What the heck?

Charlie had an interesting day. I took him and Chief to the dog park this morning. I usually don't go in the morning. I'm not really a morning person and without a few cups of coffee, I can't make polite conversation. But I was tired this morning, so I didn't want to walk.

Charlie and Chief chased the ball. Chief played with another dog. All seemed fine. Until Charlie spotted a Boxer on leash, outside of the park with his owner riding a bike. I really pay attention to Charlie - he's sensitive and reactive. But he presents these attributes by making the first strike: lunging (on leash) and barking. When Charlie perks up his enormous ears, I make him focus on me. He can hear a dog coming a mile away. But there are just some dogs that he cannot trust me to protect him from. Boxers are one of those breeds.

He's been attacked a few times by Boxers and bully breeds. I think he remembers this.

So he saw that dog, who he's seen before. We've met the dog/owner-on-bike pair on the sidewalk before. They ride by fast, but it's still a surprise when they vacate the sidewalk to let us walk by.

Charlie ran out of the park, chasing the pair. I called his name. He looked at me. He kept running with hackles raised. Chief followed him. My heart was pounding (does that count for a cardio workout?), but there was no way I could catch them. In 2 seconds, they were both back in the park. There had been no growling, snarling confrontation. Charlie came right over to me. I made him do some sits, downs and finally a down stay. He focused his eyes on mine for 2 minutes. That's a long time.

While he was staring at me, dog and biking owner rode by the other side of the park. Charlie stayed right in front of me, staring, focusing on me. Incident over?

I threw the ball a bit more for Charlie, but then a different Boxer came into the park. What the heck? I grabbed Charlie's collar loosely, but kept him by my side. This Boxer was young, played with Chief for a bit and the other dogs. When he got near Charlie, Charlie would growl. I decided that we needed to leave the park. But as I was getting the leash on Charlie, the Boxer's owner struck up a conversation with me. I tried to explain that Charlie had been attacked by other Boxers. He was incensed that 'his breed' could be aggressive. He kept telling his dog to stay away from my 'mean dog'. But really, he didn't have control over his dog who was interested in Charlie and kept approaching him.

I don't blame the owner or the dog. Dog parks are off-leash heaven. His dog was running and playing. My dog just didn't particularly like that behavior from that particular dog. And I was doing the responsible thing by leaving the park.

But why do I feel like the pariah? Every other dog owner who I'd been chatting with, moved away from me as soon as this interaction took place. They all started making comments about my dog. I knew my dog well enough to avoid any kind of incident. I was removing my dog from the situation.

Should I never take Charlie to the dog park again?

Tonight, I walked both of my dogs, separately. (That's 2 hours of walking!) Charlie was awesome. He stayed by my side when I asked him to. He calmly walked by other dogs on leash. He looked to me for all of his cues.

Everyone has their own perspective on dog behavior and what it means. We humans tend to anthropomorphise. What's really going on? Maybe my dog just doesn't like that other dog. And maybe he doesn't feel the need to hide his feelings.

I just have to stop caring about what other people think about me, my dogs, and my perspective on dogs in general.

And I thought if I owned dogs I wouldn't need a therapist.