I OFTEN hear stories of dogs out of control in parks, attacking other dogs and of people getting bitten in the process of trying to stop dogs from fighting. The incident in Patterson Park is particularly disturbing because the person who owned the dog that fatally injured the other dog just left.
As a behaviourist, I cannot over-emphasise the importance of dog park etiquette. If you do want to let your dog off a leash in the park, be aware that it is illegal under the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality’s bylaws. These laws also state that no person may bring a wild, dangerous or ferocious dog, a dog in heat, or a dog that is in the habit of chasing people or cars into a public space at all. Bearing this in mind, if you do let your dog off the leash, they need to be well socialised and obedient. Being able to recall your dog is absolutely vital before you would even consider letting them off a leash in a public space.
It’s also important to understand dog behaviour. Dogs communicate using body language and their etiquette dictates that approaches are to be slow and curved. Directly running at another dog is perceived as rude and can cause an attack. One of the reasons for this “rude” behaviour is a lack of socialisation. While dogs are growing up they need ample interaction with other dogs to learn the subtle cues of communication. This is why training your dog and taking it to socialisation school is of utmost importance. Due to the lack of common knowledge of dog communication, and specifically body language, it is advised that socialisation takes place in a controlled environment with a professional who can readily body language and guide owners on how to manage their dogs around other dogs. The recent dog attack incidents at parks have plagued our community and owners need to step up. There is nothing nicer for me than to walk my dogs in a beautiful park, but the number of people allowing unsocialised and unmanageable dogs off leash is shocking. Every week at Huddle Park, dogs storm up to my dogs and I just about die of a heart attack.
My advice is this: Take your dogs to puppy socialisation and training, understand dog etiquette and behaviour. If you take your dogs out in public, keep them on long leashes, and if you are going to illegally let them off a leash, be certain that they are unaggressive, well socialised and will respond immediately to your commands. Let’s keep our parks happy places for all their canine and human users.
