Dog Park Behavior: How Tanner's Maturity Plays Out at the Dog Park

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

© Carrie Boyko
Tanner Fetches As Oliver Cheers Him On

As a youngster, arriving at the dog park was always a similar episode for Tanner--3 victory laps around the perimeter of the 5-acre park was about his usual celebratory action. 


Walking to the park from the parking lot was similarly an exercise in high-energy as I repeatedly gave the message, "We'll get there when you stop pulling." Tanner always led the threesome to the park with extra vigor, excited to run with off leash abandon.


With maturity, Tanner no longer needs to run laps, yet he is still quite competitive about the race, although in shorter spurts. Rarely does another dog beat him to the ball if I bring the "chucker" along. When running with a pack of invigorated dogs, Tanner still keeps up or leads, at least until he feels the need to check in with me--an affectionate behavior that i find endearing.


At this point he is generally ready to spend his park time following me around as I check on Oliver and visit with our acquaintances that are also regulars at this local park.


This past weekend, though, Tanner showed me the Greyhound in him once again. A hound arrived to play--lithe and fast. When he engaged Tanner in a tag game, his owner started throwing a tennis ball for them. Tanner took off from behind like a Corvette on steroids, overtaking the hound in order to bring home the prize. Behind me I heard a "D@*#! That Golden is fast!" I laughed to myself, knowing that this is merely a hint of what he once could do.


"That's okay, Tanner I rather enjoy having you tag along with me as we visit around the park." The new blood, Oliver, is now the one who is tough to keep up with, yet his goal is much different:

"Which human shall I meet next?"

© Carrie Boyko
Oliver Kisses as He Finds Affection
 All Over the Park

Join us again as we participate in the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop. Readers will enjoy finding new blogs and articles from all sorts of pet bloggers. The rules beneath this badge are for bloggers, and have been copied from the site of Life with Dogs on June 21st, just to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. Readers can move on to the listings below. Enjoy!

Link up your pet blog name and URL using the Linky Tool below. You only need to add your link once to be seen on all the Saturday Pet Blogger Blog Hop Linky Tools for that week. Note that if your blog is not pet related your link will be removed. Also note that only one post per blog is acceptable, and links promoting giveaways that are unrelated to the pet blogger hop will be removed. This is a community building exercise and not a promotional vehicle – please treat it as such.

• Grab the “Saturday Pet Blogger Blog Hop” button above and include it in your Saturday Blog hop post so that your readers will know what is going on. *Note – posting is optional. Feel free to just link and follow.
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I love that last rule!