Things to do with your dog that’s not the dog park

If you are struggling with your dogs reactivity issues or other behavioural problems, one of the best things you can do is stop taking them to the dog park and similar free for all play type situations.

The concept of a fenced dog park sounds wonderful, but in reality dogs are not really designed to be interacting with other random dogs in the high states of arousal these places tend to produce. By being securely fenced you’re also encouraging people with minimal control over their dogs to let them loose, frequently with minimal supervision while they use the time to check their phone, which can put other dogs in pretty uncomfortable situations.

At best your dog learns that other dogs are associated with high arousal play time (cue frustration when they see one and can’t interact!), at worst I see real aggression issues created because dogs learn that the only way out of these uncomfortable situations is to escalate their behaviour in order to get the peace & space they really crave.

So how do we fulfil our dogs without fenced dog parks? I’m so glad you asked - here’s a few ideas to get you started!