Dog Park: Day Two

Yesterday, after a very disheartening hour at Washington park, I posted that I am strongly considering placing Tucker in a working dog program because I am not sure he is suitable for a family environment, and I asked for comments and advice.

Though he has never bitten a person intentionally, Tucker has reached a point where I am very uncomfortable when an unfamiliar person or dog approaches him. He snarls and snaps at almost every dog who gets too close to him now, unless he is distracted by a toy or I tell him no and have my hands physically on him.

I have stopped trying to pretend that he is just loud and awkward and wants to play. And the more I watch him, the more I wonder if he was bullied by his litter mates as a very young puppy or didn't get enough milk. He was the smaller of two males left in a very large litter of 4 males and 8 females - he was the same size as the females. 12 puppies?! No dog has that many nipples. His mother is not a mutant.

The thing is, I don't give up easily. Not on dogs, not on people I love, not on anything I think deserves a chance. I need to exhaust every possible option before I can let go of anything. I beat proverbial dead horses with all the hopeless romantics in the world, and I'm trying to temper that tendency with a measure of realism. But I can't just give up on him. Not now.

After thinking about this issue for a long time last night and this morning, I made a decision to invest every shred of knowledge I have about dogs and psychology into working on Tucker's problems. We're going to play together at the park, with corrections for weird reactions to other dogs (Cesar style), for an hour every day. I am a little nervous about taking him to the dog park, but this can't be dealt with at home. Luke is mostly too docile to be helpful, but Tucker defers to him anyway. They have never really fought. And aside from that... I can't think of any other options.

Today was much better than yesterday, and Tucker allowed another German Shepherd sniff him while I held his collar, but I think the best I will ever be able to do is to teach him to ignore other dogs completely when they try to play with him or dominate him. Since he is almost totally avoidant of new dogs anyway, and eager to please me, I don't imagine it will be too hard to shape the behavior, but it makes me very sad. I wanted him to play with Solomon yesterday. I want him to play with any other dog without it being scary and/or dangerous for everyone involved. If things don't get better soon, I may look into medication for him.

Doggie Xanax? Anyone?