Pet Friendly Shared Spaces in Villages
Providing a safe, shared space for dogs in villages can be incredibly valuable. These spaces allow social dogs to play, but there is always the possibililty that aggression can occur, so managing those risks is important.
Just as humans vary in their ability to communicate and how sociable they are, not all dogs are social butterflies that love to play with other dogs throughout their lives. In fact it is quite normal for dogs to becomes less keen to make new friend when they reach social maturity at 2-3 years of age. This is actually something they have in common with humans. We tend to make friends easily when we are young, but the older we get, the more our social group shrinks to the people we know and are familiar with.
Approximately 10% of dogs remain social with dogs throughout their lives, the vast majority will retain the ability to play with certain dogs that they are familiar with or have had good experiences with but approximately 10% of dogs are dog aggressive.
The most important part of making sure that everyone is playing nicely is watching for signs of give and take during play and watching body language. You can read more about body language here. There is also an example of dog park rules here for use in pet friendly shared spaces.
Providing a safe, shared space for dogs in villages can be incredibly valuable. These spaces allow social dogs to play, but there is always the possibililty that aggression can occur, so managing those risks is important.
Just as humans vary in their ability to communicate and how sociable they are, not all dogs are social butterflies that love to play with other dogs throughout their lives. In fact it is quite normal for dogs to becomes less keen to make new friend when they reach social maturity at 2-3 years of age. This is actually something they have in common with humans. We tend to make friends easily when we are young, but the older we get, the more our social group shrinks to the people we know and are familiar with.
Approximately 10% of dogs remain social with dogs throughout their lives, the vast majority will retain the ability to play with certain dogs that they are familiar with or have had good experiences with but approximately 10% of dogs are dog aggressive.
The most important part of making sure that everyone is playing nicely is watching for signs of give and take during play and watching body language. You can read more about body language here. There is also an example of dog park rules here for use in pet friendly shared spaces.
- Lili Chen also has some excellent posters available to download for that can be used to educate users of shared spaces in pet friendly villages.
- There are also some other excellent examples of dog park signs commissioned for various locations in Australia here.