Ask Cesar - "When a fight breaks out, would you correct both dogs involved or just your own dog?"

[Kire]

Dear Cesar,

I follow your advice on being a strong pack leader at the dog park. On the rare occasions that I take my dogs to the dog park, I notice humans not applying discipline if their dogs get in a fight (or potential fight). If I apply discipline to one of my dogs, but the other human doesn't, that makes it look like it was totally my fault. I've never said anything to the other person, but it seems unfair that my dog gets a correction or consequence, and the other dog doesn't. That's one reason why I don't go to the dog park often, and when I do, I monitor my dogs closely to prevent problems. We try to find responsible owners with their dogs to hang around with. A few weeks ago, I prevented a fight by doing a body block and faced the offending dog and firmly said, "Hey!" and the other dog backed off. That owner only scolded her dog as we walked away.

Would you correct/discipline both dogs if the other owner is being passive or ineffective at that moment, or just deal with your own dog?

Patricia L. Williams
Seattle, WA.

Answer: http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/column/20080901.php

[polly7]

1. self-delete.