There was a bulldog group meetup at the dog park near our house today. Nat and I decided to take separate cars and finally expose Mala (our cane corso/bullmastiff mix) to the dog park as well.
Mala has pretty bad leash aggression. She's fine with other dogs as long as she's not on a leash, but she rarely meets dogs in leash-free condidtions. On the leash, she puts on a fearsome display that freaks the crap out of other dog owners. I'd been working with her on that in the Spring, but since I couldn't take her out during the summer I was afraid she'd forgotten most of it. Turns out I shouldn't have worried.
Since the weather has been cooler in the evenings the past few weeks, we've been taking the girls on night walks. Mala's done pretty well with other dogs barking from their yards and, while she's a little more excited than ideal when we another dog walking down the street, we've been able to curtail her aggression; so we thought we'd take the next step today.
The plan was to walk both Sydney and Mala around the perimeter of the dog park, just to expose Mala to the situation without throwing her directly into a social situation she wasn't prepared for. If she did well, I thought I'd take her inside, if not, I'd pop her back in the car and take her home, planning to expose her again next week until she starting seeing the park and the other dogs as a non-issue.
For the first half of the 1 acre or so walk, she was overly excited and freaked out. Then a sheltie mix came up to the fence and was all happy to see her. That was all it took. She started to understand she didn't need to worry about all these other dogs.
She met three or four other dogs across the fence by the time we'd circled fully around, and had been excited but playful and happy. We decided to take the chance and let her go inside. We waited in the entry zone for a bit so she could acclimate a little more, I checked her muzzle, slipped her leash off and went in with her, keeping close enough to jump in if need be but keeping a couple of steps aside so she could find her own way.
It was as if there had never been a problem. She played and sniffed and snuggled and hit people up for affection. She had a fun wrestling match with a male Rottweiler about her same size and chased after a Great Dane who was running full tilt. She even kept up for about help the distance around the park.
By the end of the little more than an hour visit, both Mala and Sydney had made some friends and had a lot of fun. On the leash walking back to the car and in the car on the drive home, there was no barking at other dogs and no sign of excitement beyond the heavy breathing of a well-exercised and happy dog.
She couldn't have done better, and I am a proud puppy papa.
x-posted to my journal
Current Mood: Proud