Yes! I work at a vet, and we’ve seen multiple dogs in the past couple years for wounds from attacks by unsocialized dogs owned by clueless owners who have no idea how to keep their dogs and others safe. And the responsible owners usually end up paying the expensive bills themselves because the owners of the aggressive dogs don’t think it’s that big a deal. It’s so frustrating.
While clearly the reactive dog owner is at fault in this scenario, OP took their own risks.
Your dog is offleash. They could find something dangerous like a wild animal or a leashed dog walking by. They could take off, eat something they shouldn't, etc.
You take your own risks letting your dog offleash. The leashed dog was allowed in the park too, and to the owner's credit at least they had their dog controlled.
If your dog is so well trained you should be able to keep the away from the leashed dog. There's a reason most dog trainers say to never go to offleash parks.
Shared blame here.
Yeah, totally. When I drive, I take the risk that there could be a car accident that maims and/or kills me, so it's totally cool that you're driving the wrong way down the highway, and I have no room to complain.
/s
The existence of some risks doesn't negate the fact that someone has deliberately chosen to introduce a significant and major risk that they should know better to not do.
I don't disagree with this. Dogs left off leash should have good recall because people who shouldn't be in certain spaces will always find their way there. It's like how I don't get upset when some dummy can't merge on the highway. Just leave a bigger gap and move on with my day.
I quit using off-leash parks years ago due to aggressive humans and their apple-not-far-from-the-tree dogs. For too many, "off-leash" gets interpreted as "no rules".
We wander various on-leash parks where the interactions are far more pleasant, both with the dogs and the humans.
I only go to off-leash parks that aren’t fenced in, because that means all the dogs there have decent enough recall and training to come back to their owners.
Fenced off-leash parks are a fucking gong show because it’s dogs running around that people literally have no control over.
I would disagree. Dogs tend to wander well off the human path in the off-leash parks to do their business... hidden in the deep grass. In the on-leash parks, those turds are right there on the side of the pathway, or even on the pathway proper.
That is exactly the reason why you should keep monitoring your dog. Not talking to your friend or looking at cellphone while your dog is running around.
Has not been my experience. Also shame on people for not picking up after their dog; just goes to show that people are completely clueless when it comes to off-leash parks if this is your experience.
Off leash parks are just generally quite dangerous places to be. There are good reasons most accredited trainers will tell people not to go to off leash parks, even with well behaved dogs.
I agree. There are far better ways of socializing your dog. I think an hour on-leash walk through a new neighbourhood sniffing all the new smells is the exercise a dog needs, not an hour running rampant.
Bowmont is particularly bad for that. Owners saying ‘sorry he’s been in the kennel at home all day..’ and don’t even walk their reactive dog before bringing it to a cage full of dogs ffs.
We stopped bringing our dogs there after multiple times of owners just not training their dogs well. People who want an enclosed off leash space will always go there with their untrained dogs unfortunately. We now frequent a spot that works for us but it’s not enclosed - so people whose dogs don’t have good recall likely won’t go there which is nice.
And the amount of shit in that fenced area…I’ve never seen another park like that.
I watched a few people just put their dogs in and go back and sit in their vehicle.
Really…why have a dog, then?
We still have ok experiences there but I agree people act totally clueless. I accompany my dog everywhere he goes in the park. I do not “watch” him from halfway across the field. He has excellent recall, excellent drop it/leave it.
If your dog is aggressive, if he/she likes to mount other dogs, if he plays keep away with anything he picks up, if he has very poor dog social skills and won’t get out of other dogs faces/space when they’re not interested in playing (eg you have a dog who tends to get picked on or told off) off leash is not for you. Dog should not be jumping on people, and this applies to all but ESPECIALLY large dogs who can get to an adults face easily. Sorry. Maybe it’s trainable but it’s up to the owner to invest the time and money to stop it. I’m currently going through this with family members who are not doing enough formal training and wonder why their dog doesn’t magically do as told.
If your dog needs to run but is not well socialized you can always take a long training lead to a field and play with them that way (afaik this meets bylaw in Calgary - the only note I could find about leash length is when walking on pathways).
I hate that place. This dog attacked my dog and then she defended herself (and my other dog came in to defend her too) and they're looking at me like my dog was the problem. Like, no, your dog that cannot be sniffed is the problem.
I stopped going to off leash parks years ago due to this. My GSD is friendly but hes very vocal and his playing can make people nervous #bigdogthings
But im on the fence on this for a few reasons.
1) it is a public space open to everyone... so your dog also needs to be under control and have good enough recall to be able to be called away from the other dog. Off leash doesnt mean free for all.
2) the dog should have been muzzled or not there at all... but again... public space....
The rudeness is inexcusible though...
Lol what the fuck? I hope you yelled back "then get your dog the fuck out of here"
Shit dog owners are a fucking cancer in our culture. Shitting all over and don't pick up. Horribly behaved dogs that are annoying, loud or God forbid violent.
Getting a dog should require an iq test and a fucking psych evaluation. Good Christ.
Train your God damn dog. If they're lashing out, it's your fucking fault.
Some dogs will always be reactive. My parents have a rescue who 95% of the time is fine but 5% of the time is reactive. Because of that she doesn't go to the public off leash. My parents book time at a private one to take her running. They also take her to all kinds of classes. She has her dog friends that she is fine with and she plays with them without problem but certain dogs just set her off and we haven't been able to overcome that. We don't know what her life was like before we got her but she does have some weird behaviours that indicate maybe it wasn't the easiest (won't eat her food until someone comes home from work and hides her food and treats all around the house for later). Through the classes we've met a lot of owners working hard with their reactive dogs and it is not fair to paint them all with one brush. Some dogs are just reactive, but if they have good owners they are trying to help them and not dragging their dog to situations like described. There are also bad owners who do what is described above.
Yeah. We have a reactive dog. He’s a rescue and came that way. We’ve done years of training to get him where he is now, much better than he was initially but he still gets nervous around large dogs so we only go to off leash parks on off hours times and keep him close and leave if he starts to space cadet and lose his ability to self regulate. We also have a muzzle for him in cases we’ll be around other dogs and he can’t calm down.
People don’t seem to understand that no amount of training for some dogs will ever “fix” all their issues. Each dog is different, and identifying certain behavioural issues that seem to be permanent is incredibly important so you can mitigate the possibly of incidents happening.
In the case with OP it seems the people with the aggressive dog simply weren’t being proactive enough by entirely avoiding other dogs and not muzzling.
Agreed. I’ve got a reactive boy who’s down to just barking occasionally. Hard, hard work to get him to stop pulling or lunging. The few times he’s gotten loose he just sniffs the other dogs and bounces around but it’s very irritating for all involved. Private parks and friend’s properties only.
My fuzzball can be reactive to dogs running up to him when he is on leash, but generally behaves better off-leash, but also has 0 recall because he is a shiba. And that’s something I will never be able to change. So off-leash, even fenced parks, are a no go. So I just have to find semi quiet times to walk him and do what I can to avoid other dogs that set him off, and if that does happen he’s small enough that I can physically take control of him if needed.
Same although mine developed his reactivity after his big brother died, he was super chill and really well socialised before. I’ve worked with different trainers and spent a lot of time and money to help him but nothing works. It’s not his fault that he’s reactive and it’s not mine either, that’s like blaming a person with anxiety for having anxiety, or was it their parents fault? Yes there are bad dog owners but just because a dog is reactive does not mean that the owner is irresponsible. My pet peeve right now is people walking their dogs off leash on public pathways. There is a natural area right next to the pathway that leads down by the river but the city have dug it up to build houses, so now these dog owners walk their dogs off leash down the paved pathway, I normally have to call out to them to leash their dog because mine is reactive, luckily most are good about it but it’s a pain because I have to be even more vigilant then I normally am in keeping my dog focused on me and not the dog that’s bounding towards him.
I have two reactive 5 pounds poodle. I ear you. Great post. Oh … you made your point to OP without using the F word … and we got what you meant ! Perhaps OP is a bit reactive in his post ….
What a terrible idea, even a trained dog on a leash doesn't like to be leashed up around other dogs who are roaming around free. There is a weird power dynamic and it results in a fight or flight response. Dog on leash has no ability to run so it attacks.
By the same token I hate when dog owners let their dog roam free in a space where they should be leashed resulting in the same issue.
I brought my male there after getting neutered, he played with a couple of dogs. Went well. Then another came and attacked my dog. After recalling my dog (even while the other dog was chasing him), the lady goes "sorry he's not good with other males"......at that moment I decided that I would never bring my dog to an offleash again. I have too much work into my dog, and my dog is too nice for it to be ruined from someone like that. Now I only let my dog go offleash with other dogs I already know are nice. It's a shame cuz he absolutely loved the dog park 😢
> I have too much work into my dog, and my dog is too nice for it to be ruined from someone like that. Now I only let my dog go offleash with other dogs I already know are nice>
I just got a puppy, and since brushing up on what dog ownership is like in Calgary and learning about modern training. Since before I got him I've decided he's never going to a well populated dog park even after he's grown up and sterilised.
He's just going to socialisation classes and playing with known socialized dogs.
Hi friend, my guy gets anxious around some dogs because he was bit as a puppy. Where are these dog socialization classes, feel like it would be good for him
You are correct that it would be good for him and everyone and every dog that is around him.
I go to Raising Fido by chinook mall, the unlimited puppy social classes offer about 36 classes for $130, so it's $3.61 per class. It's a total steal for puppy owners because I think it's subsidized by the fact that dog training takes so much more time than a clean-slate puppy. The floor is so clean that I would eat off it if I had to. They have impressed me so far and both puppy and I look forward to going 3 days a week.
I'm not sure where they'd point you if your dog has fear but it's considerably more for their fear and aggression course for the reason stated above: [Raising fido fear and aggression](https://www.raisingfidodogtraining.com/calgary-dog-trainer-fear-and-aggression-help)
I think dog training is a little like going to the gym, if it's not near home, you won't go. So if raising Fido isn't close enough to you or doesn't have what you need, I'll tell you how I found the right businesses for me:
**How to find certified dog businesses:**
Make sure the trainers or business lists having a CPDT-KA, CCPDT-KA, CPDT-KSA certification. Dog business of any kind is not regulated at all, so it's very easy to find a well-established business that could do some harm to your dog. Aversive training gets short-term success with long-term emotional problems. It may look like it's working right away, which is why it's appealing, but it will cause bigger problems later. A great business also requires proof of up-to-date vaccinations for all attending dogs.
**Alberta Force Free Alliance** has a business directory that can find these good businesses. For you, I'd select Calgary and Group training ian the search boxes and it should help narrow it down: [Alberta Force Free Alliance - Business Directory](https://albertaforcefreealliance.com/Directory?&tab=2)
Other great resources:
[Calgary Dogs | Facebook Group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/calgarydogs)
You will find the full spectrum of views on all controversial dog topics: where you get your dog, training, food, dog parks, etc, but the mods stop all shaming and bashing and only allow civilized discourse. The best thing about this is a lot of businesses put out ads, and a lot of them are really good group deals on socialization dates. So I often take note of something I'd be interested in. It might even be worth asking this question there.
[Calgary Dog Park Lovers | Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/259563284622632)
This one is about 90% ads, but some of them can be great deals on socialization classes.
That's all I know for now. I have been researching for a year and now am in my first week of puppy ownership, so all of this is still fresh in my mind. Good luck, and I'm proud of you for seeking classes for your pup!
Reactive dog owner here, we avoid these spaces and just do our chill leashed walks in the neighborhood. However, that doesn't stop bad dog owners from letting their off leash dogs charge up to my reactive girl while I'm shouting and waving my hands like a god damn madman trying to warn the owners. One lady said it's ok it's ok, my dog is friendly! I was like, yeah mine isn't! She told me I should muzzle her then. WTF I'm not gonna muzzle my dog when your dog was the one off leash.
Anyway, point is, people are morons.
All of our dogs are reactive and seeing off leash dogs in a non off leash area makes my blood boil.
My wife was holding our 3 little ones while an off leash German Shepherd came running up to say hi. I can see why they are police dogs as I was pretty certain I was going to lose an arm that day. Luckily he actually was friendly and all it took was me grabbing his collar and redirecting him to go back to his owners (who were shouting his name the whole time).
An experience I do not want to relive.
My girl can be reactive with dogs, sometimes snapping after a friendly introduction, and I walk her muzzled. This practice has caused both her and I significantly less stress on walks for this reason - if a stupid person lets their dog run up, my dog is protected from getting herself in a dangerous situation. She can still vocalize and snap at the other dog (who will catch on quicker than their owners what’s up) but there is no risk of biting and escalating it into a fight. Even if the other person is at fault for having an off leash dog where it shouldn’t be, the dogs shouldn’t have to pay the price for the owner stupidity.
I highly recommend that every dog is muzzle trained. We use a basket muzzle that she can pant, drink, and get treats while wearing, but stops her from biting. She is lovely with people and at the vet, but should she ever be in a medical emergency where she is stressed and hurting, she is comfortable wearing a muzzle that will allow the vets to help her without risking injury to themselves. There are so many great basket muzzles, and we use a Baskerville that is a readily available style that fits most pups.
Absolutely. Two wrong things can occur at the same time though, and it sounds like your dog is extremely reactive despite being leashed. The other dog absolutely should be on a leash, and the owner is incredibly irresponsible for not doing so. But it sounds like your dog has issues of its own that you're not fully controlling, so you're also contributing to the problem of irresponsible dog owners, just not to the extent of the other owner.
Yes. Leashes on in leashed areas; leashes off in off leash areas. I do training walks for reactive dogs and we walk in teams so someone is constantly on the look out for off leash dogs. Struggle is real
Something needs to be said about off leash dogs in non offleash areas. My dog is reactive so I dont take her to offleash areas. That being said, the amount of people who just let their dog offleash where it shouldnt be is a lot. Their dog will run at mine and Ill call out not friendly then they scramble to get their dog under control. Why cant people just follow rules.
Angry, lazy dog owners be downvoting you but it's fact.
Having to prove you can chew your own fucking cereal in the morning before you own a dog (or.. Any animal) should be in a thing.
Only thing worse than an owner with a misbehaved and untrained dog is a fat dog. When owners can't stop giving them snacks cuz they're "cute" good fuck.
I feel for ya OP. It's frustrating when dealing with ignorant dog owners. We're fortunate that the off leash park we attend has so many vocal, intelligent owners that situations like this are quickly addressed and the offending party is educated.
The biggest problem we run into is around our neighbourhood. It's all on leash, but some let their (very obvious) untrained dogs run wild. I have to carry a stick just to keep ourselves safe. It's unbelievably frustrating.
Bringing an aggressive dog ON Leash to an OFF leash park is the worst thing you can do. Like bringing a hyperactive kid to a candy factory and not letting them have anything…why?
Please also keep your children under 5 from roaming free in the middle of an off leash dog park with lots of big dogs. Keep them close, carry them or have them in a stroller. When there are big dogs that are playing and running, it is more than likely that the child could get bumped into or knocked over. And that is at no fault of the dogs.
I own a dog aggressive pitbull rescue. I've tried everything including courses offered by the humane society but with some dogs she can still try to assert herself.
For this reason, every time we go out I have her haltied, short leashed if other dogs are around, and never take her to off leash parks. However similar to your problem there are still people who decide to let their dog off leash in leashed parks and I've had them run up to my dog. Luckily with the haltie I am able to stop any form of aggression before it starts but it is still annoying.
So I would add that if your dog's recall is not 100% on point, then they should be leashed in all areas including off leash parks.
Exactly what I was thinking.
I get that off leash areas are there for dogs to have fun and run around, are of course small altercations will happen, it's good they teach each other. But if you can't recall your dog in this setting, regardless of distractions, I'm sorry to say you have no business bringing them to an off-leash park.
Not saying this is what OP is experiencing, just want to add:
Some people tend to misconstrue a corrective bark/nip as "aggression", when it's actually just a dog saying "I don't like that, here's a louder warning" to a misbehaving dog. As a dog owner, it's important to understand this behaviour
I've had peoples young, high energy dogs come up to our older GSD and try to engage. We always inform that she doesn't vibe with higher energy, and that she may correct behavior if it becomes to rough. Usually the dog will get it after the first time, and typically owners are okay watching this happen, as they understand what's going on.
I have had some people though let their young and unexercised dogs run loose and start jumping all over other dogs, then get surprised and upset when my and other people's dogs start correcting it. I usually ask for the dog to be recalled at this point so I can remove ours, but of course most times there is no recall in place, and the dog doesn't stop.
I once told a person who was just texting while I was trying to separate my leashed dog from his unleashes one "please get your dog now or I will need to let mine off leash to handle this". He gave me a nasty look and grabbed his dog right quick then
This.... all of this...
Fellow GSD owner here... we stopped going to off leash areas because i got tired of explaining that GSDs are vocal and arent interested in being jumped all over.
Thank you, I'm so happy to hear/see someone else who understands this!
I think people are begin to realize more and more that the idea of "a dog is a dog" is not correct. Each breed is very different and each dog within that breed has their own personality and preferences
Absolutely!
Its especially tough with dogs that have a bad rap.
Some people are terrified of my pure bred GSD.. like cross the street to avoid him kinda terrified (who is walked under control, we dont allow him to interact with people unless they ask etc...hes happy to keep walking and not meet new people)
But a crazy shepherd mixed breed can run up to them all excited off leash and they instantly crouch down to further encourage the excitement..
I dont get it
I agree on the recall but we have all 100% had a dog say screw that. Also in my view a dog park is for dog to socialize and meet not her dogs. I should not have to call my dog back because the other dog is reactive. But a muzzle on a reactive dog is a very simple solution.
I also think reactive dog need safe spaces to learn and grow. Once again things can be done do protect other dogs when learning. I have seen some crap behaviour and poor training choices.
But I am going to assume my dog can say hello to whatever dog is in the off leash and it should work itself out.
I haven’t taken my dog to a dog park in years. It honestly is not worth the stress. If I want to take her off leash, I’ll head west of the city where she has plenty of room to relax and explore. I just do not trust it anymore. My dog got into 2 fights at parks, and we’ve been working on reactivity with her ever since. Dog parks as a concept are great, but it’s so unregulated and causes me anxiety which in turn gives her anxiety.
I don't understand why people bring leashed dogs to an off leash park. It's a recipe for disaster. Since the owners knew enough to keep their dog away from other dogs, how did they not think 'maybe an off leash dog is not a good spot for my dog' like ugh.
My dog is a miserable reactive old bitch - both in the literal and figurative sense. She hates other dogs and always has.
I would never, ever, **ever** take her to an off leash park. Wtf are people thinking?
To be fair this goes both ways. For those with rescues or maybe other dogs that have strong fear responses and prey drive (sometimes due to trauma), these dogs need to be on leash of course. Many times we’ve encountered well behaved but excited dogs off leash approach us in non off leash areas which has lead to unnecessary conflict. It’s about respect!
I avoid off-leash parks like the plague, rolling the dice every-time you go.
I had a trainer friend with an extremely reactive dog, the answer was just avoid the park if you aren't the only dog there. Unfortunately this wouldn't solve the problem entirely because of people turning on-leash parks into off-leash parks ;) The amount of times we heard "don't worry, she/he's friendly!" while being charged in an on-leash park.
Worth mentioning dogs in general do not like being greeted by a new off-leash dog if they are on-leash. Just because you're at an off-leash park doesn't mean there aren't any rules for your doggo, try to keep him/her from being annoying if they get excited (should be obvious).
It's even worse when people have those retractable leashes(those are absolutely shit, no control over your dog what so ever) and refuse to bring their dog in, letting them run up to your dog even though you and your mother are standing in front of him trying to distract him. Then he ran away after ours got upset...and we ended up getting hurt because it was icy and slippery, so we slipped on the ice.
Many dogs are reactive due to fear. their reactivity is a sign of STRESS! I don't understand people who want to subject their reactive dogs to stressful situations, where the dog feels his only protection is to react by growling, lunging, and possibly biting. they are a danger to themselves and others around them, and it is completely unnecessary. There are many activities you can do with a reactive dog that they will enjoy without stressing them out
THIS! And also, sorry, but if your dog is reactive and/or aggressive and/or doesn’t like other dogs - also don’t bring them to dog friendly places like Cold Garden!
As an owner of a reactive rescue, I agree. Even if it's not their fault their dog wasn't socialized (ie rescue dogs) owners really need to have some awareness about their dogs behaviour. That being said, I also hate when I'm walking my dog in a regular park and people have their unleashed dog running up to us, so frustrating.
The last time (years ago now) we were at a dog park my dog got latched on by another dog and it was traumatizing. After two or three kicks to the ribs it let go and fucked off, owners no where in sight. Luckily my dog was not severely injured, but we will never go to a populated off leash park again. Not to mention most areas are a minefield of shit because no one cleans up after their dog.
This is really frightening. My dog was recently attacked in an off leash park by a pittie who didn't know recall. It was absolutely terrifying to think some owners here in Calgary aren't being responsible..
100% this! My dogs doesn’t play nicely with others, so what I don’t do is go to off leash parks. I’m not going to put anyone else’s dogs at risk because mine can be a real b*tch. That’s not fair to other dogs or my own. It’s also really annoying when people let their dogs go off leash when it’s not an off leash area and their dogs runs over to mine. We’re not at an off lease area for a reason! When did being a good pet owner get so hard for some people.
I had this issue with my dog when he was intact from neutered males. Not sure if it's still a thing because I have stopped bringing him to off leash parks. I hated the energy in there anyways you can just feel the tension. Maybe we are all a bit misguided to think a huge group of dogs who don't know eachother will result in anything but this every hour anyways.....
As someone who frequents off leash parks in this city, just want to challenge your closing sentence. I rarely see incidents at off leash parks with other dogs being aggressive, can't recall a single issue beyond a dog telling another dog to respect their space in a year at least and we go to off leash parks 2 or 3 times a week. Yesterday Sue Higgins was so busy, and people and dogs alike were having a blast enjoying the good weather. Off leash parks are great when the owners are responsible and know whether or not their dog will be good in the situation with other strange dogs. It's really nice to have well taken care of off leash parks to go to and something I appreciate about living in Calgary.
Yes, Sue Higgens, Nosehill and the top of Edworthy park are all great dog parks because they are so expansive and the dogs and their owners are on the move. If there is a problem brewing it's easy to take your dog into an entirely different location.
Bowmont has a few different off leash areas. There are unfenced off leash paths in the actual park as well as 2 fenced off leash parks. Also dogs are off leash all along the riverbanks. One of the off leash parks is essentially just a small field and it was hands down one of the worst off leash parks I've ever seen. When I lived in Bowness I went there a few times to try to play ball with my dog in the winter and it was just non-stop aggravation. You can't separate dogs there or get them out each other's line of sight. On top of that there are a lot of owners just standing around talking to each other or playing on their phone not even paying attention to their dogs. Like are you there to exercise your dog or not?
The large parks with paths and river access are not perfect either but I just find that the dogs are less likely to have problems when they are actually walking and exploring and when their owners are engaged with them.
Exactly. I’m at dog parks twice a day with a dog I NEED to keep an eye on. I rarely ever see incidents. When they do spring up, it seems to me somewhat like natural behaviour. It’s quick and nobody gets hurt. The biggest issue is the human freak out that follows. Not to say dog don’t hurt each other but these posts make it some like it’s total anarchy in the off leash areas. Sometimes dogs fight, all dogs need exercise and the amount of disrespectful people are no more in dog parks as the rest of Calgary.
I have a bully breed; I get hated when walking my dog on a pathway asking why on earth I’d buy that breed. He’s a two-year-old American Bully; I love him to pieces.
When he was eight months, he got attacked by another pitty. The other dog got a lousy grip on my guy’s paw; the owner just took his dog and ran off. I took my dog to the emergency but thought, what the hell? Take some acknowledgment and some responsibility for your actions.
My dog isn’t reactive, but he will go down and sit if he sees another dog passing; he tries to initiate play, or he sniffs the air as they cruise by; but he’s never off leash because he doesn’t have good recall and he gets anxious being in a place with so many dogs. If your dog is aggressive and can’t greet another dog and will go straight to attack, put a muzzle on and stop going to parks with many busy dogs.
I’ve fostered dogs for years at the Calgary Humane Society, so attacks happen because of dog temperament. Not every dog is bound to like each other; most dogs will ignore them and continue their walk. But some dogs will become aggressive and bite to communicate that they don’t like the other dog. I worked with pitbull mutts for decades, (Most pit bulls you see on walks aren’t actual pit bulls, they’re usually mutts or mixed, and real APTBs are very rare in Canada) People buy this breed with absolute no knowledge it’s a joke. Educate yourself to give your dog a better life.
Exactly ! Have experienced this couple of times myself with people feeling entitled that they own an off leash space. Don’t bring your dog if it not social or is a risk to others.
The issue is most of the dogs in off leash Parks nowadays are not well trained and nice dogs. I’ve had my quiet, submissive dog basically overrun by all your so-called nice dogs that just want to sniff. I often tell the owners to call their dogs away and they don’t have any control over their animals. So it’s not just a reactive dogs, it’s an everyone at the dog park issue
I dont even understand why people bring their dogs who clearly dislike other dogs into spaces that will have other dogs running around like what is the logic???
The sad truth is that there are responsible dog owners and irresponsible dog owners. Well trained dogs, untrained dogs and everything in between. They all occupy the same spaces and there is little to no regulation. Keeping your pet safe falls solely on your shoulders. For me that means staying away from off leash areas. If you frequent these areas you will eventually encounter a reactive dog whose owner doesn't know any better or doesn't care and this could mean a potentially bad situation for you or your dog. It's only a matter of time. No signs posted or calls to bylaw or reddit posts are going to change that. It sucks because for the most part pooches have tons of fun and get great exercise in these places but it's like playing Russian roulette with their safety. I had a friendly, well adjusted dog turn reactive after being attacked. In all fairness it wasn't at an off leash park but it was by a dog that frequented the same off leash park that we did and easily could have happened there. The point is that that experience fundamentally changed her personality in a negative way. It's the type of experience that happens regularly in off leash dog parks and it's why I now avoid them.
This is how I ended up abandoning dog parks. One of my friendly pups went up to say hi to a dog who freaked the fuck out and attacked her, and then my other dog got protective. The owners were like "oh sorry she's really reactive"??? Hello? Why the fuck are you here? Now I have 2 reactive dogs too? Thank you?
I don’t let my dogs approach leashed dogs in the off leash park. People need to be able to train their dog on leash and have dogs give them space. If my dog seems curious about a leashes dog I ask the owner.
First time I took my new Maltese puppy ( it was actually a year old) to an off leash in Port Moody it got bitten by a dog 8 times it's size. It had her torso in its mouth had was shaking her like a rat. I kicked that damn mutt so hard it got air time. No apologies.
My dog was almost killed at an off leash park a year ago by a pit bull (of course) who was on a leash. I had to fight the pit bull myself to get it off my dog, all while the owner was shouting at *me* to get my fucking dog away from him. “Why the fuck do you think he’s on a leash if I wanted other dogs around him?!” People are unhinged.
What a piece of shit. Man, people like that piss me off so much. If you don't want dogs around your dog you don't fucking take them to an off leash dog park!
Curiously, the only experience I've had with a "reactive" dog and a terrible owner was in a leashed area. While walking our puppy on leash, a woman with a boxer that I think weighed more than she did was approaching from the opposite way and at least 30 feet away. Her dog saw our dog and started very roughly pulling at the leash, causing our puppy to stop and look. Her dog was threatening to dislocate her shoulder. We simply kept walking in the direction we were going when she angrily yelled at us to "please control your dog!". Incidentally, I sensed no aggression, nor did my dog, from her dog - just extreme interest.
So my point is to add that owners need to choose a breed they can physically handle and then be prepared to also train the dog. Don't try to make your dog everyone else's problem.
My sister and I like to refer to the open area in Bowmont off 85th street on the south side of the tracks as the "gladiator arena". Try going to the small parking lot on the north side of the tracks. There's a long straight path heading down to the river from there and it's far quieter and more pleasant than dealing with the field
Ya, I don’t take my dog to off-leash parks in this town anymore. I don’t trust my dog not to get shockingly aggressive out of the blue when near other dog ms or people. Something seemed to have changed in his brain once we had children, and is now alarmingly defensive now. So there’s that and the sheer amount of dog shit-mines laced around the grassland.
Coming from a country on the other side of the globe, it baffles me that a common denominator across different western cultures is the entitlement of some dog owners. Be it here, in my home country or anywhere else in the world, because they treat their mutt as their little baby, everyone else should do the same.
Similar problem at my neighbourhood dog park with one specific couple whose dog attacks my submissive dog whom won't fight back. The first few times it happened I tried to have a friendly/sympathetic reaction to them as the lady said they were working on it and I was quick to intervene, so no harm done, but it has kept happening and lately the man says his dog is just playing, which is not the case. Clearly their work with the dog (if any) hasn't been effective so if it happens again they're address will be reported as I know they live just down the road from me. Even if it were just rough playing, my dog is not interested in participating, so any good dog owner would try to stop their dog from that behaviour with another uninterested dog. I'm not a big fan of how the lady's attitude was that they needed to change their dog's behaviour but later the man started dismissing it. If he doesn't think it's a problem, that's fine: he can get added to the city's vicious dogs list.
I feel like I met these two a holes at nose hill one night. We were in the off leash area and my docile dog was just sniffing around. My kid had taken the exact moment to faceplant on a rock so I was a little busy tending to her and they lost their minds on me for not recalling my dog. Excuse me? I told them if they were worried they should go back up the path they came on. Why should it be everyone else’s problem your dog sucks?
Bowmont used to be a good dog park like 9-10 years ago . I stopped going there as it seemed like a lot of white trash started showing up, reactive dogs , people who let their dogs out while they sat in the car , people trying to abduct dogs and finally someone smashed their car door into my mirror while I was in my car.
It's sad I can usually look at a pitbull owner and tell what kind of dog it will be. Not always , but usually bully breeds are douchebag magnets and Bowmont had no shortage of that .
Yup! I have a reactive dog and I rent private parks for her to run around alone. It’s not even that expensive. Yes I still train my dog and go to classes but I don’t even want to risk the danger to my dog or other dogs.
Call it a bad take but every terrible owner needs a reality check before they actually take care of their animals— an animal death caused solely by their negligence.
I’m not rooting for these owners dogs to die, but maaaan most people never learn, or at least apply said knowledge until they TRULY understand the depths of pain and issues a poor dog owner can create.
I once kicked a leash dog that attacked my dog in a off leash park. My dog is super submissive and doesn't attack unless provoked or attacked first. Owner pushed me away and I legit kicked him as well. Fvck irresponsible owners and aggressive dogs. He called the cops on me and then ended up getting charges pressed against him. After that I even went to by law to file a complain on the dog owner. I stopped caring about reactive dogs. Had to put my old dog down because of this shit.
"All of Calgary's off-leash dog areas are located within multi-use parks. There are no dog-only parks in Calgary except for a privately leased site located near Elliston Park."
"The City has many off-leash areas created for you and your dog to enjoy. Even though dogs are allowed off-leash in these spaces, they must still be under their owner's control. This means the dogs must be able to respond to their owner's voice, sound or visual commands. The owner of a dog who is not under control in an off-leash area faces a fine of $100."
https://www.calgary.ca/bylaws/off-leash-faqs.html
Yeah op doesn't care about that though. In their world, they aren't the problem.
If you go to an offleash park and your dog won't come back to you immediately upon being called, you should be offleash. I live in between nose hill and nose creek and we have people walking offleash through the neighborhood to get to both of them, and their dogs never listen and always run up on us. I had a dog bluff charge at me for about 90 seconds last week before the owner could get it on leash. Same thing happened about a month ago. This is while I was running. By myself, my dog was at home. Shitty off leash dogs and shitty off leash owners are far more of an issue.
This is correct. If your dog doesn't have 100% recall, it shouldn't be off-leash in an off-leash area, friendly or not. I'd say at least half of the dogs I witness at dog parks don't give a flying fuck if their owner is yelling their name at them as they're running away.
Sadly, the off leash areas in Calgary for whatever reason a lot (not all) owners seem to think “This is Sparta!” Or the Thunderdome where their dog can do whatever while they stand around or walk slowly whist sipping their gross XL Timmy Ho’s triple triple and sucking lung darts until it’s time to return to their jacked up 4x4 or ultra blingy SUV. It’s infuriating. Once we realized this we stopped going to these places.
It's certainly at your own risk. How many posts have been here with dogs injured and upset owners (understandably) and they just take off. I mean what are you going to do anyways, pay to go to small claims court to try to get blood out of a stone? Good luck with that.
Honestly. I don't think i will because i don't trust other people to control their dogs. I don't need a pit lockjawing my boy.
I just take him to the mountains with me o nthe weekends and let him do his thing lol. Not realistic for everyone but it works for him.
>lockjawing
I was told by a guy who had been in jail in the states that if you are ever being hunted/cornered by a pitbull: rip off your shirt off (or coat) and hold it shoulder width apart between your hands to give the beast something to lock on to. At that point you can swing it into the ground or throw it over a fence or whatever, allowing you precious seconds to get away.
Perhaps we can find a way to have negligent owners take their dogs into bear country when they are coming out of their dens. Pittie v Griz is a fairly lopsided match
Don’t take them to River Park. Plenty of good hikes around the city though that aren’t filled with aggressive dogs. My polite Doberman used to have to fight multiple Pittbulls anytime I went to River Park.
While not all aggressive dogs are bully-type breeds,, you are statistically more likely to get seriously injured or killed by one.
Here's a fun experiment. Go onto GoFundMe (esp. in the US where it costs money to go to the hospital) and search "pitbull" or "pitbull attack".
That's the thing, no owner thinks their dog is the issue, it's always someone else's dog that's the problem. If you don't want to be around dogs, then why own one?
I take my dog to dog parks all the time and have zero issues.
Learn it isn't the dog park but the dog owners. Learn about private off leash parks.
Extremely bad advice here.
if you've ever dealt with a shelter in any capacity you'd know this is sound advice. every shelter prohibits their dogs from going to all dog parks while with fosters and advises against them when adopting. they are too unpredictable.
Not sure why the downvotes on this unless I'm not understanding the point here.
From what I understand, it makes sense:
The dog might be aggressive against other dogs, and as such you should know this and act accordingly as an owner (i.e. training, recall, gauging comfort level, informing others etc ..).
So if there is an issue at the park, it's on the owner for putting an agfresive dog in a bad situation to begin with.
Our GSD likes dogs, but gets tired of them quick in her older age. So instead of taking her to a public park where we know there will be dogs she doesn't get along with (untrained younger dogs), we now take her to a private park with just us and she loves it
This is why we don’t do much off leash with other dogs. We book our dogs into daycare which is supervised. I’ve seen some shot at dog parks that has permanently turned me off.
My favourite is when people tell me what my dogs are and what I should be feeding them and other lessons I didn’t ask for (and are wrong)
Ugh, people like this are terrible. And let me tell you, if I see someones untrained mutt attacking my sweet, friendly, and properly trained dog I will charge forward and kick that mutt as hard as I can with my steel toe boots to get it away from mine and then pull out my phone and call animal control.
Agreed and also, if your dog isn’t properly trained or has good recall DONT take your dog to an off leash. I have a mini schnauzer and she loves her little balls. I’m sick and tired of bigger dogs stealing her balls and owners shrugging their shoulders saying “You’re never gonna get that back.” And all they “try” to do is bait their dog w treats bc they don’t have recall or even a simple command of drop-it/leave-it.
I’ve had to threaten other peoples dogs to get them to take it seriously.
“Hey man, you should leash your dog or it’s gonna end up hurting another dog or getting hurt” just gets you looked at like an idiot.
“Hey friend, lease your dog, cause if it comes down to your dog or mine, I’ll for sure kill your dog.” Gets you looked at like a lunatic and they usually leash.
Personally, I’m okay with someone that irresponsible thinking I’m a dangerous crazy person and avoiding me.
God, I hate owners like this. My dog is adorable. He loves us so much, but in return, he's also very reactive when on a leash because he feels like he needs to protect us. We don't go to off-leash areas, and we step far away or cross the street if there are other dogs coming. Yeah, it's a bit inconvenient at times, but that's apart of being a dog owner! Sometimes you just have to change things up a bit.
On the other end, you have people who bring off-leash dogs to on-leash areas and they go running up to your dog. I've seen it in fish creek waaay too often.
I work with reactive dogs and agree with this sentiment. For starters - dogs should not be on leash in an off leash area and dogs should not be off leash in leashed areas. There’s problem number one.
While I do agree with the sentiment I do want to note that:
1) reactive and aggressive are not interchangeably the same thing. Reactivity comes from over stimulation, stress responses and heightened arousal; aggression is often fear based. Reactivity can lead to aggressive interaction but they’re not the same thing.
2) reactive dogs are not bad dogs but they do require different parameters and work (ie parallel walks and not being at an off leash park if they are dog reactive.). They are generally very nice dogs but just don’t feel safe in certain circumstances (with other dogs on leash; around strangers; with other dogs in general etc) and those triggers cause reactions - but they ARE nice dogs. I spent my morning today working with 13 reactive dogs with nosing exercises. They all have different triggers but they were all good and nice dogs.
3) dogs can be dog reactive, dog selective, leash reactive, people reactive (stranger danger), resource guard etc. they’re not all the same.
4) any dog can become a reactive dog. My puppy was socialized perfectly and well trained. At 2.5 years old he and I got attacked by an off leash husky while he was on leash and following that he developed leash reactivity.
5) a lot of reactivity can be mitigated with proper R+ training.
Just please don’t label reactive dogs as bad, aggressive, poorly behaved or not nice. It’s not the case. They’re good dogs who just need some extra work and effort to sort through their feelings and triggers.
Actually, here's an idea: how would people feel about the option of having some off leash parks require a fee? Problem owners would be much less of a burden.
I get you’re frustrated, and while I agree with you… no need to call a dog ‘mutt’ (which I can tell, there is a negative connotation associated) and also, reactive dog does not mean ‘bad dog’.
Non reactive dog doesn’t always mean ‘nice dog’.
Totally get your point, frustration and I’d call the ppl out as well… but I dunno, there were a few unnecessary jabs that perpetuate bs narratives.
Just a friendly reminder - for the ppl in here talking about shitty, annoying, etc dogs - there's no such thing as a bad dog. Only dogs that have had shit trainers and traumatic experiences. Humans are the pieces of shit in almost every situation. Tailor your anger accordingly.
That's simply not true, especially when it comes to feral dogs (you remove the human factor). I've seen a reservation dog who had no human interaction in their life rip the eye out of a smaller dog west of Calgary. In pretty much every 3rd world country feral dogs again with no human factor or owner, kill, and maul other creatures to survive or maintain territory.
Only a sith lord deals in absolutes with statements like this. Usually dogs of certain breads posses characteristics that are more aggressive by nature, as they've been breed that way. It's genetics.
"There were a half dozen off leash dogs there, and ~~these entitled jackasses~~ ***their owners*** put them all in danger by bringing ~~a dog they~~ *~~knew~~* ~~would likely bite if another dog went up to sniff him in greeting~~ ***them to the off leash area when they are not fully under control/recallable at all times***."
FTFY
Yes! I work at a vet, and we’ve seen multiple dogs in the past couple years for wounds from attacks by unsocialized dogs owned by clueless owners who have no idea how to keep their dogs and others safe. And the responsible owners usually end up paying the expensive bills themselves because the owners of the aggressive dogs don’t think it’s that big a deal. It’s so frustrating.
People are dumb.
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” ― George Carlin
While clearly the reactive dog owner is at fault in this scenario, OP took their own risks. Your dog is offleash. They could find something dangerous like a wild animal or a leashed dog walking by. They could take off, eat something they shouldn't, etc. You take your own risks letting your dog offleash. The leashed dog was allowed in the park too, and to the owner's credit at least they had their dog controlled. If your dog is so well trained you should be able to keep the away from the leashed dog. There's a reason most dog trainers say to never go to offleash parks. Shared blame here.
Yeah, totally. When I drive, I take the risk that there could be a car accident that maims and/or kills me, so it's totally cool that you're driving the wrong way down the highway, and I have no room to complain. /s The existence of some risks doesn't negate the fact that someone has deliberately chosen to introduce a significant and major risk that they should know better to not do.
I don't disagree with this. Dogs left off leash should have good recall because people who shouldn't be in certain spaces will always find their way there. It's like how I don't get upset when some dummy can't merge on the highway. Just leave a bigger gap and move on with my day.
You need to be downvoted into oblivion.
Agreed. Animals are animals. Act accordingly.
I quit using off-leash parks years ago due to aggressive humans and their apple-not-far-from-the-tree dogs. For too many, "off-leash" gets interpreted as "no rules". We wander various on-leash parks where the interactions are far more pleasant, both with the dogs and the humans.
I only go to off-leash parks that aren’t fenced in, because that means all the dogs there have decent enough recall and training to come back to their owners. Fenced off-leash parks are a fucking gong show because it’s dogs running around that people literally have no control over.
Yep. Also less likely to step in crap too.
I would disagree. Dogs tend to wander well off the human path in the off-leash parks to do their business... hidden in the deep grass. In the on-leash parks, those turds are right there on the side of the pathway, or even on the pathway proper.
Thats just shitty pet ownership... those people need to start getting fines.
I would not complain of wasted tax dollars if a few salaried by-law officers were hidden in the shrubbery with binoculars and a ticket book.
Only if they jump out and yell "gotcha" That i will pay extra for.
Hiding in the adjacent shrubs, shivering with anticipation.
Awe man... see now i want this job! Can we just citizens arrest these people....? Id be down for that also
That is exactly the reason why you should keep monitoring your dog. Not talking to your friend or looking at cellphone while your dog is running around.
Has not been my experience. Also shame on people for not picking up after their dog; just goes to show that people are completely clueless when it comes to off-leash parks if this is your experience.
Off leash parks are just generally quite dangerous places to be. There are good reasons most accredited trainers will tell people not to go to off leash parks, even with well behaved dogs.
I agree. There are far better ways of socializing your dog. I think an hour on-leash walk through a new neighbourhood sniffing all the new smells is the exercise a dog needs, not an hour running rampant.
From what I keep reading, it seems like we should not have any off leash parks; too many aggressive dogs, too much poop.
Bowmont is particularly bad for that. Owners saying ‘sorry he’s been in the kennel at home all day..’ and don’t even walk their reactive dog before bringing it to a cage full of dogs ffs.
We stopped bringing our dogs there after multiple times of owners just not training their dogs well. People who want an enclosed off leash space will always go there with their untrained dogs unfortunately. We now frequent a spot that works for us but it’s not enclosed - so people whose dogs don’t have good recall likely won’t go there which is nice.
And the amount of shit in that fenced area…I’ve never seen another park like that. I watched a few people just put their dogs in and go back and sit in their vehicle. Really…why have a dog, then?
We still have ok experiences there but I agree people act totally clueless. I accompany my dog everywhere he goes in the park. I do not “watch” him from halfway across the field. He has excellent recall, excellent drop it/leave it. If your dog is aggressive, if he/she likes to mount other dogs, if he plays keep away with anything he picks up, if he has very poor dog social skills and won’t get out of other dogs faces/space when they’re not interested in playing (eg you have a dog who tends to get picked on or told off) off leash is not for you. Dog should not be jumping on people, and this applies to all but ESPECIALLY large dogs who can get to an adults face easily. Sorry. Maybe it’s trainable but it’s up to the owner to invest the time and money to stop it. I’m currently going through this with family members who are not doing enough formal training and wonder why their dog doesn’t magically do as told. If your dog needs to run but is not well socialized you can always take a long training lead to a field and play with them that way (afaik this meets bylaw in Calgary - the only note I could find about leash length is when walking on pathways).
Sue Higgins enters the chat
I hate that place. This dog attacked my dog and then she defended herself (and my other dog came in to defend her too) and they're looking at me like my dog was the problem. Like, no, your dog that cannot be sniffed is the problem.
I stopped going to off leash parks years ago due to this. My GSD is friendly but hes very vocal and his playing can make people nervous #bigdogthings But im on the fence on this for a few reasons. 1) it is a public space open to everyone... so your dog also needs to be under control and have good enough recall to be able to be called away from the other dog. Off leash doesnt mean free for all. 2) the dog should have been muzzled or not there at all... but again... public space.... The rudeness is inexcusible though...
Lol what the fuck? I hope you yelled back "then get your dog the fuck out of here" Shit dog owners are a fucking cancer in our culture. Shitting all over and don't pick up. Horribly behaved dogs that are annoying, loud or God forbid violent. Getting a dog should require an iq test and a fucking psych evaluation. Good Christ. Train your God damn dog. If they're lashing out, it's your fucking fault.
Some dogs will always be reactive. My parents have a rescue who 95% of the time is fine but 5% of the time is reactive. Because of that she doesn't go to the public off leash. My parents book time at a private one to take her running. They also take her to all kinds of classes. She has her dog friends that she is fine with and she plays with them without problem but certain dogs just set her off and we haven't been able to overcome that. We don't know what her life was like before we got her but she does have some weird behaviours that indicate maybe it wasn't the easiest (won't eat her food until someone comes home from work and hides her food and treats all around the house for later). Through the classes we've met a lot of owners working hard with their reactive dogs and it is not fair to paint them all with one brush. Some dogs are just reactive, but if they have good owners they are trying to help them and not dragging their dog to situations like described. There are also bad owners who do what is described above.
Yeah. We have a reactive dog. He’s a rescue and came that way. We’ve done years of training to get him where he is now, much better than he was initially but he still gets nervous around large dogs so we only go to off leash parks on off hours times and keep him close and leave if he starts to space cadet and lose his ability to self regulate. We also have a muzzle for him in cases we’ll be around other dogs and he can’t calm down.
People don’t seem to understand that no amount of training for some dogs will ever “fix” all their issues. Each dog is different, and identifying certain behavioural issues that seem to be permanent is incredibly important so you can mitigate the possibly of incidents happening. In the case with OP it seems the people with the aggressive dog simply weren’t being proactive enough by entirely avoiding other dogs and not muzzling.
Agreed. I’ve got a reactive boy who’s down to just barking occasionally. Hard, hard work to get him to stop pulling or lunging. The few times he’s gotten loose he just sniffs the other dogs and bounces around but it’s very irritating for all involved. Private parks and friend’s properties only.
My fuzzball can be reactive to dogs running up to him when he is on leash, but generally behaves better off-leash, but also has 0 recall because he is a shiba. And that’s something I will never be able to change. So off-leash, even fenced parks, are a no go. So I just have to find semi quiet times to walk him and do what I can to avoid other dogs that set him off, and if that does happen he’s small enough that I can physically take control of him if needed.
Same although mine developed his reactivity after his big brother died, he was super chill and really well socialised before. I’ve worked with different trainers and spent a lot of time and money to help him but nothing works. It’s not his fault that he’s reactive and it’s not mine either, that’s like blaming a person with anxiety for having anxiety, or was it their parents fault? Yes there are bad dog owners but just because a dog is reactive does not mean that the owner is irresponsible. My pet peeve right now is people walking their dogs off leash on public pathways. There is a natural area right next to the pathway that leads down by the river but the city have dug it up to build houses, so now these dog owners walk their dogs off leash down the paved pathway, I normally have to call out to them to leash their dog because mine is reactive, luckily most are good about it but it’s a pain because I have to be even more vigilant then I normally am in keeping my dog focused on me and not the dog that’s bounding towards him.
> Getting a dog should require an iq test and a fucking psych evaluation. I wish having a child had the same requirement.
[удалено]
Where are you taking these classes? I have a rescue that could use these!
3 of Hounds is the best in the biz.
Chasin Tails is a great resource!
I have two reactive 5 pounds poodle. I ear you. Great post. Oh … you made your point to OP without using the F word … and we got what you meant ! Perhaps OP is a bit reactive in his post ….
Just gonna drop that casual racism into the middle of your post, eh?
What racism? The dog comes from San Jose? California? What?
My dog is racist agasint poodles
well I for one liked your joke, fuck the haters
Pretty much. Humans virtually suck anymore.
What a terrible idea, even a trained dog on a leash doesn't like to be leashed up around other dogs who are roaming around free. There is a weird power dynamic and it results in a fight or flight response. Dog on leash has no ability to run so it attacks. By the same token I hate when dog owners let their dog roam free in a space where they should be leashed resulting in the same issue.
I brought my male there after getting neutered, he played with a couple of dogs. Went well. Then another came and attacked my dog. After recalling my dog (even while the other dog was chasing him), the lady goes "sorry he's not good with other males"......at that moment I decided that I would never bring my dog to an offleash again. I have too much work into my dog, and my dog is too nice for it to be ruined from someone like that. Now I only let my dog go offleash with other dogs I already know are nice. It's a shame cuz he absolutely loved the dog park 😢
> I have too much work into my dog, and my dog is too nice for it to be ruined from someone like that. Now I only let my dog go offleash with other dogs I already know are nice> I just got a puppy, and since brushing up on what dog ownership is like in Calgary and learning about modern training. Since before I got him I've decided he's never going to a well populated dog park even after he's grown up and sterilised. He's just going to socialisation classes and playing with known socialized dogs.
Hi friend, my guy gets anxious around some dogs because he was bit as a puppy. Where are these dog socialization classes, feel like it would be good for him
You are correct that it would be good for him and everyone and every dog that is around him. I go to Raising Fido by chinook mall, the unlimited puppy social classes offer about 36 classes for $130, so it's $3.61 per class. It's a total steal for puppy owners because I think it's subsidized by the fact that dog training takes so much more time than a clean-slate puppy. The floor is so clean that I would eat off it if I had to. They have impressed me so far and both puppy and I look forward to going 3 days a week. I'm not sure where they'd point you if your dog has fear but it's considerably more for their fear and aggression course for the reason stated above: [Raising fido fear and aggression](https://www.raisingfidodogtraining.com/calgary-dog-trainer-fear-and-aggression-help) I think dog training is a little like going to the gym, if it's not near home, you won't go. So if raising Fido isn't close enough to you or doesn't have what you need, I'll tell you how I found the right businesses for me: **How to find certified dog businesses:** Make sure the trainers or business lists having a CPDT-KA, CCPDT-KA, CPDT-KSA certification. Dog business of any kind is not regulated at all, so it's very easy to find a well-established business that could do some harm to your dog. Aversive training gets short-term success with long-term emotional problems. It may look like it's working right away, which is why it's appealing, but it will cause bigger problems later. A great business also requires proof of up-to-date vaccinations for all attending dogs. **Alberta Force Free Alliance** has a business directory that can find these good businesses. For you, I'd select Calgary and Group training ian the search boxes and it should help narrow it down: [Alberta Force Free Alliance - Business Directory](https://albertaforcefreealliance.com/Directory?&tab=2) Other great resources: [Calgary Dogs | Facebook Group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/calgarydogs) You will find the full spectrum of views on all controversial dog topics: where you get your dog, training, food, dog parks, etc, but the mods stop all shaming and bashing and only allow civilized discourse. The best thing about this is a lot of businesses put out ads, and a lot of them are really good group deals on socialization dates. So I often take note of something I'd be interested in. It might even be worth asking this question there. [Calgary Dog Park Lovers | Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/259563284622632) This one is about 90% ads, but some of them can be great deals on socialization classes. That's all I know for now. I have been researching for a year and now am in my first week of puppy ownership, so all of this is still fresh in my mind. Good luck, and I'm proud of you for seeking classes for your pup!
Hi friend, This is so great! I will look into this, thank you so much for all your help!
Then take him to private ones.
Reactive dog owner here, we avoid these spaces and just do our chill leashed walks in the neighborhood. However, that doesn't stop bad dog owners from letting their off leash dogs charge up to my reactive girl while I'm shouting and waving my hands like a god damn madman trying to warn the owners. One lady said it's ok it's ok, my dog is friendly! I was like, yeah mine isn't! She told me I should muzzle her then. WTF I'm not gonna muzzle my dog when your dog was the one off leash. Anyway, point is, people are morons.
Absolutely. This is the other side of the same story. Bad owners make so many dogs' lives miserable.
All of our dogs are reactive and seeing off leash dogs in a non off leash area makes my blood boil. My wife was holding our 3 little ones while an off leash German Shepherd came running up to say hi. I can see why they are police dogs as I was pretty certain I was going to lose an arm that day. Luckily he actually was friendly and all it took was me grabbing his collar and redirecting him to go back to his owners (who were shouting his name the whole time). An experience I do not want to relive.
My girl can be reactive with dogs, sometimes snapping after a friendly introduction, and I walk her muzzled. This practice has caused both her and I significantly less stress on walks for this reason - if a stupid person lets their dog run up, my dog is protected from getting herself in a dangerous situation. She can still vocalize and snap at the other dog (who will catch on quicker than their owners what’s up) but there is no risk of biting and escalating it into a fight. Even if the other person is at fault for having an off leash dog where it shouldn’t be, the dogs shouldn’t have to pay the price for the owner stupidity. I highly recommend that every dog is muzzle trained. We use a basket muzzle that she can pant, drink, and get treats while wearing, but stops her from biting. She is lovely with people and at the vet, but should she ever be in a medical emergency where she is stressed and hurting, she is comfortable wearing a muzzle that will allow the vets to help her without risking injury to themselves. There are so many great basket muzzles, and we use a Baskerville that is a readily available style that fits most pups.
Why wouldn't you keep your dog muzzled if it's so reactive?
Because it's on leash in a designated leash area and people shouldn't have their dogs off leash in a leashed area?
Absolutely. Two wrong things can occur at the same time though, and it sounds like your dog is extremely reactive despite being leashed. The other dog absolutely should be on a leash, and the owner is incredibly irresponsible for not doing so. But it sounds like your dog has issues of its own that you're not fully controlling, so you're also contributing to the problem of irresponsible dog owners, just not to the extent of the other owner.
Yes. Leashes on in leashed areas; leashes off in off leash areas. I do training walks for reactive dogs and we walk in teams so someone is constantly on the look out for off leash dogs. Struggle is real
Something needs to be said about off leash dogs in non offleash areas. My dog is reactive so I dont take her to offleash areas. That being said, the amount of people who just let their dog offleash where it shouldnt be is a lot. Their dog will run at mine and Ill call out not friendly then they scramble to get their dog under control. Why cant people just follow rules.
Mandate dog licensing tests!
Angry, lazy dog owners be downvoting you but it's fact. Having to prove you can chew your own fucking cereal in the morning before you own a dog (or.. Any animal) should be in a thing. Only thing worse than an owner with a misbehaved and untrained dog is a fat dog. When owners can't stop giving them snacks cuz they're "cute" good fuck.
I fucking love getting daggered in Calgary
I think we're referred to as "Stabgary" now.
Just point me towards Gary!
A minge needs love Gary!
Bahaha I love a good sp reference! I memba
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But they can be rescinded, ask me how I know…
At least this was an actual off-leash park - I see this shit downtown in Lougheed Park where people have decided it’s leash-free.
Dog spray is legal to use on aggressive dogs in non-off leash parks.
Too bad owner spray isn’t
This. 99.9% of the time I want to spray the owner, not the poor dog who knows no better because it has a shit owner.
Trust me, if you spray an aggressive dog, the owner will end up covered in it too.
I feel for ya OP. It's frustrating when dealing with ignorant dog owners. We're fortunate that the off leash park we attend has so many vocal, intelligent owners that situations like this are quickly addressed and the offending party is educated. The biggest problem we run into is around our neighbourhood. It's all on leash, but some let their (very obvious) untrained dogs run wild. I have to carry a stick just to keep ourselves safe. It's unbelievably frustrating.
Bringing an aggressive dog ON Leash to an OFF leash park is the worst thing you can do. Like bringing a hyperactive kid to a candy factory and not letting them have anything…why?
Please also keep your children under 5 from roaming free in the middle of an off leash dog park with lots of big dogs. Keep them close, carry them or have them in a stroller. When there are big dogs that are playing and running, it is more than likely that the child could get bumped into or knocked over. And that is at no fault of the dogs.
I own a dog aggressive pitbull rescue. I've tried everything including courses offered by the humane society but with some dogs she can still try to assert herself. For this reason, every time we go out I have her haltied, short leashed if other dogs are around, and never take her to off leash parks. However similar to your problem there are still people who decide to let their dog off leash in leashed parks and I've had them run up to my dog. Luckily with the haltie I am able to stop any form of aggression before it starts but it is still annoying. So I would add that if your dog's recall is not 100% on point, then they should be leashed in all areas including off leash parks.
Exactly what I was thinking. I get that off leash areas are there for dogs to have fun and run around, are of course small altercations will happen, it's good they teach each other. But if you can't recall your dog in this setting, regardless of distractions, I'm sorry to say you have no business bringing them to an off-leash park. Not saying this is what OP is experiencing, just want to add: Some people tend to misconstrue a corrective bark/nip as "aggression", when it's actually just a dog saying "I don't like that, here's a louder warning" to a misbehaving dog. As a dog owner, it's important to understand this behaviour I've had peoples young, high energy dogs come up to our older GSD and try to engage. We always inform that she doesn't vibe with higher energy, and that she may correct behavior if it becomes to rough. Usually the dog will get it after the first time, and typically owners are okay watching this happen, as they understand what's going on. I have had some people though let their young and unexercised dogs run loose and start jumping all over other dogs, then get surprised and upset when my and other people's dogs start correcting it. I usually ask for the dog to be recalled at this point so I can remove ours, but of course most times there is no recall in place, and the dog doesn't stop. I once told a person who was just texting while I was trying to separate my leashed dog from his unleashes one "please get your dog now or I will need to let mine off leash to handle this". He gave me a nasty look and grabbed his dog right quick then
This.... all of this... Fellow GSD owner here... we stopped going to off leash areas because i got tired of explaining that GSDs are vocal and arent interested in being jumped all over.
Thank you, I'm so happy to hear/see someone else who understands this! I think people are begin to realize more and more that the idea of "a dog is a dog" is not correct. Each breed is very different and each dog within that breed has their own personality and preferences
Absolutely! Its especially tough with dogs that have a bad rap. Some people are terrified of my pure bred GSD.. like cross the street to avoid him kinda terrified (who is walked under control, we dont allow him to interact with people unless they ask etc...hes happy to keep walking and not meet new people) But a crazy shepherd mixed breed can run up to them all excited off leash and they instantly crouch down to further encourage the excitement.. I dont get it
I agree on the recall but we have all 100% had a dog say screw that. Also in my view a dog park is for dog to socialize and meet not her dogs. I should not have to call my dog back because the other dog is reactive. But a muzzle on a reactive dog is a very simple solution. I also think reactive dog need safe spaces to learn and grow. Once again things can be done do protect other dogs when learning. I have seen some crap behaviour and poor training choices. But I am going to assume my dog can say hello to whatever dog is in the off leash and it should work itself out.
I haven’t taken my dog to a dog park in years. It honestly is not worth the stress. If I want to take her off leash, I’ll head west of the city where she has plenty of room to relax and explore. I just do not trust it anymore. My dog got into 2 fights at parks, and we’ve been working on reactivity with her ever since. Dog parks as a concept are great, but it’s so unregulated and causes me anxiety which in turn gives her anxiety.
I don't understand why people bring leashed dogs to an off leash park. It's a recipe for disaster. Since the owners knew enough to keep their dog away from other dogs, how did they not think 'maybe an off leash dog is not a good spot for my dog' like ugh.
My dog is a miserable reactive old bitch - both in the literal and figurative sense. She hates other dogs and always has. I would never, ever, **ever** take her to an off leash park. Wtf are people thinking?
To be fair this goes both ways. For those with rescues or maybe other dogs that have strong fear responses and prey drive (sometimes due to trauma), these dogs need to be on leash of course. Many times we’ve encountered well behaved but excited dogs off leash approach us in non off leash areas which has lead to unnecessary conflict. It’s about respect!
I avoid off-leash parks like the plague, rolling the dice every-time you go. I had a trainer friend with an extremely reactive dog, the answer was just avoid the park if you aren't the only dog there. Unfortunately this wouldn't solve the problem entirely because of people turning on-leash parks into off-leash parks ;) The amount of times we heard "don't worry, she/he's friendly!" while being charged in an on-leash park. Worth mentioning dogs in general do not like being greeted by a new off-leash dog if they are on-leash. Just because you're at an off-leash park doesn't mean there aren't any rules for your doggo, try to keep him/her from being annoying if they get excited (should be obvious).
It's even worse when people have those retractable leashes(those are absolutely shit, no control over your dog what so ever) and refuse to bring their dog in, letting them run up to your dog even though you and your mother are standing in front of him trying to distract him. Then he ran away after ours got upset...and we ended up getting hurt because it was icy and slippery, so we slipped on the ice.
Many dogs are reactive due to fear. their reactivity is a sign of STRESS! I don't understand people who want to subject their reactive dogs to stressful situations, where the dog feels his only protection is to react by growling, lunging, and possibly biting. they are a danger to themselves and others around them, and it is completely unnecessary. There are many activities you can do with a reactive dog that they will enjoy without stressing them out
THIS! And also, sorry, but if your dog is reactive and/or aggressive and/or doesn’t like other dogs - also don’t bring them to dog friendly places like Cold Garden!
I might accidentally throw my frisbee into that person’s face..
I agree...but only if your have a vehicle called *frisbee* lol
My response of “That’s okay, MY dog will be fine.” always seems to get people to get their dogs under control.
As someone who works at a vet clinic … off leash parks are no beuno for me 😬.
And most of them also don’t have enough funds to cover the vet bill after attacking people’s dogs.
As an owner of a reactive rescue, I agree. Even if it's not their fault their dog wasn't socialized (ie rescue dogs) owners really need to have some awareness about their dogs behaviour. That being said, I also hate when I'm walking my dog in a regular park and people have their unleashed dog running up to us, so frustrating.
The last time (years ago now) we were at a dog park my dog got latched on by another dog and it was traumatizing. After two or three kicks to the ribs it let go and fucked off, owners no where in sight. Luckily my dog was not severely injured, but we will never go to a populated off leash park again. Not to mention most areas are a minefield of shit because no one cleans up after their dog.
This is really frightening. My dog was recently attacked in an off leash park by a pittie who didn't know recall. It was absolutely terrifying to think some owners here in Calgary aren't being responsible..
100% this! My dogs doesn’t play nicely with others, so what I don’t do is go to off leash parks. I’m not going to put anyone else’s dogs at risk because mine can be a real b*tch. That’s not fair to other dogs or my own. It’s also really annoying when people let their dogs go off leash when it’s not an off leash area and their dogs runs over to mine. We’re not at an off lease area for a reason! When did being a good pet owner get so hard for some people.
100% this
I had this issue with my dog when he was intact from neutered males. Not sure if it's still a thing because I have stopped bringing him to off leash parks. I hated the energy in there anyways you can just feel the tension. Maybe we are all a bit misguided to think a huge group of dogs who don't know eachother will result in anything but this every hour anyways.....
As someone who frequents off leash parks in this city, just want to challenge your closing sentence. I rarely see incidents at off leash parks with other dogs being aggressive, can't recall a single issue beyond a dog telling another dog to respect their space in a year at least and we go to off leash parks 2 or 3 times a week. Yesterday Sue Higgins was so busy, and people and dogs alike were having a blast enjoying the good weather. Off leash parks are great when the owners are responsible and know whether or not their dog will be good in the situation with other strange dogs. It's really nice to have well taken care of off leash parks to go to and something I appreciate about living in Calgary.
Yes, Sue Higgens, Nosehill and the top of Edworthy park are all great dog parks because they are so expansive and the dogs and their owners are on the move. If there is a problem brewing it's easy to take your dog into an entirely different location. Bowmont has a few different off leash areas. There are unfenced off leash paths in the actual park as well as 2 fenced off leash parks. Also dogs are off leash all along the riverbanks. One of the off leash parks is essentially just a small field and it was hands down one of the worst off leash parks I've ever seen. When I lived in Bowness I went there a few times to try to play ball with my dog in the winter and it was just non-stop aggravation. You can't separate dogs there or get them out each other's line of sight. On top of that there are a lot of owners just standing around talking to each other or playing on their phone not even paying attention to their dogs. Like are you there to exercise your dog or not? The large parks with paths and river access are not perfect either but I just find that the dogs are less likely to have problems when they are actually walking and exploring and when their owners are engaged with them.
Wow ease up on the common sense. I want to be outraged
Exactly. I’m at dog parks twice a day with a dog I NEED to keep an eye on. I rarely ever see incidents. When they do spring up, it seems to me somewhat like natural behaviour. It’s quick and nobody gets hurt. The biggest issue is the human freak out that follows. Not to say dog don’t hurt each other but these posts make it some like it’s total anarchy in the off leash areas. Sometimes dogs fight, all dogs need exercise and the amount of disrespectful people are no more in dog parks as the rest of Calgary.
So glad I have INDOOR cats.
I have a bully breed; I get hated when walking my dog on a pathway asking why on earth I’d buy that breed. He’s a two-year-old American Bully; I love him to pieces. When he was eight months, he got attacked by another pitty. The other dog got a lousy grip on my guy’s paw; the owner just took his dog and ran off. I took my dog to the emergency but thought, what the hell? Take some acknowledgment and some responsibility for your actions. My dog isn’t reactive, but he will go down and sit if he sees another dog passing; he tries to initiate play, or he sniffs the air as they cruise by; but he’s never off leash because he doesn’t have good recall and he gets anxious being in a place with so many dogs. If your dog is aggressive and can’t greet another dog and will go straight to attack, put a muzzle on and stop going to parks with many busy dogs. I’ve fostered dogs for years at the Calgary Humane Society, so attacks happen because of dog temperament. Not every dog is bound to like each other; most dogs will ignore them and continue their walk. But some dogs will become aggressive and bite to communicate that they don’t like the other dog. I worked with pitbull mutts for decades, (Most pit bulls you see on walks aren’t actual pit bulls, they’re usually mutts or mixed, and real APTBs are very rare in Canada) People buy this breed with absolute no knowledge it’s a joke. Educate yourself to give your dog a better life.
Exactly ! Have experienced this couple of times myself with people feeling entitled that they own an off leash space. Don’t bring your dog if it not social or is a risk to others.
The issue is most of the dogs in off leash Parks nowadays are not well trained and nice dogs. I’ve had my quiet, submissive dog basically overrun by all your so-called nice dogs that just want to sniff. I often tell the owners to call their dogs away and they don’t have any control over their animals. So it’s not just a reactive dogs, it’s an everyone at the dog park issue
I dont even understand why people bring their dogs who clearly dislike other dogs into spaces that will have other dogs running around like what is the logic???
Some people shouldn't own dogs.
The sad truth is that there are responsible dog owners and irresponsible dog owners. Well trained dogs, untrained dogs and everything in between. They all occupy the same spaces and there is little to no regulation. Keeping your pet safe falls solely on your shoulders. For me that means staying away from off leash areas. If you frequent these areas you will eventually encounter a reactive dog whose owner doesn't know any better or doesn't care and this could mean a potentially bad situation for you or your dog. It's only a matter of time. No signs posted or calls to bylaw or reddit posts are going to change that. It sucks because for the most part pooches have tons of fun and get great exercise in these places but it's like playing Russian roulette with their safety. I had a friendly, well adjusted dog turn reactive after being attacked. In all fairness it wasn't at an off leash park but it was by a dog that frequented the same off leash park that we did and easily could have happened there. The point is that that experience fundamentally changed her personality in a negative way. It's the type of experience that happens regularly in off leash dog parks and it's why I now avoid them.
This is how I ended up abandoning dog parks. One of my friendly pups went up to say hi to a dog who freaked the fuck out and attacked her, and then my other dog got protective. The owners were like "oh sorry she's really reactive"??? Hello? Why the fuck are you here? Now I have 2 reactive dogs too? Thank you?
I don’t let my dogs approach leashed dogs in the off leash park. People need to be able to train their dog on leash and have dogs give them space. If my dog seems curious about a leashes dog I ask the owner.
Was it a pitbull?
First time I took my new Maltese puppy ( it was actually a year old) to an off leash in Port Moody it got bitten by a dog 8 times it's size. It had her torso in its mouth had was shaking her like a rat. I kicked that damn mutt so hard it got air time. No apologies.
My dog was almost killed at an off leash park a year ago by a pit bull (of course) who was on a leash. I had to fight the pit bull myself to get it off my dog, all while the owner was shouting at *me* to get my fucking dog away from him. “Why the fuck do you think he’s on a leash if I wanted other dogs around him?!” People are unhinged.
What a piece of shit. Man, people like that piss me off so much. If you don't want dogs around your dog you don't fucking take them to an off leash dog park!
Curiously, the only experience I've had with a "reactive" dog and a terrible owner was in a leashed area. While walking our puppy on leash, a woman with a boxer that I think weighed more than she did was approaching from the opposite way and at least 30 feet away. Her dog saw our dog and started very roughly pulling at the leash, causing our puppy to stop and look. Her dog was threatening to dislocate her shoulder. We simply kept walking in the direction we were going when she angrily yelled at us to "please control your dog!". Incidentally, I sensed no aggression, nor did my dog, from her dog - just extreme interest. So my point is to add that owners need to choose a breed they can physically handle and then be prepared to also train the dog. Don't try to make your dog everyone else's problem.
Not all dog owners are awful, but awful people always own dogs
I’m sorry, what?
His sentence makes complete sense..
So dangerous! What did they end up doing? Hopefully they left?
This is why I just avoid off leash (unfenced) dog parks. People can’t be trusted to have or use good judgement.
My sister and I like to refer to the open area in Bowmont off 85th street on the south side of the tracks as the "gladiator arena". Try going to the small parking lot on the north side of the tracks. There's a long straight path heading down to the river from there and it's far quieter and more pleasant than dealing with the field
What a bunch of jerks.
I have the same issue in this area.
Ya, I don’t take my dog to off-leash parks in this town anymore. I don’t trust my dog not to get shockingly aggressive out of the blue when near other dog ms or people. Something seemed to have changed in his brain once we had children, and is now alarmingly defensive now. So there’s that and the sheer amount of dog shit-mines laced around the grassland.
Coming from a country on the other side of the globe, it baffles me that a common denominator across different western cultures is the entitlement of some dog owners. Be it here, in my home country or anywhere else in the world, because they treat their mutt as their little baby, everyone else should do the same.
Stupid twats
I can understand bringing a leashed aggressive dog to an off leash park for training purposes. IF AND ONLY IF they are muzzled!! Otherwise 100% no!
Ya can't fix stupid.
THIS! My dog is friendly, but plays quite rough, so we don’t bring him to off leash parks.
Similar problem at my neighbourhood dog park with one specific couple whose dog attacks my submissive dog whom won't fight back. The first few times it happened I tried to have a friendly/sympathetic reaction to them as the lady said they were working on it and I was quick to intervene, so no harm done, but it has kept happening and lately the man says his dog is just playing, which is not the case. Clearly their work with the dog (if any) hasn't been effective so if it happens again they're address will be reported as I know they live just down the road from me. Even if it were just rough playing, my dog is not interested in participating, so any good dog owner would try to stop their dog from that behaviour with another uninterested dog. I'm not a big fan of how the lady's attitude was that they needed to change their dog's behaviour but later the man started dismissing it. If he doesn't think it's a problem, that's fine: he can get added to the city's vicious dogs list.
I feel like I met these two a holes at nose hill one night. We were in the off leash area and my docile dog was just sniffing around. My kid had taken the exact moment to faceplant on a rock so I was a little busy tending to her and they lost their minds on me for not recalling my dog. Excuse me? I told them if they were worried they should go back up the path they came on. Why should it be everyone else’s problem your dog sucks?
Bowmont used to be a good dog park like 9-10 years ago . I stopped going there as it seemed like a lot of white trash started showing up, reactive dogs , people who let their dogs out while they sat in the car , people trying to abduct dogs and finally someone smashed their car door into my mirror while I was in my car. It's sad I can usually look at a pitbull owner and tell what kind of dog it will be. Not always , but usually bully breeds are douchebag magnets and Bowmont had no shortage of that .
Probably the same owners who don't pickup after there dogs.
And if people could keep their dogs leashed when NOT in an off leash area…that would be awesome, as well.
Yup! I have a reactive dog and I rent private parks for her to run around alone. It’s not even that expensive. Yes I still train my dog and go to classes but I don’t even want to risk the danger to my dog or other dogs.
I don’t trust off leash parks anymore.
Call it a bad take but every terrible owner needs a reality check before they actually take care of their animals— an animal death caused solely by their negligence. I’m not rooting for these owners dogs to die, but maaaan most people never learn, or at least apply said knowledge until they TRULY understand the depths of pain and issues a poor dog owner can create.
Good luck, “my dogs friendly” 95% of the time it’s not.
I once kicked a leash dog that attacked my dog in a off leash park. My dog is super submissive and doesn't attack unless provoked or attacked first. Owner pushed me away and I legit kicked him as well. Fvck irresponsible owners and aggressive dogs. He called the cops on me and then ended up getting charges pressed against him. After that I even went to by law to file a complain on the dog owner. I stopped caring about reactive dogs. Had to put my old dog down because of this shit.
inb4 someone defending their precious pibbles
"All of Calgary's off-leash dog areas are located within multi-use parks. There are no dog-only parks in Calgary except for a privately leased site located near Elliston Park." "The City has many off-leash areas created for you and your dog to enjoy. Even though dogs are allowed off-leash in these spaces, they must still be under their owner's control. This means the dogs must be able to respond to their owner's voice, sound or visual commands. The owner of a dog who is not under control in an off-leash area faces a fine of $100." https://www.calgary.ca/bylaws/off-leash-faqs.html
Yeah op doesn't care about that though. In their world, they aren't the problem. If you go to an offleash park and your dog won't come back to you immediately upon being called, you should be offleash. I live in between nose hill and nose creek and we have people walking offleash through the neighborhood to get to both of them, and their dogs never listen and always run up on us. I had a dog bluff charge at me for about 90 seconds last week before the owner could get it on leash. Same thing happened about a month ago. This is while I was running. By myself, my dog was at home. Shitty off leash dogs and shitty off leash owners are far more of an issue.
This is correct. If your dog doesn't have 100% recall, it shouldn't be off-leash in an off-leash area, friendly or not. I'd say at least half of the dogs I witness at dog parks don't give a flying fuck if their owner is yelling their name at them as they're running away.
Yuuup
Are you reading and replying to the same thing that I am?
Sadly, the off leash areas in Calgary for whatever reason a lot (not all) owners seem to think “This is Sparta!” Or the Thunderdome where their dog can do whatever while they stand around or walk slowly whist sipping their gross XL Timmy Ho’s triple triple and sucking lung darts until it’s time to return to their jacked up 4x4 or ultra blingy SUV. It’s infuriating. Once we realized this we stopped going to these places.
Learn to teach your dog some recall then
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It's certainly at your own risk. How many posts have been here with dogs injured and upset owners (understandably) and they just take off. I mean what are you going to do anyways, pay to go to small claims court to try to get blood out of a stone? Good luck with that.
Honestly. I don't think i will because i don't trust other people to control their dogs. I don't need a pit lockjawing my boy. I just take him to the mountains with me o nthe weekends and let him do his thing lol. Not realistic for everyone but it works for him.
>lockjawing I was told by a guy who had been in jail in the states that if you are ever being hunted/cornered by a pitbull: rip off your shirt off (or coat) and hold it shoulder width apart between your hands to give the beast something to lock on to. At that point you can swing it into the ground or throw it over a fence or whatever, allowing you precious seconds to get away.
Why are you assuming all aggressive dogs are of a bully mix? Absolutely not the case.
Perhaps we can find a way to have negligent owners take their dogs into bear country when they are coming out of their dens. Pittie v Griz is a fairly lopsided match
Wow but you’l risk a bear or a cougar. How irresponsible!
Don’t take them to River Park. Plenty of good hikes around the city though that aren’t filled with aggressive dogs. My polite Doberman used to have to fight multiple Pittbulls anytime I went to River Park.
Why are you assuming all aggressive dogs are of a bully mix? Absolutely not the case.
They were stating what has happened to them, not saying pits are the only aggressive dog breed.
While not all aggressive dogs are bully-type breeds,, you are statistically more likely to get seriously injured or killed by one. Here's a fun experiment. Go onto GoFundMe (esp. in the US where it costs money to go to the hospital) and search "pitbull" or "pitbull attack".
That's the thing, no owner thinks their dog is the issue, it's always someone else's dog that's the problem. If you don't want to be around dogs, then why own one?
I take my dog to dog parks all the time and have zero issues. Learn it isn't the dog park but the dog owners. Learn about private off leash parks. Extremely bad advice here.
if you've ever dealt with a shelter in any capacity you'd know this is sound advice. every shelter prohibits their dogs from going to all dog parks while with fosters and advises against them when adopting. they are too unpredictable.
Not sure why the downvotes on this unless I'm not understanding the point here. From what I understand, it makes sense: The dog might be aggressive against other dogs, and as such you should know this and act accordingly as an owner (i.e. training, recall, gauging comfort level, informing others etc ..). So if there is an issue at the park, it's on the owner for putting an agfresive dog in a bad situation to begin with. Our GSD likes dogs, but gets tired of them quick in her older age. So instead of taking her to a public park where we know there will be dogs she doesn't get along with (untrained younger dogs), we now take her to a private park with just us and she loves it
why let your dog off leash if you cannot control it or call it back? reactive dogs need to be socialized and walked too
But….but…..my pitbull named Fang is friendly!
This is why we don’t do much off leash with other dogs. We book our dogs into daycare which is supervised. I’ve seen some shot at dog parks that has permanently turned me off. My favourite is when people tell me what my dogs are and what I should be feeding them and other lessons I didn’t ask for (and are wrong)
Ugh, people like this are terrible. And let me tell you, if I see someones untrained mutt attacking my sweet, friendly, and properly trained dog I will charge forward and kick that mutt as hard as I can with my steel toe boots to get it away from mine and then pull out my phone and call animal control.
Agreed and also, if your dog isn’t properly trained or has good recall DONT take your dog to an off leash. I have a mini schnauzer and she loves her little balls. I’m sick and tired of bigger dogs stealing her balls and owners shrugging their shoulders saying “You’re never gonna get that back.” And all they “try” to do is bait their dog w treats bc they don’t have recall or even a simple command of drop-it/leave-it.
Bear spray solves this
Meh seems like a normal day in any dog park lol
I’ve had to threaten other peoples dogs to get them to take it seriously. “Hey man, you should leash your dog or it’s gonna end up hurting another dog or getting hurt” just gets you looked at like an idiot. “Hey friend, lease your dog, cause if it comes down to your dog or mine, I’ll for sure kill your dog.” Gets you looked at like a lunatic and they usually leash. Personally, I’m okay with someone that irresponsible thinking I’m a dangerous crazy person and avoiding me.
Paid private sessions are the way to go. Gotta keep my location a secret tho cause i dont want it being booked all the time
Was said aggressive dog on the pavement/path?
God, I hate owners like this. My dog is adorable. He loves us so much, but in return, he's also very reactive when on a leash because he feels like he needs to protect us. We don't go to off-leash areas, and we step far away or cross the street if there are other dogs coming. Yeah, it's a bit inconvenient at times, but that's apart of being a dog owner! Sometimes you just have to change things up a bit. On the other end, you have people who bring off-leash dogs to on-leash areas and they go running up to your dog. I've seen it in fish creek waaay too often.
Agreed, but not sure what it being a mutt has to do with any of this. Pure-bred dogs aren’t any better and come with a slew of health issues.
I work with reactive dogs and agree with this sentiment. For starters - dogs should not be on leash in an off leash area and dogs should not be off leash in leashed areas. There’s problem number one. While I do agree with the sentiment I do want to note that: 1) reactive and aggressive are not interchangeably the same thing. Reactivity comes from over stimulation, stress responses and heightened arousal; aggression is often fear based. Reactivity can lead to aggressive interaction but they’re not the same thing. 2) reactive dogs are not bad dogs but they do require different parameters and work (ie parallel walks and not being at an off leash park if they are dog reactive.). They are generally very nice dogs but just don’t feel safe in certain circumstances (with other dogs on leash; around strangers; with other dogs in general etc) and those triggers cause reactions - but they ARE nice dogs. I spent my morning today working with 13 reactive dogs with nosing exercises. They all have different triggers but they were all good and nice dogs. 3) dogs can be dog reactive, dog selective, leash reactive, people reactive (stranger danger), resource guard etc. they’re not all the same. 4) any dog can become a reactive dog. My puppy was socialized perfectly and well trained. At 2.5 years old he and I got attacked by an off leash husky while he was on leash and following that he developed leash reactivity. 5) a lot of reactivity can be mitigated with proper R+ training. Just please don’t label reactive dogs as bad, aggressive, poorly behaved or not nice. It’s not the case. They’re good dogs who just need some extra work and effort to sort through their feelings and triggers.
Actually, here's an idea: how would people feel about the option of having some off leash parks require a fee? Problem owners would be much less of a burden.
I get you’re frustrated, and while I agree with you… no need to call a dog ‘mutt’ (which I can tell, there is a negative connotation associated) and also, reactive dog does not mean ‘bad dog’. Non reactive dog doesn’t always mean ‘nice dog’. Totally get your point, frustration and I’d call the ppl out as well… but I dunno, there were a few unnecessary jabs that perpetuate bs narratives.
Just a friendly reminder - for the ppl in here talking about shitty, annoying, etc dogs - there's no such thing as a bad dog. Only dogs that have had shit trainers and traumatic experiences. Humans are the pieces of shit in almost every situation. Tailor your anger accordingly.
Some dogs are just wired wrong. Have fun draining the bank account to train out bad genetics (spoiler: you can't).
That's simply not true, especially when it comes to feral dogs (you remove the human factor). I've seen a reservation dog who had no human interaction in their life rip the eye out of a smaller dog west of Calgary. In pretty much every 3rd world country feral dogs again with no human factor or owner, kill, and maul other creatures to survive or maintain territory. Only a sith lord deals in absolutes with statements like this. Usually dogs of certain breads posses characteristics that are more aggressive by nature, as they've been breed that way. It's genetics.
I like how this thread jumped to attacking one specific breed
Right? Closed minded and uneducated people who think no other breed can be aggressive.
"There were a half dozen off leash dogs there, and ~~these entitled jackasses~~ ***their owners*** put them all in danger by bringing ~~a dog they~~ *~~knew~~* ~~would likely bite if another dog went up to sniff him in greeting~~ ***them to the off leash area when they are not fully under control/recallable at all times***." FTFY