[Shandula]

Aw, that's so crappy. I hope you told them he's still a puppy! He's only 10 months old if I remember correctly? One thing that always helped Levi was going for a good walk before going to the park. A lot of people use dog parks as primary exercise places, so the energy level tends to be super high, and the dogs are so jacked up.

Levi plays very rough as well, and while most dogs seem to match his play style, I use to walk over grab his collar and bring him to me, and make him do some basic obedience. This seemed to bring his energy level down. I would do this every single time he played too rough. Now if I say "Levi..." when he's playing, he runs over for some obedience.

Hang in there, Cosmo is SO young!

 

[Shandula]

I honestly notice a lot of aussies are very vocal. The noises that Forbes makes when he is playing with Roxie are insane. I have also noticed that aussies a lot of the times come into thing at an energy level of 15 when everyone else is around a 5. What I have found with Forbes is walking away, like you did. What I probably would have done would have been put him on a leash and leave the park. Go out into another place in the park where he is going to focus and WORK on some obedience. I mean Work HARD. Pound it in. I would do puppy push ups, heals, stays, long stays, down stays, sit stays, recall (close enough that you can grab the leash), come to side, etc. Work every trick that he knows til he is zoned in on you. If you can't get his 100% undivided attention, you don't go back in. If you do, then you go back in. If he IMMEDIATELY goes back in at a 15, pull him out again. He sounds like he has to be taught to calm. I'm working on teaching Forbes this as he comes out of the car at a 12, when I really need him at a 5. Aussie are pretty intense dogs. I can imagine Forbes would have the same problem if I let him play with other people's dogs.

Also good for you for ignoring those 2 women. They don't know you, your dog, or where you are in your training.

Cannot agree more. Levi starts whining the moment we open up the SUV (thankfully he has a good wait). Then he drags us to the gate (it's a work in progress), then runs through and gets all the dogs to chase him. He does, thank goodness have a good drop and stay so we can get him to chill. It's hard when other dogs pounce on him though.

Aussies are an intense breed, and some people think that their intensity = poorly trained.