so the staff that supervises and enforced rules can be appropriately compensated.
I could go on, but the point stands that separation issues in the home are not going to be solved by any flavor of socialization with other dogs. They are unrelated behaviors. As the OP hasn't replied, it's hard to say whether this dog has true separation anxiety or another kind of separation related problem, but either way, any training or behavior modification has to happen in the home environment, where the dog is struggling.
This reminds me of an Aussie I met in a club one night who said "All American beer is "Shite" ,.. and he made this judgement because back home he had sampled Miller and Coors.... the McDonalds and Burger King of beer. I don't feel "not having seen it" as grounds enough for saying it doesn't exist and that it can't possibly produce satisfactory results. He wound up staying with us for the weekend and got a chance to sample some good beers but by the end of the weekend, we turned him into a wino.
1. We have dog parks all over the place. Some are an open field with a fence, with no real oversight; we have one in the neighboring Town which is very close to us (our property is one house from town border) but over the Town line so not being a resident we wouldn't go there. However, they have no one checking; I have visited it, and having done so, I used my ability to make an
informed judgement, to conclude it does not fit my needs and is not one I would attend. That Town is primarily rural in nature, where ours is very suburban with high taxes, Im on the border. Here the parks are well designed, having some combination of municipal water service, bathrooms, obstacle courses, beaches, pools etc. All of them are visited daily by Town personnel at least twice a day, vehicle gates opened in the am, closed in the pm, trash removed, lawns mowed, fallen branches picked up, poopie bag dispensers refilled, doggie (kiddie) pool cleaned. Town has a phone number dedicated to dog licensing, park passes and park management. There's no official rules warden onsite but with almost half a million residents with a rohy 23 x 23 mile footprint, response times are great. Other items that don't ring true include
2. We are not in a city and I wouldn't be very inclined to go to a one in major city, (with land costs in cities, allocation of space would seem to be a major issue). ... given the general mindset as a former NYC resident that apartment dogs are a generally a bit too pent up with energy....however, if I found myself in that situation, I like to think I'd keep an open mind, conduct significant reconnaissance and make in informed decision .
3. Ya can't use any park or even walk ya dog in the street w/o a dog license ($7.00). Every community has an active civic association and loose dogs, barking dogs and aggressive dogs are quickly reported and if unlicensed, uh oh.
4. To use a dog park here you must 1st be a Town resident, same for any park, beach, pool, ball field whatever, all are free tho I don't know about pools as we live near a lake. The high "membership fee" (tho it was $25/yr back in 2013) for both dogs amounted to the cost of two postage stamps but only because I needed to supply pictures. Applying on line is free. Four days after they received each of the applications, I received a PhotoID card and a key Fob which I can use in any of 6 local Dog Parks. Tho if ya lose the card or key FOB, ya can either pay $15 or wait till your renewal date when they send ya a new one. Though it's the largest Town in the State and the 2nd most populous in the county, all the dog parks are < 20 miles away... the tax base provides for a lot of amenities.
5. As was clearly stated, and as indicated by the "circle" example given, the rules
are well enforced by the park's community of users.
6. The Town does respond to complaints from the community and will revoke the pass for repeat offenders, the police will come if called when someone refuses to remove an aggressive dog
The actual stated question here was, in fact, whether to get a companion dog, not how to address separation anxiety. The separation anxiety was / is a separate question and not one I chose to address directly because adding a 2nd dog does not necessarily eliminate the separation anxiety. While socialization is most often defined in the doggie sense as introducing the dog and getting him to tolerate new people and his environment, we already know that's not an issue for the OP as dog is fine with a baby sitter in his environment. If the Owner is considering a second dog, the owner needs to know that this option is a no-starter if the dogs can't get along. So, that accomplishes a whole load of nothing when considering bringing in a 2nd dog. We have had multiple dogs for the last 25 or so years. Few things are sadder than living with a dog who has lost it's "roommate".
The other thing a park or club provides is an owner community. So even if you go without the og os both of you stay outside, it gives you the opportunity to meet other dog owners. Dog people are usually generous with their time and you can find someone interested in a bit of one on one time. Proceeding slowly and carefuly, letting the dogs decide how this is going to go, the two Owner / Doggie pairs can meet allowing the dogs to observe the owners and decide if they want to engage. Assuming that occurs,it puts the owner in a position to observe what happens when you leave the room and other owner stays. What happens if they go outside ? One of the reasons we wanted a 2nd dog is I work from home and Dog No. 1 was always pushing my elbows as I tried to type wanting attention or play time. I could ignore her and she'd go lay down again but I couldn't ignore the fact that she was less than happy.
Now these two are very happy go lucky as can me, they will play for 90 minutes or so, then come up, sit under my desk and sleep. When I'd put the one in the exercise pen, she'd stand there looking at me, I'd kick a ball a few times, shed get bored after 3 or 4 kicks, sniff around and then stand at the gate and whine to get out. At luch time I'll go out and play with them for 30 - 45 minutes they do very little of the huffing and puffing ... at 3 pm, they go in alone and i watch them from my window and they don't wanna come in half the time when I go out at 4 pm.
The author here notes that
"Socialization is a topic that is frequently talked about, especially in the context of puppies. In the past when I’ve asked clients what they think “socialization” means, I’ve heard answers like “playing with other dogs,” “meeting 100 new people,” or “interacting with new objects.”
The author specifically provides an example of going to a dog park with puppies to desensitize the puppies to the presence of other dogs, sitting on a blanket outside the fence and not going inside, and n training the pup to ignore the dogs anbd ficus. Worries of an aggressive dog should not even enter one's mind as no puppy should be inside for health / vaccination reason not to mention the fact that they are (or should) not be allowed. Another option I should have mentioned is doggie day care. When the only park option is one of the horror stories you described, the dog can have its separation anxieties muted with the presence of "babysitters" as its already used to and slowly introduced to other dogs as the dog comfort level allows. But again, hows that different than a well run dog park facility with conscientious owner community, letting the dog control when it take on the next level of engagement as myself and BKmuttle have used on a regular basis ?
Noting that I'm dealing with a Shepherd / Husky mix, 2 breeds generally listed in the Top 10 of aggressive dogs, there's an inherent responsibility to test behaviors. That does NOT in any way suggest that going to a ThunderDome dog park, throwing them in and then waiting to see what happens. When taking a step by step approach observing and verifying the conditions and letting the dog decide their level of engagement, at what point in the process described should a red flag go up ? The dog was never pushed into entering the park, the dog had the opportunity to not participate, the dog wes permitted to enter only when
she decided she wanted to. Where exactly is the problem ?
As I said, we have been to places we decided not to particpate in for various reasons. We have had a string of positives with multiple dogs. So, I can not acceot the position that if the dog owner has taken safe precautions, satisfied themselves as to the safety of the dog both physically and mentally, the owner allowing the dog to make all the decisions with entering or participation and having it prove out in multiple instances is inevitable going to resul in some horribleoutcome.
While I agree such dog parks are a VERY rare (but wonderful) asset to a community, they do exist. The off leash parks of DuPage County, IL are fabulous. And most all of them are huge. The ones we preferred to visit when I lived there were in the 15 - 30+ acre size, with one being over 60 acres. (Thunderdome they were not! lol) They do require a paid permit (per dog, max 3 dogs per person in the parks) and have a list of extensive rules/regulations. That being said, there is no one official at the parks on a daily basis to enforce any such rules, so it's really still up to the patrons to make sure things are running smoothly.
15 - 60 acres ? Wow, now I'm jealous ! But thankful for the confirmation that positive outcomes are indeed possible. One question tho ... are these huge parks enclosed ? Dog No.2 would be fine but w/ Dog No.1 ..." oh I never smell anything so interesting ...oh wait what's that smell coming from over there....on and on and she's cross a state line within a week ... having come from a home where it spent as many as 10 - 14 hours a day in a crate, he's recall averse as when she came to her owner, it usually meant going in the crate. Getting her as a young adult has been a challenge ... I have had success using a clicker when she's on th zipline which allows her to roam over a 60'x 120'area. But when being taken off the leash as a doggie visitor arrived, she pulled free and was gone. I caught up to her down the block and she did come when called so that's progress. I have a 200' surveyors tape that I plan to use for longer distance recall training after the last 5 weeks of rain end ... snow tomorrow and none of us minds going out in that
.
