THE park - avoid or not??

Just looking for some oppinions here

THE park where Mia was attacked is JUST out my front door, when I step outside - even if we are going to the car Mia can see if there are dogs in the park

ALL her bad times with dogs have happend in that park, I cant let her off the lead there much because she is so hyper alert - this was before the attack

Now she is even more stressed being in there
But when some of her doggy friends are there she is more than happy to play and she can calm down and do tricks for treats in there too - so she isnt too stressed

Question
Would it be best for her at the moment to aviod the park, keep her stress levels down - especially with bonfire night comming up soon
or
should I work on trying to make the park a good place with lots of good treats and games and stuff

I cannot control who is in the park and at night I cannot always see until I am in there. There are about 4 dogs Mia really does not like, she is reactive when she sees them but she is able to calm down enough to walk in the park once she is give a wee min to calm down

any advice whats the best way to go?? I used to think living outside a park was a godsend having a dog - but not for Mia

I really think you should try avoiding the park. Try it for a couple of weeks and see if you notice a difference in her.

You know the story with Beanie. She is a little dog that hasn't had any bad experiences. Well balanced and considered by many trainers to be good with unstable dogs. Yet we had little problems with her and I'm 99% certain it was the park we went to. There are too many dogs in it. We've avoided it, stuck to places with fewer dogs and BOTH of our dogs have improved as a result.

I mentioned this to our obedience teacher today and she says that lots of people have problems with their dogs at this park. She's worked with clients in a different park and the dogs have come along well. She's then gone to the 'over populated' park and the dogs have gone back to square one.

I have ZERO experience with reactive, nervous or aggressive dogs. But my feeling based on my experiences with my girl is that sometimes dogs don't want dogs in their face all the time. We're told so much to socialise, socialise, socialise but sometimes I think the dogs don't want it.

To solve our (TINY compared to yours) problem we :

1. Walked her in places where we'd meet few dogs
2. Intervene if other dogs approached (avoid, block etc)
3. Found dogs she liked to go on on-lead walks with. This seemed to really boost their confidence. Huge difference it seems between meeting dogs and 'walking with a pack on-lead'. (Ours didn't greet each other - just walked along together completely ignoring each other but clearly enjoying the experience)
4. Find nice dogs to interact with so experiences with dogs are seen to be good and make sure there are no bad experiences (by avoiding)

Our girl really seemed to appreciate us keeping other dogs away from her. I'm certain it's what she wanted us to do. I just wish I'd listened to her MUCH sooner as we let the situation go on for month.

From reading things you've written about Mia I just get a strong gut feeling that avoiding the park is worth a try.

Pollock park isn't bad if you pick your time. There's an enclosure at Barshaw park that's never used so you'd get it to yourself. It's tiny though. The best we've found is a wind farm at eaglesham but the turbines make a funny noise that might scare her. We met two dogs the whole time we were there. Have you ever been to Linn Park - that's pretty quiet. All a little far for you to travel every day, but she might be happier with on-lead walks some days and an outing to the park others?

So much of what you've talked about strikes a chord....although we had a much smaller problem.

Thanks
Its only a small park and most days we dont even meet dogs in there. She is only offlead there for short periods if she is totaly relaxed and meeting her friends.
The problem I am worried about is just the fact that it really is right outside the door - like a dog in the park can be 5m away when I open the door - and I live right opposite the gate

Hi,

Don't know if you remember but Eddie had a bad experience on a footpath we use regularly.

It seemed to help him when we used the same walk but went with dogs he knew well. Do you know anyone who could walk the park with you with a friendly dog? We did this for a couple of weeks and his confidence was really high with his doggy friends. We ignored any other dogs and just kept walking with his friends. In between I used another walk but also the one where he had the bad experience. If I saw another dog walker approaching I just kept walking the same speed and ignored them. Eddie kept doing this little 'bounce' off me because he was insecure but I took advice from this forum and ignored him, just kept going, trying to be confident myself. He is OK now. We had a lovely walk today, on the footpath where he had his fright, and he played lovely with a GSD for about half an hour.

It is a hard decision for you. Could you do the park but do another walk mixed in. I wish I could help but all dogs are different, aren't they, and what works for one might not work for another. My opinion would be not to avoid the park altogether.

Yes, I feel it would be a shame not to use the park, especially as it sounds as if she has doggy friends there.

I don't think you need to avoid it all together, maybe work up to it, walk past it, walk around it and see how Mia reacts and try to divert her attention if it is too much.
You are the best one to know her reaction to going to the park, if you get there and there are other dogs and you or Mia are not comfortable you could keep your distance or change directions.
I know it was not a good experience for Mia but sometimes it takes going back and trying to turn it into a 'happy' memory. I don't think they forget bad experiences but sometimes we can ingrain it more by reinforcing their fears. I think you need to be confident for her when you go there as she will feel your fear and if she is already nervous will make her response worse.
Plus it sounds hard to avoid the park since it is right near you.

Thankyou guys
I think I have decided a little of both - lots of other walks and lots of fun times in the park - no pressure tho and keep my distance from the big dogs and reward her or being calm

Hi,

Just wondered how you are getting on with your walks? Have you noticed any improvement? Hope so.

Hi
She seems OK most of the time, worse at night but she is afraid of fireworks so night has always been worse
She was v jumpy this morning but I think its cos we slept in late so she didnt get her painkiller till later.
Thanks or asking