What an excellent thread this is - this is exactly what is needed to push us all into thinking more deeply about the issues of the dog/human relationship.

bckrazy has raised some important points about dog parks in general. In theory I think they are a fantastic idea but in reality they are far too random. In theory it should be a great place to socialise for you and your dog - in reality the vast range of behaviours of both human and canine participants that is deemed acceptable by them is always going to make dog parks less than ideal. That's life, we are all different and expect and accept different things as normal, so in one way the dog park is an ideal experience. In another it is a place where you are going to encounter ideas, behaviours and tolerance levels that don't match your own. Other people will see a disagreeable incident from a vastly different point of view from yours and many are unlikely to be able to look objectively at their own dog's behaviour in a confrontational situation.
One of the really good theoretical aspects of dog parks is the socialisation element. This falls down in practice, as bckrazy pointed out, because too many owners with young dogs use it a the main or only social interaction for their animals. It is unfair and unreasonable, in my view, to take a young animal into the world of adult dogs without giving it basic, low key experience and learning opportunities first. The pup needs interaction with other dogs in order to learn. It is born with an innate understanding of it's own species, behaviour and language but it needs experience to refine this. For example - the play bite is an instinctual behaviour but needs to be refined by playing with other puppies and with people for the dog to learn what is acceptable. Inhibitions must be learned through experience in order for the individual to function as part of a social group (as true for humans as it is for canids!). (This also brings up the whole issue of terminology - inhibition can seem, to humans, a word that has very negative meaning and many of us spend a lot of our time and money overcoming our inhibitions. In this context, however, it is a vital learning process that is necessary. If certain inhibitions are not in place then we, and our dogs, will be seen as unacceptable and become isolated, unable to communicate effectively - which in turn breeds resentment and frustration - and the dog is likely to become overtly aggressive in an effort to be "heard" or chronically fearful, which is most often seen as aggression.)

Are you still awake!?!? Sorry for the length of post here, I find this eternally fascinating and can ramble on for weeks before I realise everyone else has fallen asleep!!!

jennifert9 - in answer to your question about what decisions the dog makes...sorry, it's likely to be another long one!

The canine mind cannot work the same way as a human one does - it simply isn't built that way. BUT by studying animal behaviour and the brain activity associated with it we can guess at the underlying genetic reasons behind human behaviours. Humans have a huge problem remembering that it isn't very long ago that we were on the same mental and behavioural level as dogs, cats, pigs, mice etc. Our species has evolved and continues to develop at a faster rate than evolution can hope to keep up with- our instincts are still intact and are still working. ( Oh - I could go on for years and years on this subject alone!!) We forget, or choose to ignore, that our behaviour is still driven by our instinct to survive as an individual. This is the cornerstone of life itself, the key to evolution. If there was no instinct for an individual to preserve it's own life then no creature or plant would battle through a life process that ends in death anyway. As humans we are aware that our ultimate destination is to die and yet individuals can find the mental and physical reserves to cope with, rationalise, live with and survive the most horrific situations. We tend to call that "the human spirit". It is special because as far as we know, we are the only species on the planet that understands that every individual is going to die - so why put yourself through so much pain, anxiety and hardship when the end result is the same - you die?
But this instinct for self preservation is universal - each and every mammal exhibits it - some insects don't...the individual will eagerly put itself in a situation where the only outcome is the death of that individual in order to increase the chances of the community surviving. (This is often the premiss that after self-preservation the next most important instinct is genetic inheritence, and in fact it may be that genetic inheritence is the reason for self-preservation...sounds sensible to me.)

Your dog has all these things working in his mind and body although he is unable to verbalise it - he feels it, reacts to it, is driven by it and lives by it, although, of course, he doesn't rationalise them or think about them - he just is governed by them. It is his instincts, something you have no control over, you can't change, his genetic inheritence and his experience of the world that governs his behaviour. The only thing, as an owner, that you have control over is the dog's experience. You cannot undo past experience but the good thing is that you can overlay it with it new ones - tiny steps seen as huge achievements.

Basically what I am saying is that your dog is making millions of decisions every day. Even a dog with a total God of an alpha leader HAS to make those decisions every second of every day to ensure it's own survival. The very second that your dog sees a kink in your leadership is the moment when the dog will start to test the leadership - it has no choice, it simply has to make itself safe. If the dog does not understand that you are making it safe and able to stay alive then it has only two other options - die or take control.

So, soooo sorry that this is soooooo long.

Correction is another term that means one thing to dog owners and another thing to behaviourists. The current trend in dog training is for positive reinforcement only. This is an excellent idea and the world would be a better place if it worked. But go back and have a think about instincts and learning - a puppy brought up in a litter with maternal care will play using feet, legs, body, facial expressions, tail position and it's mouth. Anyone with puppy experience will know that puppy bites hurt. As an owner you have the choice to correct that bite or not - to create an inhibition or not. The dog will have an inbuilt, genetic, control switch to inhibit the pressure of the bite but it needs reinforcing to become constant. If the context of the bite is not corrected when the pup is young it is likely to fall back on biting as a means of getting out situations that it finds difficult - the inhibition is still working, the dog does not bite down hard, it usually does not even make contact, but the fact the dog has learned that snapping and appearing to be aggressive is as effective in keeping others away as running away is in avoiding contact is the problem

Again - we can all see the similarities between canine and human behaviour here.

Correction can be in the form of a facial expression - those of you with children will know that you only have to look at your kids in a certain way and they get how serious you are!!!! It's the same for dogs - ignoring in the house is all well and good - when your very large animal is misbehaving in public ( I'm still talking dogs here - not husbands!) a look will not do - nor will physical punishment because it looks bad to other people. You need a back up -physical correction .