But there is no universal definition of “being a jerk”, is there? Puppies or teenagers are often jerks in the eyes of adults (and not just 4-legged, by the way).
Is the bouncy puppy, trying to rally everyone up for a game of chase, the jerk?
Or the old grump, growling at everything that moves faster than a snail?
I bet opinions would differ
Same for “getting along”.
What’s a “toy thief”? If a puppy sees a toy on the ground, do we really expect her to understand the notion that it’s not
her toy, and she shouldn’t touch it?
My rule for city dog parks (just a fenced in area of grass full of random dogs) - stay away. Regardless of who is right and who is wrong in any particular conflict situation - it’s the dogs who are exposed to stress, and nothing good will come out of it.
Hopefully folks who can’t walk their dogs and have to rely on dog parks can manage this somehow. If it was only those folks - perhaps dog parks wouldn’t be such a Wild West. But in my experience - dog parks are full of lazy bums, sipping coffee, chatting on cellphones and socializing with each other. Some even bragging about their dog “kicking someone else’s dog’s a$$”, believe it or not. If I could undo one thing from the past, when Ari was a little puppy and then a teenager, I would have not set foot in dog parks.
But live and learn, so with Baby Miles - NEVER!
Ari, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Sept 2010 - Dec 2018.
Miles, Rhodesian Ridgeback, b. Nov 2018