Whether at home or at the park, he will readily give his ball/frisbee to anyone in the hopes that he will throw it for them. When we are tired of throwing it, we say no and ignore him - but then he starts to bug other people. And they generally are very willing to throw it - it gets uncomfortable telling the other people to please ignore the dog.
On the one hand, it is a little annoying that he is SO single minded about fetching. But on the other, he enjoys it so much and gets such good exercise doing it.
We will rethink our approach to fetching a bit. If we go to the park without a ball, he looks for one and often finds one. I suppose we could think about throwing it so many times and then stopping.
Just about every time we go to the dog park - and at other times - we work various discipline. Come, sit, stay… The park has a couple of pieces of apparatus, and we will have one dog sit/stay while the other dog does the ramp and tunnel. That is very hard for them.
One thing that is the worst about the dog park is that it seems so many of the other owners are eager to reward bad behavior, and think very differently about discipline than we do. 2 of the things we dislike most in a dog are mouthing and jumping, and just about every time there is someone else at the dog park if we are not really careful before we know it they are ENCOURAGING our dogs to jump on and mouth them! :rolleyes:
The off-leash areas around here are ONLY for dogs that are completely under control at all times, even when off leash - if that ain’t your dog, he shouldn’t be in there. I don’t know dogs that well, but it seems to me like “completely under control at all times” is a bit much to expect from even the best dogs (and I’d hazard a guess that maybe one or two dogs at an off-leash area are actually this well-trained at any given time). I understand that dogs like to run and roam free once in a while, but I agree with fruitbat - in spite of the best intentions, I suspect dog parks are a free-for-all zone, and anyone who takes a dog in there should be aware of that and is willing to risk the consequences.
And I would think that allowing a dog to take a toy into a dog park is asking for trouble. Dogs can get really possessive about toys, especially around other dogs they don’t know.
I also agree with fruitbat about dog parks. We bought a house with a big fenced yard precisely so we would never have to resort to using one.
So first off, and you probably know this but no one has mentioned it yet, dog agression is not the same as people agression. So there isn’t really any need to consider putting him down (not that that was ever raised as an option by you, but I saw someone else dismiss it and thought I should say something too). He is by no means vicious if this is the first time something like this has happened. Having a dog agressive dog isn’t the end of the world, it just means you have to change your perspective on what being a dog owner means.
Secondly, just as dog agression isn’t people agression, him being willing to give up his ball to you or any other person or member of his pack is not the same as not being possesive. Letting him play with toys while strange dogs are around might not be the best of ideas until you are more certain about how things are going to play out with things like the neuter and how they will effect his behavior.
Third, around 10 months is when agressive tendancies will start to present if they are going to present, and generally they flip on like a switch. Maybe a little later, but sometime between 10 and 18 months is usually the window. It isn’t necessrily that you have done a bad job of socializing your dog (in fact from what you have said it’s unlikely that that is the case), he might just be agressive. It happens, and it seems to be unusually common in Goldens these days (from the stories I have heard annecdotally. Not real data.). Having him uncut *is *part of the problem, but don’t think that getting him neutered is going to necessarily fix the problem. It may help, but it isn’t a magical guarantee. Off leash parks are probably (only probably) going to be out of the picture for this dog forever. Sorry. Dog parks are bad news anyway though. There just aren’t enough responsible pet owners out there.
Fourth, if you haven’t already, see a proper animal behaviorist and have him evaluated.
Well there ya go. Pick up a copy of Playdog or Leg Hump Quarterly. Send him off to the sperm bank and let him treat his body like an amusement park. Sell the sperm, neuter the dog, problem (hopefully) solved!
I recently moved myself and my rat terrier in with my bf and his rat terrier. Both are fixed, mine male, his female. Within weeks, my dog attacked the chihuahua across the street, not drawing blood as far as I could tell. He had never behaved aggressively before, played with dogs at the dog park, very well-trained by his previous owner. The chihuahua is old and very small and very very vocal. Buddy was in our front yard, off the leash and went over to sniff the little dog. Little dog yapped and yapped my dog grabbed her and lay down on her. My bf ran over and pulled mine off and carried him, unresisting, home. I apologized profusely and my neighbor picked up his little dog and went in his house. No visible blood on either dog, but 2 days later there was a note in my mailbox and a copy of a vet bill for 400 dollars. I was more than willing to pay until I saw the itemization. Tumor removal and disposal? Anesthesia, ok. Antibiotics, ok. Sutures, ok. Office visit, ok. But my dog did not give that chihuahua a tumor. The neighbor asked my bf the next day for a check. I gave my bf 200 in cash. The neighbor left another note asking for the balance of what I owed him. I ignored him. My dog stays on the leash in the front yard. His wanders the neighborhood. My dog was at fault. I should not have let him out the front door unleashed. He was just being a dog. It’s up to me to protect him and not give anyone a reason to take him away from me. I can’t let him hurt anyone even if he is just being a dog.
I didn’t actually know there were many dog parks that allowed intact animals off-leash, but I guess there are. I’d bet the nads are 90% of your problem here, with an otherwise well-socialized dog.
If it were my dog: After he gets de-nadded, take it slow, keep him on a leash in the dog park for a while to see whether he’s getting too excited about other dogs, and work on his normal obedience regimen to keep things fresh and him under control, then see whether he seems like there’s something specific that’s triggering the aggression, and try to eliminate it.
BTW, don’t feel bad about the loss of your dog’s stud potential. Any serious dog breeder waits until a male is at least 2 years old. It takes that long, especially in large breeds, to figure out what health or temperamental problems the dog might have.
That woman was acting irresponsibly in asking for your dog.
About the rest, fixing him will make him more calm, but I’m not too sure that parks where dogs run loose are a good idea.