Hey all! I have a 1.5 year old corgi who loooooves to play with other dogs. We played at the dog park all summer and he had a blast. I noticed he was significantly more tuckered out after the park than a walk, even a good sniffy walk. However, he is fairly disinterested in playing with small dogs and tends to gravitate toward medium or large dogs. 99.9% of dogs played down to him and the ones that didn’t he mostly just left alone to find a better friend. Twice at the park we went to over the summer he was pounced on by a friend’s dog, larger husky, and we stopped allowing them to be together. Not a full blown attack to hurt but absolutely a dominance pin him down and hold him in his mouth (no bites or broken skin) kind of attack. No injuries, he was fine and got up and continued playing.

We switched parks and he made friends with a new dog he played with frequently, I don’t know the breed but looked like a golden retriever but black. They were frolicking about happy as can be when black dog flipped a switch and chomped down on mine by the throat. I was able to intervene and separate them, again no injuries, I was more shaken up than my pup.

All this to say, I’m just afraid to take him to the parks anymore. He’s 30 pounds of love and he just so desperately wants to play and wrastle and run around with other dogs but it’s too scary. He’s not aggressive and I watch him 100% of the time and he’s not doing anything to provoke these attacks. Not to mention other owners can be shit and careless. Black dog’s owner did absolutely nothing during this attack and simply said afterwards, “he’s never done this before”. Like, okay that’s nice but he did it now and you just watched it happen without responding.

I’m looking for activities I can do with him that will tire him out the same way. Walks aren’t it. We do fetch, flirt poles, he’s a pro at sniffy puzzles and games, he gets the walks anyway, he loves to shred cardboard boxes and chew on his sticks. But nothing gets him exhausted the same way. I’ve considered daycare but I have the same concerns as the park. Gimme all your hacks cause we’re both going crazy without stimulation from other pups!