Hello,
I have some basic dog obedience questions based on an interaction i had with someone who claimed to be a trainer.
I was with my dog at a very popular dog park, recently, and he was interacting with another dog. They were doing the usual sniffing around each other, then they started play chasing. There was no obvious outward aggression (at least not to my untrained eyes). Well, my dog, who has never shown outward signs of aggression, made a biting on the top/back of the neck gesture, one he always does when playing with other dogs. It wasn't an actual bite and the other dog didn't react aggressively.
The person/owner of the other dog threw the leash at the 2 dogs hitting mine, and yelled no! I was not immediately offended, but i asked what the purpose for the act was. The answer was that my dog caused the other one to adopt an aggressive posture. I asked and noted that they both had tails wagging and were not growling or biting.
The owner replied that was a way to train the dog to not be aggressive. I get that part. But my question to that individual and all of you here is simply this.
Where is the line between aggressive and playful behavior? What is socially acceptable dog behavior?
I'm not advocating dogs running wild or anything, but the answer i got confused me. I was told that the trained was erring on the side of caution and considering any act by any dog an aggressive one. I mean, really? What is the point of bringing a dog to a dog park, where at this particular place aggressive incidents are the exception not the rule. I'm all for intervening and working to curb aggression, but this seemed ridiculous to me at the time.
Is there such a thing as too much training? Is there a difference between a healthy happy socialized dog and one that is fully trained and under firm control?
I then asked this person what would happen if someone got upset that objects were being thrown and unsolicited training to their dog occurred. The answer was that they would report them to animal services for having an aggressive dog. I thought immediately, that I could report that person for throwing things at my dog (which i didn't nor would ever do). It struck me as strange.
As a fairly new dog owner I could be completely wrong about my initial instincts, however something seemed odd about it.
Any ideas about this would be greatly appreciated. I ask these questions in the sincere pursuit of knowledge, and in the best interest of mine and all dogs.
Thank you,
Waking11
I have some basic dog obedience questions based on an interaction i had with someone who claimed to be a trainer.
I was with my dog at a very popular dog park, recently, and he was interacting with another dog. They were doing the usual sniffing around each other, then they started play chasing. There was no obvious outward aggression (at least not to my untrained eyes). Well, my dog, who has never shown outward signs of aggression, made a biting on the top/back of the neck gesture, one he always does when playing with other dogs. It wasn't an actual bite and the other dog didn't react aggressively.
The person/owner of the other dog threw the leash at the 2 dogs hitting mine, and yelled no! I was not immediately offended, but i asked what the purpose for the act was. The answer was that my dog caused the other one to adopt an aggressive posture. I asked and noted that they both had tails wagging and were not growling or biting.
The owner replied that was a way to train the dog to not be aggressive. I get that part. But my question to that individual and all of you here is simply this.
Where is the line between aggressive and playful behavior? What is socially acceptable dog behavior?
I'm not advocating dogs running wild or anything, but the answer i got confused me. I was told that the trained was erring on the side of caution and considering any act by any dog an aggressive one. I mean, really? What is the point of bringing a dog to a dog park, where at this particular place aggressive incidents are the exception not the rule. I'm all for intervening and working to curb aggression, but this seemed ridiculous to me at the time.
Is there such a thing as too much training? Is there a difference between a healthy happy socialized dog and one that is fully trained and under firm control?
I then asked this person what would happen if someone got upset that objects were being thrown and unsolicited training to their dog occurred. The answer was that they would report them to animal services for having an aggressive dog. I thought immediately, that I could report that person for throwing things at my dog (which i didn't nor would ever do). It struck me as strange.
As a fairly new dog owner I could be completely wrong about my initial instincts, however something seemed odd about it.
Any ideas about this would be greatly appreciated. I ask these questions in the sincere pursuit of knowledge, and in the best interest of mine and all dogs.
Thank you,
Waking11