SAFUN

Jason and I currently own 2 dogs: Topaz (boxer mix) and Sierra (full bred boxer). We adopted Topaz from the animal shelter when she was just a puppy. She is 3 years old now.
Topaz generally gets along with other dogs. She lived with my brother’s golden retriever, Rusty, for 6 months and they were best buds. When we gave Rusty back to my brother, Topaz became very sad. We wanted to get her a new friend. We ended up adopting Sierra from a friend that was giving her away. They mainly gave Sierra away because she was super hyper and did not get along with their other dog. Their other dog was older and well trained and Sierra had more energy then they could handle.
Topaz and Sierra immediately got along. They played together and Sierra kept Topaz great company. Topaz is trained and we have tried training Sierra but it is a lot of work because she has a very short attention span. She also doesn’t have good dog manners.
The problem we are having is that Sierra and Topaz have gotten into 3 really bad fights when we were around. The fight mainly occurs when Topaz is trying to get our attention, Sierra comes running in, Topaz snaps at Sierra and then Sierra snaps back and then they start fighting. The fights have been bad and so we have to come the conclusion that we just cannot keep her anymore, for Topaz’s sake.
Sierra is a very friendly, energetic dog however, she is best as an only dog. We really love Sierra but we know it’s best that we give her to an owner that can give her the special attention she needs. Some things about Sierra:

1. She can move her body in weird shapes
2. She barks at moving objects even if it’s just a bag blowing in the wind
3. She likes to curl next to you to keep warm
4. She will not wake up to go outside in the morning because she is so lazy
5. She will sit down during a walk
6. She loves kids
7. She’d much rather be inside than outside
8. She snorts and farts when she sleeps (being honest here)

She really is a great dog and we love her. She is a good watchdog too. She looks mean but really isn’t. She is strong though! I have wrestled with her a couple of times. In regards to her medical history:

1. She has all her latest shots
2. She has been fixed
3. She needs special shampoo because she has dry skin
4. She is about to turn 2 years in April

If you are interested or know of anyone that is interested in adopting her, please contact me angela(at)safun(dot)com. You can even keep her for a couple of weeks to see if you can handle her and if not, we are happy to take her back. We just want to make sure she is put into the right environment for her.

April and Ruben, our friends, have been asking us to join them at the dog park one day. There is a dog park within McCallister park located down the street from April and Ruben’s neighborhood. They have taken their 2 dogs Posey (an older mix) and ChaCha (an older but hyper chihuahua) out there a couple of times. They have only had good things to stay about this park. The dogs are free running around everywhere having the time of their lives. I asked them about dog fights and they said that it is very rare. They say that since it is everyone’s land, dogs are not territorial. Some dogs do have muzzles on though. We were a bit hesitant to take Topaz because she can be very protective and defensive. Sierra, not so much. She is young and curious and just wants to play. So today was a perfect day to take a trip to the dog park. It was a cool, sunny, clear day; a perfect New Year’s Day. We decided to give the dog park a shot.
Like I said, the dog park is located within McCallister park. It is a gated area set up just like a playground. When you arrive, you have to walk down a dirt road leading to the gated area where the dogs are playing. Our walk down there was fun. We passed dogs coming and dogs going out. Topaz and Sierra were excited and curious. When you open a gate, you are in an entry way to the main section. So we walked through the entry way to the next gate that lead to the main area. There were dogs everywhere. I am talking like 50 dogs of all types of breeds and sizes. They were running around playing like crazy. I had never seen anything like it. We were still hesitant to let the dogs off their leashes. We walked around a bit just to get our dogs comfortable with their surroundings and to see how they reacted to dogs coming up to them. They seemed to be fine. So we let them off their leashes. The second we let Topaz off, she got into it a minor ramble with another dog. We put her back on her leash right away. Topaz is not an aggressive dog. There are just certain dogs she doesn’t get along with and we can’t explain why. So she remained on her leash while Sierra ran freely.
Sierra was hilarious. She kept running with one dog and then ran to another. She was was having so much fun. She was a bit timid. Some dogs would growl at her and she would get scared but she never was aggressive. I just chased her around to make sure she didn’t get into trouble. Jason stayed with Topaz on her leash. We felt so bad leaving Topaz on the leash but we didn’t want to risk anything. For some reason, dogs growl at Topaz. They would run up to her growl and then of course Topaz would growl back. Then they would start fighting and it sucked because the other dog was free and Topaz was held back by us on a leash. It just was so unfair but we couldn’t let her go. And we didn’t have control of the other dogs either so they kept running up to her. She was confronted around 3-5 times and it was making me so nervous. We decided that it was time to go. As we got ready to leave, the worst happened.
This dog, half the size of Topaz, runs up to her and starts barking at her for no reason! Of course Topaz is going to get pissed and starts barking back. Sierra gets involved and starts barking back at the dog, trying to protect Topaz. It caused such a commotion that all the dogs wanted to get involved. All of sudden, I looked around and all you see is all these dogs (unleashed mind you) running towards us. They all started barking at Topaz and Sierra. This little dog (the one that started the whole thing) kept barking at Sierra uncontrollably and Sierra was getting pissed and very aggressive. She was twice size of this dog and was about to eat her. I was trying to hold onto her and this little dog kept trying to attack her. I was holding Sierra under my legs and that dog was under my legs too. I thought I might get bit. And then I see the little dog’s owner start running after her dog and she couldn’t catch her. They were running in circles around me. It was horrible! I couldn’t even see Jason and Topaz, there was a big dirt cloud and everything was happening so fast. It looked bad on us because we had two big dogs barking and trying to fight off all these dogs. It looked like we started the whole thing. I finally got a hold of Sierra picked her up and ran outside the gate. I was in the entry way trying to catch my breath. My heart was beating so fast with all the adrenaline flowing through my body. Every dog owner was looking at us. I was so ticked off by the whole thing. Everyone had their input. One lady said “They just aren’t ready for the dog park.” I was like, lady, how the hell do you “prepare” a dog for the dog park?“ You have to start somewhere. This was their first time. Then I hear this guy say “You should let your dog off their leash, they need to fight it out. She feels like she is being backed into a corner which is why she is being aggressive.” He was pissing me and Jason off because he had told us that like 3 times while we were there. I was like “Dude, Sierra was off her leash and Topaz wasn’t because if she bites a dog, we are liable. She is not ready yet.” Everyone was pissing us off. On our way out, Topaz barked at every dog which she didn’t do on our way in. I think she is traumatized. As I said before, Topaz is not an aggressive dog but she is not going let other dogs mess with her. It wasn’t even our fault. Topaz was on a leash! It’s those little dogs that bark at her and provoke her.
I think the dog park is a cool place and I would recommend it for your dogs. You know your dogs best so you should know if your dog can handle it or not. We made the right decision to keep Topaz on the leash and the only way to prepare your dog for the dog park is by just taking them. There will be “dog snobs” that will have their opinion and you have to just take it with a grain of salt.