A Little Visit to the Dog Park

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Okay, so most of you know my feelings about dog parks in general although I admit there are some out there that are good. Today DH, Tara and I ended up stopping by our local dog park just mostly out of curiosity. It has been some time since we were last there and have actually never gone inside.  We didn't go inside today either but stayed outside and observed.When we arrived the park was empty but soon they started showing up!!

Here is how things went:

1. Airedale.arrives with owner. They go into the little pre-park pen and she unleashes him. Opens the gate to the main park. Calls dog. He ignores her and stares at Tara. She continues to call him while complaining that he has been peeing on everything today. He continues to ignore her.  Finally she grabs him by the collar and drags him into the park.

 

2. Next up a Rott/Shepherd mix and his owner who is literally being dragged to the park by the dog. She is swearing and yelling at him to stop pulling and they enter the main park. The airedale runs to inspect the new dog and assumes a very dominant posture with him: standing tall, tail erect, ears erect, etc.  It was beyond a friendly posture. The Rott/Shep ignores the Airedale until finally the Airedale pees on him. This sets off the Rott/Shepard's owner and there is a minor skirmish between the owners but they calm down without biting each other.

 

3. In comes a GORGEOUS Labradoodle!! Woo Hoo!!   Well behaved and fixated on his owner and the chuck it ball the owner is holding. They enter the park and the other dogs flock to him although he shows no interest in them. They continue to try to inspect him until he gives them a loud growl which I interpreted to mean "get out of my face".

 

4. Suddenly there appears before us 2 unleashed pit bulls (we are still in the leash only area outside of the dog park) with no owner in sight. DH scoops up Tara not knowing if there is danger. One pit approaches DH curious about Tara but no problems occur. FINALLY the owner arrives and nonchalantly takes the dogs into the park once she finally convinces the larger one to come when she calls it.

 

I'm afraid the pit bulls running loose didn't set too well with DH and I could see he was about to get confrontational with the owner! NOT a good idea!!!  We made a hasty exit!!

 

So, I suppose you will not be surprised to hear that I'm still holding fast to my convictions about dog parks, especially my local park!! OMD!! 

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Linda I am happy that Troy had found such a loving and loyal family!! :)

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

Ricki, I am too sensitive about the subject.  After all, Troy, the Pit Bull, is my grand-dog, and I love him :-)

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Linda~Thanks for the reminder about the Pit Bull breed. Please understand the only reason I named the Pit Bulls was because, well, that is what they were! LOL! If it had been doodles or labs or poodles running up to us unleashed the paragraph would have read the same with the exception of the breed name. DH is extremely protective of Tara and tends to "scoop" whenever an unleashed dog of any kind approaches.

I don't want to get into the reputation of Pit Bulls other than to say I feel it is totally an owner issue. I have owned a pit bull mix in the past and she was a love. I still miss her. I will admit that I DO have a couple of breed prejudices but Pit Bulls are not one of them!!!  I was just trying to report the facts in my blog (dogs off leash in the leash only area and not responding to owner commands) and it was not my intent to smear the breed. Sorry, if it came across that way. :)

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

I know that there are a number of people on DK that have spoken out negatively about Pitt Bulls and I understand they have a bad reputation.  But, I always feel the need to say that my son has a Pit Bull that is the most gentle, obedient and kind dog.  He is ten times calmer than my doodles.  I wish people didn't just assume that if it is a Pit Bull, it is a problem.  I have had two mean Bassett hounds bench my doodle  after chasing him across the park.  As Karen points out, Terriers can be fighters.  One of my neighbors had a ferocious black lab that she couldn't control and she finally moved due to all the complaints.  I could go on...just sayin'

[Camilla and Darwin]

That sounds just like a lot of dog parks around where I live.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Sherri-there are a BUNCH of rules posted at the entry to the dog park but as far as I could see there was no means of enforcement. But  I wouldn't take Tara to a good park if it meant turning her loose with a group of dogs. Mainly because she is very shy, submissive and a runner. So she has the potential of destabilizing even a group of calm dogs! She is small and gets adequate exercise with walks and in our yard and she plays off leash with the neighbor's dog (We have a 1/2 acre lot for them to play on).  That all works well for her plus she is more cerebral than physical and loves playing mind games as a form of "exercise" too.

My concern, as I have probably said before (LOL!) is that people with puppies or others inexperienced with dog parks will read about DK'ers who have great parks and decide to take their dogs to their local park expecting to have the same experience. Not knowing how much parks can differ and not knowing they need to do their homework before turning their dogs loose in one.

Until yesterday's visit it had been years since I had been to the park here. I wanted to see if it had changed in that time and see if I could get a sense of how this park operated now. I wasn't trying to find a place for Tara to play. Just curious!!!

You gave me a good laugh with your park's Karma Poo concept!! Love it!! It sounds like a great group of people!

 

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Ricki, i'm sorry you don't feel comfortable in your dog park. thankfully, nothing too bad happened while you were there.

If you want it to be better, why don't you get to know the owners of other dogs who go there and find out if some rules can be posted or something. You might like it more if you went when those you liked were there, and avoided it when it's busy with dogs and owners you don't like.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Sue, you just described my dog park perfectly. It's nice to have somewhere to go where the dogs can run around and play with other dogs safely. Sometimes there are dogs to look out for, but I think all in all it is great.

 

and the extra poo pick up - we call it "karma poo" in my park everyone gets caught without out a bag at some point or misses a poop here and there, so it's nice to make up for it :) 

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

F-Yes, our backyard is looking awfully good tonight too!!

Sue,  I agree that the term "dog park" covers a vast array of facilities!  I'm sure ours probably falls somewhere in the middle. I don't know if I just visited this park on an off day or if this is typical for it. Your park and the people who visit it sound like very nice responsible dog owners. That's what makes all the difference regardless of what the actual facility is like.

Laurie-The game is afoot!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Ricki, You would make a great detective :) Loved your blog and your observations.