Why I'm not a fan of dog parks
After a couple not-so-great experiences with poorly socialized dogs at our local dog park, we really never go there, choosing instead to let our dogs run around with a small group that meets in a quiet area of a regular park. However, both of ours like to wander off and eat rather than play, and the dogs meet in an unfenced area, so it's less-than-ideal.
I was happy to hear of a new dogpark opening in a neighboring suburb. We went a couple weeks ago and had a nice time. Great view, chairs for the people, a large grassy area and lots of tennis balls plus only a few dogs made for a nice time.
We returned this afternoon and I was reminded why I don't always like dog parks.
First, a stunning Harlequin Great Dane kept trying to mount Maddie. Maddie's a bigger Corgi at 28 pounds but still, a 120 pound Great Dane is a bit much for her to handle. She snarked him away a good half-dozen times in quick succession before I finally stepped in. What was the owner doing, you may ask? Why, just standing there of course! I know humping is normal dog behavior and normally I let the dogs sort it out themselves, but if Jack is going after a miniature poodle or something I generally haul him off to avoid injury. One would think an ounce of common sense would tell the owner that a 12-inch Corgi can't fend off a Great Dane who is ignoring her protests.
Then there was a dog that looked like maybe a cross between a Blue Heeler and a lab, though who knows what it was. He ran into and over everyone and every thing. He barreled into me twice, and ran over every dog in the place multiple times over, blissfully unaware that within five minutes, every dog would tuck its tail and flee when it saw him coming (except of course for one goofy lab who was oblivious to it all, in typical lab fashion).
Not only did he run over the top of everyone, he also stole every ball or frisbee anyone else had. He could have just ran for a ball and if you threw another one he would drop his, run over the top of the chaser and grab it. If he did not get there in time, he would steal it right from the other dog's mouth. The owner meekly said on one occasion that he wants anything anyone else has, and then sat quietly on the sidelines the rest of the time. All the dogs breathed a visible sigh of relief when he finally left.
Why can't people jus tell when their dogs are being awful?
I was happy to hear of a new dogpark opening in a neighboring suburb. We went a couple weeks ago and had a nice time. Great view, chairs for the people, a large grassy area and lots of tennis balls plus only a few dogs made for a nice time.
We returned this afternoon and I was reminded why I don't always like dog parks.
First, a stunning Harlequin Great Dane kept trying to mount Maddie. Maddie's a bigger Corgi at 28 pounds but still, a 120 pound Great Dane is a bit much for her to handle. She snarked him away a good half-dozen times in quick succession before I finally stepped in. What was the owner doing, you may ask? Why, just standing there of course! I know humping is normal dog behavior and normally I let the dogs sort it out themselves, but if Jack is going after a miniature poodle or something I generally haul him off to avoid injury. One would think an ounce of common sense would tell the owner that a 12-inch Corgi can't fend off a Great Dane who is ignoring her protests.
Then there was a dog that looked like maybe a cross between a Blue Heeler and a lab, though who knows what it was. He ran into and over everyone and every thing. He barreled into me twice, and ran over every dog in the place multiple times over, blissfully unaware that within five minutes, every dog would tuck its tail and flee when it saw him coming (except of course for one goofy lab who was oblivious to it all, in typical lab fashion).
Not only did he run over the top of everyone, he also stole every ball or frisbee anyone else had. He could have just ran for a ball and if you threw another one he would drop his, run over the top of the chaser and grab it. If he did not get there in time, he would steal it right from the other dog's mouth. The owner meekly said on one occasion that he wants anything anyone else has, and then sat quietly on the sidelines the rest of the time. All the dogs breathed a visible sigh of relief when he finally left.
Why can't people jus tell when their dogs are being awful?
Comment
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Comment by Bev Levy on November 7, 2010 at 8:19am
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I have a bias against dog parks for the same reason. People just do not take the time to train their dogs and David is correct children often are in the same boat. Unfortunately the dogs frequently end up in "the pound" but as a School Board member I can say that our society is not a lot kinder to the children.
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Comment by Rebecca Marie O'Bryan on November 7, 2010 at 8:01am
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i am not a fan of dog parks either because most of them are snobs and no one cleans up after there dog. i ALWAYS clean up and if teddy does somthing not acceptable i ALWAYS correct. everyone there looks at me like i am crazy but the same rules apply everywhere i go.
there was the 1st we ever went to the dog park and this was when teddy was to little go so we just brought snoopy(my passed dachshund) and a family came in with a pit bull.(i have nothing against the breed!!) he came up to me and said "my pit dosnt like small dogs, if i were u i would leave" that dog attacked snoopy 7times and drew a little blood. flung him in the air and played soccer with him. i screamed at the owner and so did a by passer that its against the rules to have aggressive dogs but he just laughed. we left and didnt come back for months
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@: o wow Carla, i cant believe how rude people are! it made me sick how they were calling you names just because you were teaching her and correcting. i would have done the same thing. @ beth i am sorry that all happened to your poor corgis:( some people just dont have any common sense and think theres nothing wrong when there is a huge deal going on
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Comment by Jane Christensen on November 7, 2010 at 6:56am
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I've never been to one and the one we might someday try has been under water and had damage due to the flooding! Makes me wonder if I even want to try! I agree with Davids statement!!!!!!!
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Comment by Carla on November 7, 2010 at 1:16am
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An Addendum: What I mean is, people are lazy, and thus don't train their dogs. Therefore, acknowledging the dog’s poor behaviour is "awful" also means an acknowledgement for a lot of people that they haven't spent the time or energy training their dog to behave properly. So they ignore it to save face, or because they are honestly not self-aware enough to realize that the dogs behaviour is a reflection of themselves (or, they act like the dog is somehow inherently "bad" - I get this a lot, where people say "Casey is so well-behaved" or "Casey has such an excellent recall. I wish X responded like that" and I want to shout at people: "It's because I've worked very hard training her recall and manners!"
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I am in complete agreement. Casey and I go to the dog park near our house almost daily, but I absolutely refuse to go in the evenings and on Saturdays because those times bring out the idiots and their undersocialized, underexcercised, poorly mannered dogs.
Even the group of people I walk with thought that my "methods" were harsh a few weeks ago, when Casey jumped at a woman's hand when she was trying to give a treat to another dog (don't get me STARTED on people who bring treats to the dog park....) Another dog was jumping at her hand, so Casey started in. I hustled over with a firm “NO JUMPING” and immediately on-leash she went for a 3 minute time-out walk so she could cool-down and be reminded that my rules apply on-leash or off. They called me "Hitler" and joked about me “throwing Jews into the oven”! Because I disciplined my dog (with a stern “no” and a 3 minute leash walk) for jumping on somebody!
I think a lot of people are just lazy and don’t take the time, or put in the energy to properly train their dogs.
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Comment by Chris West on November 7, 2010 at 1:00am
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Yep, I hear you. Last time we went to the dog park, a whole family came in with bags of fast food, let their dogs loose, then sat down at the picnic table to eat. The dumb part was, they were all annoyed because everyone's dogs were jumping up on the picnic table trying to eat their fast food. HELLO PEOPLE, ITS A DOG PARK!! I have been arguing with my husband because he wants to take our 4 year old to the dog park, and I keep insisting that is not a good idea. Now I do teach my child manners, but in my opinion, it is just rude to take small children to the dog park.
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Comment by Geri & Sidney on November 6, 2010 at 11:28pm
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yup, what David said. It's just too much work for some people to discipline! *rolls eyes*
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Comment by David on November 6, 2010 at 11:14pm
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Funny, the same thing could be said about kids. Some parents just do not teach their kid/dog any manners.
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