Joeys first trip to off leash doggie park

[Joey.E.CockersMommy]

Joey had his first outing to the doggie park today.

He spent the first part on leash. We first of all took him to a baseball diamond where we were able to shut the gates and let him run around by himself. He did come running back to me each time I called him.

Afterwards we walked over to the actual dog park. Initally Joey was on the leash. He met a poodle and stayed on a loose leash without pulling or growling.

Then he met a 4 month male old lap puppy that was all over Joey. Joey wasnt to happy about this and let the puppy know it. The owner of the puppy thought I should take Joey off the leash to see what would happen. After some debating I decided to do it. Both of us were prepared to seperate the dogs if anything happened. Joey played great with the puppy and the followed each other around and in and out of the creek. Then another person showed up a small male poodle mix puppy Joey played great with him too. Finally about 6 more larger dogs showed up. One dog was 16 years old. Joey just romped around with all of them having a great time.

When it was time to put Joey back on the leash to head back to the car. He automatically growled when he thought the other dogs were to close. So it seems being on leash has something to do with his aggression towards other dogs. I am thinking that maybe he feels he lacks control while he is on a leash.

Right now we are working on keeping him on loose leash. Me and him are doing really well. I am trying to train my hubby now.
The hard part is not to tense up as soon as you see another dog, because then he can sense it.

[StaceyB]

Yes, it is quite common but doesn't mean that you can't get it under control.

[Joey.E.CockersMommy]

We are working on it. There is definate improvement I can tell. In the beginning Joey would start growling and barking and pulling just walking past a dog. Now he can walk past on leash and even to briefly sniff with no growling. I think he growled this time because there was about three dogs around him so maybe he felt threatened a bit.

[.sarah]

Perhaps he feels he is protecting you while on the leash. To a dog (with leash manners) the leash is a means of staying close to you.