Dog Park

[Bob]

Do you ever take your Chow to a Dog Park. I take my 5 1/2 month old Cindy Bear about twice a week. She loves going and has the time of her life, but she looks like a fuzzy dirt ball when I leave. I am curious because so few people have a Chow that I have not ever seen a Chow at the park.

Bob

[Wollfie]

Wolfie, my 10 yr. old chow doesn’t “play” well with other dogs. He is a loner. When I have taken him in one of the two dog parks in my area, he immediately wants to leave. Zoe, my daughters (yeah, like right it’s her dog) 1.5 yr. old chow hasn’t wanted to into the dog park ever since she was almost attacked by two Borzoi’s (Russian Wolfhound) when she was younger.

I have seen only three other chows where I live (or anywhere for that matter). Seems that they were the “must have dog” in the ‘80’s; times apparently have changed.

You say that Cindy Bear looks like a fuzzy dirt ball. Doesn’t your dog park have lawn? The ones where I live are closed once a week for “grass maintenance”, and are also normally closed after a heavy rain.

[Bob]

Cindy Bear gets along great with the mature dogs, No problems there. There are usually a couple of pups close to her age and they puppy play. I wish they did a better job of maintaining the grass, the larger dogs seem to tear it up leaving a lot of areas with no grass and that were the pups want to roll around. When I get her home I rinse her chest off which should be a light color but is dark brown from dirt and drinking water that runs down her chest.
I use a blow dryer and groom her and she looks again like my beautiful chow pup. Anyway, she enjoys it and is a good socialization tool. Nobody can resist petting her. Having a Chow is great.

Bob

[Chow Chow Mama]

Holden likes going to the dog park because he can run free. But he doesn't like to visit with other dogs. Since he doesn't enjoy the socialization aspect, I don't take him anymore since we got our backyard fenced in. He's happier at home.

[Jeff&Peks]

I use to take Pekoe to the dog park all the time, she could have cared less, she never paid attention to any of the other dogs just walked around doing her thing then wanted out, she thinks dog parks are just one big toilet, Poops then pees, then runs like hell to get off the grass. Keep your eye on him at all times Pekoe was attacked twice at the dog park both times seriouse fights. They can be a dangerouse place for dogs, there is always going to be one that comes out of no where that causes trouble.

[sit_by_the_beach]

When I take my chow to a dog park, she's immediately surrounded by at least 5 dogs. She gets intimidated and just freezes while the others all sniff her. Mikki hates to get sniffed at. Some owners will call their dogs and say 'sit' or 'stay', not all dog owners are that considered.

We go to a little park, it has a creek, we'll go tomorrow, Shilo an older GS and Bailey the Spaniel mix will be there. She loves to romp around with them. Two city friends and Tess the lake friend are enough for Mikki. She's selective. From previous experience with my late chow Luna, other breed dogs would snarl at her, she'd snarl back and oh boy, one big fight.

We never see any chows, a vendor at '07 Woofstock told me he only saw one other chow that weekend.
Karin

[Grab]

We have a very nice dog park here. (people obey the rules, clean up after their dogs, there haven't been any unmanageable dogs when I've been there, etc) I don't take Legend simply because I don't think it would be something he'd enjoy. He doesn't run around, is fine in the company of other dogs, but I can't see him frolicking anymore. (as a pup he'd have loved it) He also doesn't hear perfectly now and he could miss a signal from a strange dog. I take him for walks in other places, which pleases him.

I do take my small breed dog. She only plays with certain dogs, but she mainly gets joy from exploring in the grass. (we're in the desert, so grass is at a minimum here)

[JH]

I do take our 5 month old puppy to the park 2-3 times a week. He is doing very well with his socialization, and exposing him to some of the balanced dogs at the park near us has been very good for him. I think that you can successfully have chows interact with other dogs, it just takes a lot of work. Many of the owners on this site have numerous breeds in the same household and do quite well. Mine interacts very well with mature dogs or with puppies his own age, though he is quite shy and will retreat if things get moving too fast.

There have been a few instances at the parks where I have had to step in and block an aggressive dog or two from attempting to play too roughly or chase him (in a prey mode). Today, a 5 year old Akita was fixated on him and came after him (initially trying to play, but then when he got too rough, and Ushi yelped and retreated, he kept coming at him). There were three young guys who were there with the Akita, and they really didn't have very good control over him. I shooed him off twice and finally told them to either leash him or take him outside. They said that they bring him there every week, but normally he just walks around and doesn't interact with any of the other dogs. I said, just because you bring the dog here, doesn't mean that he is properly socialized and should be kept on leash until he learns to behave appropriately.

I really don't understand why so many people think that they can't keep their dog on a leash at the dog park if they are still having socialization issues. I put the leash on and take it off several times while at the park to work on socialization. When he goes into a flight/avoidance mode because of the size of the dog, or for whatever reason, I put the leash back on and we walk the length of the park, allowing the dogs to come up and sniff him.

[Auddymay]

Lily avoids other dogs mostly. She checks the perimeter, then either hangs out in a little wooded area, or hangs out by Pip, and whatever dog comes by us. She has only initiated contact once, with a pair of aussie shepards, and once with Deb and AL's Cheyenne. Cheyenne, Lily Pip, and another dog kinda gave chase/herded a JR terrier. He was very fast, and the Chows were just playing. Lasted only a minute and it was over.

[Bob]

I took Cindy to the park today at a different time to see how she would react with dogs that she did not know. She would go up to the mature dogs and give them a quick greeting. The mature dogs are friendly enough, but they do not have much interest in pups and the pups want play with others in the same age group. If Cindy is typical, Chows have a hard time keeping up with a lot of the other breeds of dogs as they chase each other. Anyway, as long as she enjoys herself at the park, I am happy to take her. What I did learn from this is that all the Chows have their own personalities and what works for one may not be right for another.

Bob

[pfordeb]

We take our brood to the dog park at least once a week. Sullivan is sort of indifferent, Charlie walks the perimeter, then will get in a few chases. Gilbert is in dog heaven.

[Jeff&Peks]

"What I did learn from this is that all the Chows have their own personalities and what works for one may not be right for another."

Lets just say what works with a Chow puppy may not, most likely will not be the same as an adult Chow. Basicaly all the adult Chows on here have the same personalities. Like humans, there is a big differance between a baby and an adult.

[Layla]

I take mine. I didn't take Milo as he was too unpredicable. However, I am lucky enough to be able to go in the middle of the day when they tend to be quite & I do only go to ones where the majority of dogs are well behaved. I only tend to go to ones that are large though so I basically take a walk with M&A off-leash. My favourite on is 40 acres

[Boogie and Linda]

I used to take Boogie all the time when we only had him. When he was younger he used to watch the other dogs and run around and try and copy them. Now he thinks he is the boss and he wants all the other dogs to follow him. Sometimes he pouts when the others won't copy him. Now that Boogie has friends at home we don't go as often but still go about every few months. The last time we went, Teddie didn't behave. He found a little dog and wanted to walk over him. The dog ran and ran and Teddie would catch him and stand over him and not let him go. I was very embarrassed. I never know what is going on in crazy Teddie's head.

[jacqui]

we go to the dog park 1-3 times a week.Chyna has no interest there but Kai loves playing with other puppies.I think as he gets older he may lose interest in other dogs as he is 8 months old now.I think I like going more than they do.

[Mia]

I have taken Mia to a dog park twice.

I have noticed as Bob says, she doesn't seem to have the energy, stamina or interest in keeping up with everyone. She would half follow all the dogs and then stop and wait for them to come back around to where she was. Funny.

She did get along with everyone ok, but there were a bunch of muddy spots near the water areas and of course, she had to frolick there.