At the Dog Park

Great video, and why I'm not ready to take Hanna to the dog park yet. In that situation I would just have left after picking up my puppy. I never saw that level of out of control behavior at my old dog park - owners would always come get their dog if it was bothering yours. Why would you want to take a puppy to a place like that?
 
Good video, I've seen a lot of that sort of interaction at my local dog park (it's essentially half the size of a football field with a fence around it within a large park) it's a huge shame that they don't have a large dog/small dog section at my dog park, I think it'd make a world of difference.
 
When Jody was a puppy we were out with some friends and someone brought their blue healer. The owner had no control over it and let her run loose. When she saw Jody she charged and started jumping on me to get to him like the dogs in this video. The owner didn't seem care. Then she grabbed Jody's tail and he yelped in pain. I was new mommy to him and very protective, I wasn't going to have ANY of that, so I kicking her in the gut and she finally ran off. What I REALLY wanted to do was kick the owner in the gut, HARD!:mad:
 
I couldn't watch it, it was too upsetting, I took Beau a few times and there was a lady in the park who would always let her jack Russell get in every one else' dogs face. it was really rude
 
I do NOT like dog parks.:no: The training class that I take Laddie to is in a dog park, everyone lets their dogs run loose, and to me, it is an invite to trouble. I notice that some dogs will fight, they are not a member of the club, just folks that use the park. I always keep Lad on his lead while there. I really wish they did not exist.
 
I have never been an advocate for dog parks. The percentage of dogs out of control is very, very high. Many owners NEVER train their dogs, and use the dog park to wear them out, and then the wild thing runs and harasses other dogs.
I would be terrified if I had a sheltie at a dog park, and someone brought in their rescue pitbull. I'm sure the owners would be saying, "Don't worry, he's friendly".

When I place puppies with new families, I let them know right away my feelings about dog parks. Of course, they will make whatever decision they feel is right, but I know in my heart I did my best to protect their puppy.

I think it is better to get with a few friends, who have dogs that you know interact well together, and set up "play dates".
 
I really think it depends on the dog park you choose. Once she was a couple of years old and full grown, I took my last sheltie fairly often.
We lived in a big city, Calgary, with leash laws and it had the only really large fenced in area where she could actually run free. The set up was also pretty nice with entrances at each end of what was essentially 2 very large fields seperated by a border of trees. People who wanted to socialize generally stuck to the middle or near the entrances and those who wanted to run their dogs would head forthe far corners. There were no rules about this it just seemed to happen and folk mostly respected if your dog preferred to not be bothered. In all that time I never saw any aggression or bullying like in these videos or we would have been gone never to return. The worst thing was usually someone looking the other way while their dog took a dump and not picking up. ( almost always someone who had a large dog). The park wasn't all that popular, far south end of the city near a HWY, and I was lucky to be able to go on a weekday morning when it wasn't terribly busy. She never played very much with the other dogs but I saw a huge improvement in her confidence after only half a dozen visits, and she loved the opportunity to really run.

My daughter lives in Calgary and they have a corgi - quite often they go to "corgi meet-ups" at different parks and they've really enjoyed that as a way to meet other Corgi people.

I don't think puppies and tiny dogs belong in dog parks - they look too much like prey, and even a friendly playful dog could hurt them merely by jumping on them.

It's highly unlikely that Hanna will ever get to a dog park. We have access to miles of mostly deserted beach, 25 KM of hiking trails out my back door, and I have a friend with a 100 acre farm, so she will get plenty of opportunities to run. We had puppy socialization and will continue with obedience next session, we see dogs on out walk and sometimes we vist with a friend who has a toy poodle, that's enough exposure to other dogs.
 
I enjoy visiting dog parks with Honey. She's had one or two bad experiences, but so long as we monitor the activity level and who she's interacting with, we're able to disengage her and leave before it becomes a situation where she could get hurt.

Most of the parks near us are really large though, and the owners are pretty respectful and interact with their dogs a lot. In fact, most of the time the owners are playing with thier dogs more than the dogs are playing with each other.

I do wish owners would listen to the posted signs about not bringing dogs that are in heat, however. Ugh!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top