Today Uncle Stonnie talking about dog parks and how to guarantee positive training and socialization opportunities for your puppy!
00:00 Introduction
23:14 Research Is King
04:22 Get Up Early
05:45 Squad Up & Roll Deep
#dogtraining #puppy #dogtrainer
source
Are you a fan of my training style, but can’t travel to Kentucky to see me in person? No worries! I offer an awesome online dog training course, which includes access to an array of exclusive videos and content, personalized coaching, journaling, and in-depth mentoring and evaluation by yours truly! If you just need some an advice or have a couple questions you need answered, I also offer professional consulting by the hour.
Both of these great services can be found here: http://www.kentuckycanine.com
Thank you all for your remarkable support over the years! I cannot express enough how grateful I am for your appreciation and patronage of this channel, my training style, and my kennel. Always remember, it’s a great day for a puppy-sized adventure
Interesting video. My lab needs the dog park for fetching and doggie wrestling. Labs are a pack breed. However, I would add that learning to read canine body language and knowing the difference between play and real aggression is vital. Retrievers can play rough. Be wary of wannabe macho owners (might be friendly) who own mac. That dog was never seen again at the dog park. My dog learned to read dogs though. She now drags her dog mates away from dogs that she sees as trouble. LOL
I’m thinking about getting a golden tooth retriever for my family. Would you be able to do a video of basics trading for golden retrievers. We would be getting it as a puppy 😊 thanks
Stonnie, I would bring my dog to your "Dog Park" but never to a "Public Dog Park". 😁👍
I have two friends and a brother that own Labs. I visit these people regularly and take my Lab. We get plenty of socialization, friendship and acceptance. I wouldn’t go to a dog park unless we ran it. 🐾
My experiences with dog parks has been mostly positive and as a trainer and owner of two blue heelers I’ve done quite a bit of roaming all around my town to all of the doggie spaces! There can always be potential for something to go wrong because it’s an environment that you can’t control fully. I make sure that I am engaging my dogs and not expecting them to just go mix and mingle and enjoy every dog. Just like people have different personalities and preferences so do our dogs.
I look for what I tell my training clients which is energy matches. That is best done by being an owner who is intently observing all the dogs and interactions and your dog. You can’t do that if you are buried in your phone or in a deep conversation with someone. I keep my body language open and neutral to the group. If a large group of dogs is behind me I will angle my body so as to be able to include them in my bubble. I keep my conversation short and polite but are sure I’m always aware of where my dogs are. Many of you I’m sure have that experience where as soon as your dog knows you’ve completely checked out for a couple minutes… they get IDEAS! 😂
If my dogs aren’t enjoying the energy of the group that is there we move along and walk around the perimeter or start doing a couple fun drills off the benches and picnic tables and we leave. Also if my dogs are feeling intimidated by an overly interested dog I call them to me to give them permission to ‘walk away’ if they aren’t enjoying it.
They need to feel confident enough to leave you but also confident enough to find you when they need you.
Love your new urban adventure obstacles! I found some old wooden spools (cable reels?) I put one on end and one on its side with a couple rocks to keep it from rolling and we have been enjoying jumping up on that and balancing on that round barrel piece. Hope that makes sense anyways we are doing that challenge!
Love the content as always 🐶🐶💕👍
I take my lab to our park on a regularly basis and have meet some nice people and dogs. Sometimes there are aggressive dogs, but people are mindful and pay attention. Guess we are lucky. My lab is there to play catch and is not too interested in other dogs. He says hello but is focused on retrieving!
Thank you for your Advice I have a Male German Shepherd that has good obedience and is well socialize. But he is intact out of respect for that we don't participate in dog parks What is your Advice on that .Thank you .
I get up at 4:45 AM We go to the disc golf course & practice par core😂. She gets 2 days of daycare & the rest is on me which I love. Training & hiking so much fun. I don’t have 5 friends with dogs & i’m ok with that too. We are blessed with tons trails & parks so just don’t need dog parks. However, I realize that’s not true for everyone & Stonnies suggestions are the best I have heard to pick & choose the right ones for you.
I stopped going the third time a drunk brought an aggressive dog and tried to fight me when I asked them to call their dog off mine. This happened in two different states, days drive apart. We now drive a looooong way to run around in the woods instead.
I personally love dog parks, but like you said leave if there is a problem dog/owner.
we're fortunate as we have plenty of places to walk our dog off leash within 10 minutes of where we live so we've never been to the dog parks. our dog has a temperament more along the lines of a malinois or a chesapeake bay retriever and he's dominant, other larger dominant (neutered) males see him coming and he gets attacked, spitz types are the worst. people that actually walk their dogs are usually more responsible, not always though.
Dog parks are the worst place to take your dog.
Good stuff as usual Stonnie!
I always tell my clients, if you're going to the dog park:
1. Go when it's empty
2. Go with people/dogs you know
If you can't meet that criteria, skip the dog park and go on a run/walk or a leashed visit to a regular park.
And of course, if you can build your own dog park, that's the best option 😂
Glad you share the same view! Great stuff as always
Love Max the Rottie! Beautiful pup! Honestly Stonnie, “and all black labs want to be a Rottie” lol! Thx for the dog park tips!
No dog parks here in UK where I live…. wish there was though..
Hello 👋 You are the best 👌
I just found out we have "scent parks" near where we live and I can't wait to go. (A scent park is privately owned land that is set up for dogs. You pay a small fee, like $20 for an hour, and you can go on an adventure alone or with friend's dogs.)
I’m going to share about my unicorn dog. Cody wasn’t a social butterfly, but he never caused problems-he was more likely to go off and do his own thing after greeting dogs at the dog park. As a Bernese Mountain Dog, he was often the biggest dog when we did manage to get to the park, though I had many owners of other large breed puppies tell me they were glad he was there, because he generally let them get away with puppy behavior for a bit, then gently but firmly teach them appropriate manners. He’d protect smaller dogs from aggressive dogs by pretending to be clumsy (he was not clumsy, he grew up with/raised four human babies and knew how big he was) and shoulder checking the bigger dog to distract it. My favorite two interactions, though, were at two separate days with the same husky/malamute/wolf mix. Now Cody generally got along well with all dogs, as long as they didn’t cause problems (big dog/owner usually gets blamed and Cody didn’t like me being yelled at by strangers). This mix however had issues, but an awesome owner who tried to stay on top of them to the best of her ability. The first time Cody and the mix met, the mix tried to claim top position and was just slightly taller than Cody…who then knocked him top over tea kettle – something that had apparently never happened to this mix before. Aside from the suddenness of the move it was very gentle with no excess force or even any teeth. For the rest of that visit, the mix didn’t have any problems. Our next encounter was just as funny to me, the mix had gotten there before us and was getting over excited. Cody did his usual round of greetings and then wandered away from the main group to explore the scents. We both heard things starting to heat up as the mix got more and more excited. Cody spotted the problem before any of the humans did and realized the mix would lose it in the next 30 seconds. Now, Cody had a weird way of approaching problem dogs, this mastiff type dog sank low to the ground like a boarder collie and charged down the hill (about the length of an American Football field), with his body type he looked like a bettering ram on steroids. Somehow this mix saw Panzer-Unit-Cody coming for him while still a long way off out of the corner of his eye – and decided it was time to take a break from playing with the other dogs. As soon as the mix broke off and left the other dogs alone, Cody stopped in a crouch, waited to make sure it wasn’t a faint, then turned back to what he’d been doing before like nothing had happened. I have more, but this is long enough.😊
better yet…get on your BIKE and ride down to the dog park and check it out….I run a week's worth of dogs through all kinds of Stonnie Dennis inspired physical challenges, big and small, using a cargo bike from Urban Arrow, and in the city of Amsterdam this is the most preferred sport utility vehicle for both people and dogs – sorry about your infrastructure troubles America –
Great episode Stonnie and also glad you mentioned the breed specific issue. Over the years the bad experiences that I have seen and been subject to have been breed specific. Bad behaviour is not breed specific but the outcomes certainly are. When a herder/retriever/ companion/ even mastiff in a lot of circumstances, type dog behaves badly and is aggressive, in my experience that has been a lot of noise (communication) and while people don't enjoy the experience its usually over and done with quickly with little consequence to the dogs involved. With the fighting breeds (again just based on what I have seen happen) the fanfare (warnings) are less and suddenly there is a crisis situation where one dog is in serious danger. Usually the owner of the attacking fighting breed dog stands around dumbfounded and yells "he/she has never done this before" and has no clue how to deal with the situation. So I think that the other advice is that unless you know the dogs (fighting breeds) and have seen them with other unstable dogs, don't go in if they are there. I would be interested in your opinion on that?
Very nice 👌👍
You seem to have upgraded? your small challenges course equipment? Dreaming of setting up something here, smaller scale.
That young Rottie is cute. Just barely figuring out what to do with his own hooves. He's a good boy though.
Otay, I'd have to go find another dog park, in another city. Seattle's the Vegan Karen (and Vegan "I identify as a Karen") capital of the world. They go to Starbucks and it takes them three breaths and 30 seconds to place their drink order. As a result the dogs are equally confused/anxious, etc. A poor dog can't adjust properly when the owner's eating soap packets and can't decide which bathroom to use. I'm the Tahoe in a parking lot full of Prius'… getting out eating a chunk of rare red meat, and drinking a coffee with cream. LOL
I wasn’t a fan of the folks in the dog park in my area….but I’ll give em another try. 👍🏽
Beautiful ROTTIE!!!!!
I don't have to decide whether to go to a dog park or not. My community does not have one. Wish we did as my 1 y/o lab needs some socialization.
4:22 good point about getting up early, but for those that can't (work, getting kids off to school, whatever the reason may be) with the sun setting earlier now, do you have any tips, or videos on night time training work with the dogs? Not necessarily dog park related, just dog socialization and training in general, and following your, "get out and put in the work any time" mentality, but when it's darker. I did a search on your channel and couldn't find much if anything on the topic.
I have 2 very large Cane Corso's~ dog parks are ruff ! I've had people pick up their dogs and run! DQ
Another great video. I lol'd with the advice on how to avoid the thugs – get up early. haha. I learned that early on growing up in the big city.
Thank you for this very balanced and thoughtful perspective!