Wore out our welcome at the dog park, mean mastiff.

[mx5055]

Since Bella finished her puppy shots a couple of weeks ago we have been going to this huge beautiful park by my daughter's house 3-4x a week. They recently finished a dog park there by taking out the last 3 sets of tennis courts and making a dog park. They have it divided into 2 sections; one side for pups and older dogs, and one side for the rest of the dogs. We always walk by the dog park on our trips, and many times we have gone up for a "closer" view, but as of yet we have not gone in. I am not sure why, as I fully intended to take her in as soon as her puppy shots were completed. It's some kind of "gut" reaction on my part, and over the years, through being a parent, nurse, and other life experiences I have almost always regretted it when I didn't heed that "gut warning". I finally decided yesterday after an incident with an "off the leash" (against the law in the city) large dog barreling straight at us with the owner slowly following behind drinking his soda....totally unconcerned that my daughter was rushing to pick up her son, and I was positioning myself to try and protect my dog....I decided that just the park was enough....no need to add the dog park into it......

 

[Marrowshard]

Loose dogs in leash-law areas are the bane of my existence, I swear. Nothing says "I'm an irresponsible jackass" like someone who thinks rules like that are for everyone else. Accidents happen, of course, have seen some dogs that just broke free and ran amok but if you make a habit of running your dog off-leash at leash-only parks and you approach me and Oscar, well ... don't come whining to me, that's all.

~Marrow

 

[8ru50]

Lets face it dog parks are for Lab's and smaller dogs that wear sweaters and smell really nice.When it comes to our dogs any park is their park

 

[mx5055]

Loose dogs in leash-law areas are the bane of my existence, I swear. Nothing says "I'm an irresponsible jackass" like someone who thinks rules like that are for everyone else. Accidents happen, of course, have seen some dogs that just broke free and ran amok but if you make a habit of running your dog off-leash at leash-only parks and you approach me and Oscar, well ... don't come whining to me, that's all.

~Marrow

I totally agree, but my pup is only 4 1/2 months old (my job at this point is to protect her) and I am trying to get her out there and experience all possible new situations...kids on bikes, skateboarders, other dogs on leashes, kids playing, etc. Not only was this large dog off leash (and the owner just playing with his soda, and I didn't see any signs that he was even carrying a leash) this large dog ran right up into Bella's face and totally disregarded anything the owner was yelling at it. Bad situation. That being said, I was very proud of my pup as she did not cower or back down (I have been working very hard on building up her confidence in herself)...she met the dog face on without any growling or barking, but listened to me when I told her to sit. I would have said "much" to the owner if it hadn't been for the fact that my 2 1/2 year old grandson was there and I didn't want to scare him. Luckily the dog and it's owner moved on to terrorize others. But, my main point was this just reinforced my gut feeling that we were not entering the so called dog park with all sorts of dogs running around with their owners otherwise engaged with visiting, cell phone conversations, texting, etc.

 

[Kujo]

I think I may just be really lucky with our dog park. There is a group of "regulars" that I've beocme familiar with and I've 'tagged' certain dogs as ones to keep Kujo away from, and 'tagged' certain dogs as great playmates for Kujo. usually, if theres a dog I recognize as one that doesn't play well with others, we'll just circle the dog park and work on obedience training instead of going in. I have had to remove Kujo from the park a couple times because HE wasn't playing nice with the other puppies, he displayed some dominant aggressive behavior to a little boxer puppy. But in general, the "regulars" all have well behaved dogs and keep a good watch on them. Am I living in a fairy tale where a dog park is actually under control???

 

[HappyHound]

8-9 months isn't unusual, and they usually get another influx of "adult" at 2yrs-ish

Ah, so that's what's happening now. I didn't know this, but it explains what my dog's changes are

I'm so sad some of you have had to give up puppy park, I might have to as well. It's a joyous place for us and my dog is well regarded by the regulars and their dogs of all sizes, but trying to train him out of being 'pushy' friendly with newcomers in a small, hyperstimulated and uncontrolled environment is getting a bit daunting.

Not all of the newcomers are confident with their dogs, or experienced with larger dogs and their body language when they see my dog gets confusing even to me. There hasn't been any trouble yet, but the potential is growing

Funnily enough the regulars are pretty tolerant if it comes to a dogfight even when there are teeth, and encourage people to hang round and relax after a scrap so their dog knows that it is possible to get over it and play nice. Which is lovely and has been very helpful

Our tiny, local, fenced puppy park is a really fun place, but the heirachy of people and dogs there often reminds me of what it must be like to have a kid in preschool ( Oh, damn, here comes Alan- he bites.etc )