Today I went to the dog park in Santa Clara located at Reed & Lafayette. Prior to entering the park with Ginger I set a goal of being perceived as the pack leader, not just by Ginger, but by all of the dogs in the park.
A lofty goal, but I figured I could start with Ginger and work my way up - I decided to start my mission while I was still in the car. My plan was as follows:
1) Get Ginger into a calm-submissive state before moving on the next step in our quest to ultimately grant her freedom
2) Establish Ginger as a member of the pack by walking through the park on-leash with others following and investigating
3) Release Ginger when she has submitted to the environment
4) Correct any unwanted behavior from any dog anywhere in the park
Here's how it went!
Step 1:
Got out of the car, went to the door to let Ginger out, and commanded her to stay in the car even though the door was open. She did, so I invited her out of the car.
Step 2:
We approached the gate to the park. We made forward progress on my terms. She was excited, but I made her sit and calm down about 3 times during the short walk to the gate. Other dogs were coming out of the park, so I made Ginger wait patiently - even though the door was open - for the other dogs to exit.
Step 3:
I made sure to pass through the gate first and made sure that Ginger passed through when I said it was ok (only after she'd displayed a calm-submissive behavior).
Step 4:
When we went in, I kept her on leash and immediately started walking. She was anxious and pulling. I maintained my status as the leader and reeled her in quickly, corrected the pulling, and kept making forward progress by walking around the perimeter of the park. Other dogs followed, naturally, and expressed curiosity by smelling as we walked. Ginger and I just kept walking...no stopping...until Ginger lost interest in the other dogs and the park itself and focused only on walking with me.
Step 5:
We walked, as a pack, with another dog who was skiddish about other dogs after we facilitated the nose-to-butt safe greeting ritual. This put that dog at ease and put Ginger at ease - knowing that they had pack-mates. The other owners were SUPER pleased about how quickly their pooch warmed up to Ginger.
Step 6:
By this point, Ginger was calm and submissive - so I removed her leash. Play time!
Ongoing:
A few other dogs expressed some fear when others surrounded to sniff and investigate. I did my Cesar Millan "shhhttt" sound and commanded the attention of the curious pups - and definitely helped avoid a situation when one dog just started to show his teeth at one of the other dogs. The sound was coupled with an assertive touch. The other dogs backed away, the snarly dog looked relieved, and re-entered the group where they all played happily for several minutes without incident.
Did I succeed in becoming the pack leader of the entire park? Not sure - but it was fun to try and I had some fantastic conversations with other dog owners while I was in the park.
Did I succeed in preparing Ginger for a successful visit to the park? Without question! Every step of the way the message that she got was that I was in control, that there were rules and boundaries that she had to play by, and that I would enforce them for her and other dogs. She had also completely surrendered to the environment before she was allowed to co-mingle.
The key take-aways are:
1) Calm-submissive state
2) Establish the dog as a member of the pack - just not as the pack leader...that should be a human
3) Do not stop a new dog in the middle of a pack or you're asking for fear to set in...that triggers "flight or fight" response, and if the dog is surrounded or has stopped and is still on a leash, the only option is aggression (fight). Movement means flight (his preferred response) is a possibility to your dog and it also represents moving as a pack which is comforting to the dog.
4) Correct ANY unwanted behavior...including fear! Fear is the precursor to aggression. If a human doesn't correct it, the pack will...and they will do so on THEIR terms.
I encourage you to give this a try yourself - you'll feel empowered, your dog will be happy and will remain conscious of your presence in the park throughout the duration of your visit!
All the best!
A lofty goal, but I figured I could start with Ginger and work my way up - I decided to start my mission while I was still in the car. My plan was as follows:
1) Get Ginger into a calm-submissive state before moving on the next step in our quest to ultimately grant her freedom
2) Establish Ginger as a member of the pack by walking through the park on-leash with others following and investigating
3) Release Ginger when she has submitted to the environment
4) Correct any unwanted behavior from any dog anywhere in the park
Here's how it went!
Step 1:
Got out of the car, went to the door to let Ginger out, and commanded her to stay in the car even though the door was open. She did, so I invited her out of the car.
Step 2:
We approached the gate to the park. We made forward progress on my terms. She was excited, but I made her sit and calm down about 3 times during the short walk to the gate. Other dogs were coming out of the park, so I made Ginger wait patiently - even though the door was open - for the other dogs to exit.
Step 3:
I made sure to pass through the gate first and made sure that Ginger passed through when I said it was ok (only after she'd displayed a calm-submissive behavior).
Step 4:
When we went in, I kept her on leash and immediately started walking. She was anxious and pulling. I maintained my status as the leader and reeled her in quickly, corrected the pulling, and kept making forward progress by walking around the perimeter of the park. Other dogs followed, naturally, and expressed curiosity by smelling as we walked. Ginger and I just kept walking...no stopping...until Ginger lost interest in the other dogs and the park itself and focused only on walking with me.
Step 5:
We walked, as a pack, with another dog who was skiddish about other dogs after we facilitated the nose-to-butt safe greeting ritual. This put that dog at ease and put Ginger at ease - knowing that they had pack-mates. The other owners were SUPER pleased about how quickly their pooch warmed up to Ginger.
Step 6:
By this point, Ginger was calm and submissive - so I removed her leash. Play time!
Ongoing:
A few other dogs expressed some fear when others surrounded to sniff and investigate. I did my Cesar Millan "shhhttt" sound and commanded the attention of the curious pups - and definitely helped avoid a situation when one dog just started to show his teeth at one of the other dogs. The sound was coupled with an assertive touch. The other dogs backed away, the snarly dog looked relieved, and re-entered the group where they all played happily for several minutes without incident.
Did I succeed in becoming the pack leader of the entire park? Not sure - but it was fun to try and I had some fantastic conversations with other dog owners while I was in the park.
Did I succeed in preparing Ginger for a successful visit to the park? Without question! Every step of the way the message that she got was that I was in control, that there were rules and boundaries that she had to play by, and that I would enforce them for her and other dogs. She had also completely surrendered to the environment before she was allowed to co-mingle.
The key take-aways are:
1) Calm-submissive state
2) Establish the dog as a member of the pack - just not as the pack leader...that should be a human
3) Do not stop a new dog in the middle of a pack or you're asking for fear to set in...that triggers "flight or fight" response, and if the dog is surrounded or has stopped and is still on a leash, the only option is aggression (fight). Movement means flight (his preferred response) is a possibility to your dog and it also represents moving as a pack which is comforting to the dog.
4) Correct ANY unwanted behavior...including fear! Fear is the precursor to aggression. If a human doesn't correct it, the pack will...and they will do so on THEIR terms.
I encourage you to give this a try yourself - you'll feel empowered, your dog will be happy and will remain conscious of your presence in the park throughout the duration of your visit!
All the best!
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