The Dog Park and the Older Dog

[blanche]

I just thought I'd post this as it might be useful to other owners of older dogs.  I've decided that Tank's dog park days are over.  There are a couple of reasons for this:
1.) he doesn't get enough exercise there--just sits around waiting for someone to feed him
2.) he's just not enjoying it.  He's bored, I think, and finds any number of busy big dogs to be stressful.

He's become increasingly intolerant of any big (males, especially) dogs being near him.  Some of it is he's becoming a crusty old bugger, but some of it is, I think, fear that he's going to get stepped on or banged into--and he's right--that does happen.

He's happy as a clam to go for a walk and actually motors around well and enjoys the new smells and multiple pee opportunities.  But I think he just isn't a fan of the dog park any longer. 


Hazel loves the dog park--but she's still very playful and loves to zoom around.  Theo just likes to deedle around and pee on things so he's okay at the dog park or on a walk.

But I think Tank needs new horizons and more interesting sights.  He certainly stepped out in a lively fashion today when we went to the ravine for a walk.  And as the only dog with no visual or auditory challenges, he can go to more "exotic" locales.

[lmcpug]

LOL!  awww Tank.....

I'm sure that Pugsley sympathizes with you on this matter however,
I once in a blue moon will drag him to the park.
Pugsley likes to "toddle" around and goes off on his own to chk out
the "markers" usually with me rescueing him because he gets stuck
between "twigs" somewhere

Anyhow, Tankstar, enjoy that ravine and any other exotic trips that you make.
Regale us with your travels and fun

Lori, Pugsley and Bubbs

[Krysta]

Poor little guy. I understand why you have made this decision.

Luckily, in St. Catharines our dog park's are seperated into two categories; bigs dogs, and little dogs. The "big" dogs have a 4 acre park, and the "little" ones have a 1 acre park. This minimizes the stress on Rox, and she does not have the larger dogs tackling her to play. I have also noticed, most of the owners with the agressive dogs (that shouldn't be at the dog park anyway), usually have larger dogs.

[blanche]

Poor little guy. I understand why you have made this decision.

Luckily, in St. Catharines our dog park's are seperated into two categories; bigs dogs, and little dogs. The "big" dogs have a 4 acre park, and the "little" ones have a 1 acre park. This minimizes the stress on Rox, and she does not have the larger dogs tackling her to play. I have also noticed, most of the owners with the agressive dogs (that shouldn't be at the dog park anyway), usually have larger dogs.

We've been very lucky as mnost of our big dog owners at Wildwood are decent folks with decent dogs.  It's Tank who is most often the issue.  I've been thinking for a while that he just isn't a dog park dog any more and so we started the shift this weekend.  He's much happier and getting more exercise.  And given his age and the badly bowed nature of his back legs from the pred, exercise is key with him.

[Kathy]

We don't have dog parks out here, I wish... there is an unofficial one in Oshawa but we have to go all the way to North Pickering (almost 45 min for us) for a dog park, so our guys are s.o.l. on that joy.

Its not a priority in Durham unfortunately. You are so lucky to have them.

Sorry poor Tank is not enjoying it anymore but it can get pretty chaotic with a lot of dogs running about.

[Gerk]

The dog parks here are not segregated ... we don't even bother to try and take our boys to them any longer.  Bugsy just sits with us staring at us and the only time he'll walk around is to follow us.  Cooper did much the same thing, although he may get a bit more active now ... but without the segregation we tend to avoid the parks.  Lots of alpha male dudes with their alpha male dogs (read: buttheads) have been met at the parks here.  The last visit there was an unaltered big dog (I don't remember the breed offhand but it might have been a mastiff) who was misbehaving badly ... trying chase down and hump everyone and everything in sight, dogs and humans alike.  The owner just didn't care at first (probably because he didn't even notice, he was too busy acting alpha with his buddies), then when he decided to do something about it he grabbed the dog's face and got right in his face yelling at him at the top of his lungs that he was bad.  Sigh.  That was our last visit to the dog park.  Most of the other dog owners either left the park at that point with their dogs, or in the case of all his "buddies" all stood around and laughed about it.  As I said before ... buttheads.  Unfortunately that seems to be close to the norm for this particular dog park, along with people that don't pay attention to their dogs while there ... big piles of poop that the owners didn't pick up (as they didn't even notice the dogs did it), etc etc.  Not all the people there are like that, but there's been something like that every time we went there.

Both of our boys just LOVE walks though and there's a small (non offleash) park very close to our house that we visit daily that they enjoy, therefore we walk.

[sumbonuscanis]

Hogarth doesn`t go to dog park too often these days.  He still enjoys wandering around and saying hello to the people (note people), and he`s OK if the dogs are little ones, but he`s philosophically opposed to large bouncy puppies now.  At the moment all the dogs are pretty nice ones, and even the big bouncy puppies just want to play; but he WILL lay the smackdown if one of them gets in his face, and the energy involved in laying the smackdown (which consists of nothing more than bad-tempered barking and the occasional swat) is enough to wear him out for a couple of hours, and I worry that he will injure himself during all that macho posturing.    Sometimes he`ll surprise me, though, and have a runabout with a couple of little ones, so we still go occasionally.  But if it looks like a puppy exercise session versus the dogs and people just hanging out, I will just wave and we keep on walking  He still gets to hang out with his buddies at daycare, who are closer to his age and size for the most part, so I don`t worry too much about his social life.

[blanche]

Like everything else in life--it's about balance and management.  Tank used to love the dog park and now he doesn't.  Part of it is that he's a fair bit brighter than the rest of the crew and not as spun so he needs variety and new things/people/places.  And I don't want him to develop any reactivity habits.  Given his age and health, if another dog does decide to take him on, he'd be toast.  And his paranoia abut getting banged or bumped is a set up for him to get a violent response to his "lunge and roar".  So the ones that still like the park, get something out of it will still go--and Tank will go elsewhere and have more fun and get some exercise.  A win-win.

[Jug and Pug]

So Tank will get to travel and expand his interests.....just like the humans, Tank is now finding as an older pug he is interested in a whole new world to explore and learn about.  Blanche, just be sure to look into the fringe benefits, such as discounts on almost everything a senior pug should want. Being a senior citizen can be an enjoyable time for traveling because as a young pug, there wasn't the time or finances that allowed the freedom to travel.  Now is the time to relax and enjoy what the world has to offer.

Go for it Tank!!

[blanche]

Honestly, I don't think Tank got alot of park time in his younger years.  And so for 2+ years it's been fine for him.  But now I think he finds it stressful--even when there aren't alot of busy big dogs there--and it's always about proximity.  It a big dog is too close or there's even a bit of a crowd and a big dog is there, Tank will launch himself at the big dog.

So I took the hint and decided that he needs a different environment.  And so far, he's loving doing other things with either just me or with me and Theo. 

[SpeedyPug]

The off leash park here in Cambridge sucks.  Its a small fenced area in the middle of nowhere- no shade, no interest, just scrubby grass.  Not a good place for pugs.  We walk along the river and through the neighborhood and that's fine for Jem and Geeg.  I wouldn't like them off leash anyways- they both have socialization issues and its just easier to be anti-social and keep to ourseves. 

[lmcpug]

So Tank will get to travel and expand his interests.....just like the humans, Tank is now finding as an older pug he is interested in a whole new world to explore and learn about.  Blanche, just be sure to look into the fringe benefits, such as discounts on almost everything a senior pug should want. Being a senior citizen can be an enjoyable time for traveling because as a young pug, there wasn't the time or finances that allowed the freedom to travel.  Now is the time to relax and enjoy what the world has to offer.

Well put! Pugsley and Bubba would totally agree with this!    

Go for it Tank!!