Dog Park Discussion

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

If you have time today check out this discussion ...lots of interesting comments being made. You can add your 2 cents as well.

http://www.dogster.com/the-scoop/lets-talk-dog-parks-love-em-or-hat...

[Dori & Rua]

I don't frequent dog parks often.  Have had run-ins, too.  Rua & I went to a small dog park here in CA a few days ago.  I don't bring her here to play with dogs, but to get some exercise.  My sister does have a fenced in backyard, but it is miniscule, and hardly any grass.  I plan to bring her to another one today.  I keep on my feet and follow her around and make sure there are no altercations about to happen. I did meet some nice people, and they were just sitting on the bench, but there dogs seemed to be fairly non-agressive.  There was one guy there with a little bichon-poo and throwing a ball with a chuck-it, and no other dogs even cared.  Owners need to pay attention and be responsible.

[Pat and Traveler]

I'm with Karen and Jack on dog parks.  I very rarely go to them.  When I first got puppy Traveler, I could hardly wait for him to get old enough to go dog parks, where I assumed all the dogs would run and play happily together, getting socialized, and the people would discuss interesting doggy foibles while admiring their delightfully well-exercised canines.  Trav was much more interested in other dogs when he was younger.  He was willing to annoy almost any dog he met, though most of the adults didn't care much for having a puppy in their faces.

I'm not sure where I came up with some of my pink-cloud visions of dog ownership, but they've rarely made it past the first few encounters with reality.  In dog parks, sometimes several dogs will go after one dog--which is pretty scary to see.  Sometimes there are fights.  Sometimes everything is fine.  Owners are frequently on their cell phones, not noticing anything their dogs are doing, or what their dogs are depositing for others to step in.  Both people and dogs can get injured, or into shouting matches about who is to blame for what.  Certainly bad things don't always happen, and we've had some great dog park outings.  But I'm not comfortable in them now--and Trav isn't interested in playing with strange dogs.  He wants me to throw a ball for him, and the other dogs are mildly interesting for a quick sniff, but that's about all.  He has joined in the packs chasing some poor dog, though he hasn't tried to attack the victim.  That's been unsettling to see.  He's also been the dog being chased by a pack--which is terrifying.

There's a park a couple of blocks from my house--not a dog park--where we walk most mornings.  The park is leash-only, but it's adjacent to a large, grassy mostly-fenced schoolyard, which is where we take off the leash and play ball.  My yard is too small for a real run, so this school area is perfect.  We leash up when other people or dogs arrive, but we try to be there early in the morning and there's usually a chance for some good running and ball-play.          

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

I dont like dog parks, the only time ive felt comfortable was at a doodle romp. However, we are moving, and with no yard I dont know how else Cooper would get to run if not at a dog park.... however, we do not have an official off leash dog park. There is nowhere in this city for a dog to run if you dont have a fenced yard....

I plan on finding some school field or park where I can have Coops on a 20 ft leash (although by law we are only supposed to have 6 foot or less)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Good article on some of these topics; there's a particularly good section on dog parks:

http://shibashake.com/dog/is-dog-socialization-a-good-thing

 

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Great read!

[Pat and Traveler]

Good stuff!

[Wendy Taylor]

I just took Ozzy to the dog park today. We live in a condo with no backyard, so I like to let him run off leash and chase after balls, etc. at the dog park. We live in a neighborhood where there are a lot of dogs, and we usually stop and let them play if we meet other dogs while taking walks. He tends to be much more playful with the puppies than the older dogs (he's 5.5 months). I can't really tell how old dogs are unless it's really obvious that they're young puppies or really old. Anyway, it didn't seem like there were any puppies there today. As soon as we get there, this dog comes over and mounts him from behind. He is just looking at me like, 'What is this???' and just stands there...this has never happened to him before. The owner of the other dog came over and got his dog off, but when his dog kept on mounting Ozzy, he put him on leash and left with him....thankfully.

Then this dog that had a plastic muzzle on it starting chasing Ozzy and wouldn't leave him alone and knocked him to the ground and even when Ozzy was on his back, kept on nudging him. I've never had a dog before and haven't seen a lot of dog-dog interactions, so I'm never sure when things are part of 'normal play' or not. Ozzy kept on trying to paw at the plastic muzzle and knock the dog's face away, so I sort of shooed that muzzled dog away (there were a group of owners talking and watching, but none of them said 'off' or anything like that). I took him out of the fenced in area for a bit and we walked around until the muzzled dog left, then I took him back inside and we just played fetch for a bit...he didn't seem to want to interact with any of the other dogs beyond the occasional sniffing. 

I felt kind of stressed, because I wasn't sure if he was having fun, and again, I don't really have a good sense of what's 'normal play' or not, so I'd rather err on the side of removing him from a situation where it's not obvious he's have a great time. It's too bad our neighborhood doesn't have a dog park...we've met a lot of really great owners and dogs in the last 3 weeks...there's just no space to let them run around. I do like seeing him run around of leash though...so maybe I'll just need to take him only when there aren't as many dogs around. 

It'd be great if there was a doodle romp around our area (Michigan)...I know that one in Ohio is being planned. There's a doodle in our neighborhood that Ozzy LOVES, so I'm sure he'd go nuts if he saw a big group of them. :) 

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

We have only gone once and that was FORCING DH to let us go to the doodle romp/ he is very against them for all kinds of reasons. We have a brand new one with hiking trails enclosed and we can't go:( Better safe than sorry I guess.

[Suzanne & Jack]

We're lucky.  We have a large 5 acre dog park.  It is divided into two fenced areas.  There are less than 200 members.  We usually go at the same time so we meet up with the same group.  No one sits on benches and we all are involved with our dogs.  The dogs really seem to enjoy going.

[Donna K & Quincy]

I have only taken Quincy to the dog park twice (it's poor excuse for a dog park, just a fenced in dirt yard), he was ok and nothing happened but I wasn't really comfortable. Quincy would rather play ball with us than play with other dogs. I sometimes wish he had a doggy friend to play with but he doesn't seem to mind not having one. He will sometimes play with other dogs but doesn't seem all that interested. Once he's done the meet and greet, he is ready to move on. We have lots of areas where we can go for off leash time so it's not an issue for us. He actually spends more time off leash than on and I have to make a point of walking him on the leash so that he doesn't lose all his leash walking skills. 

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Quincy sounds just like Daisy...she loves her "rents" and prefers us to almost anyone else.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Add JD to that club of doodles who prefer their humans to other dogs.