Dog park blues...

[Holly Doodle]

Ok, so I finally worked up enough courage to take Holly to the dog park. We don't have a fenced in yard so I thought it would be nice to let her run and play out in the open. We have always been hesitant due to hearing so many stories of dogs being attacked. We take her to doggie daycare 1 day a week and she has become very well socialized. She is very respectful and plays well with other dogs.

Anyways, we get there and there are two dogs, a deer hound and a small mixed lab, not sure what it was exactly. I asked the owners if there dogs would be ok with a rambunctious puppy and they said yes. Holly played great with the two dogs for about 10 minutes, when a couple showed up with three dobermans. They knew the lady with the other two dogs also. I also asked them if their dogs would be ok with an energetic puppy and they said yes. Everything was going great when suddenly their 3 year old doberman decided it did not like Holly and started to nip at her back and pin her down. Holly was whining and flinching. The owners yelled at their dog and told him to stop. He did for a few minutes, and then started in again picking on Holly. Within seconds, he bit her back and had his two other doberman buddies surrounding her barking and growling, and nipping at her face and back. Holly was crouched down whining with her tail between her legs. I attempted to step in front of her and shew them away. They ignored me and nipped at her back and continued growling and barking. Finally their owner stepped in and stood over Holly until they left her alone, which took a good 2-3 minutes of her yelling. I put Holly's leash on as soon as I got the chance and attempted to leave while the owner's distracted their dogs. We were almost out of the park when I heard the owners yelling their dog's name. I turned around, and the 3 year old doberman was charging at us from across the park. We took off running to the gate, got there just in time to get out and shut it behind us. It was a terrible experience!! She didn't end up with any cuts that I could find but she was so scared! I do not feel safe taking her back there....

Here are my concerns/questions:
1. What do I do in situations like this? Should I step in and pick her up? I've heard this is bad, but I don't know what else to do. I tried to step over her and back the dogs off which didn't help at all!
2. Can Holly be permanently traumatized from being attacked? She wasn't physically injured, but she was very frightened and whimpered every time they nipped/bit her.
3. Why are some dog owners so crappy?

Thanks for letting me vent and for any input!

[Suzanne & Jack]

Sorry you had such an experience. We try to take our three dogs to the park as often as we can. We were even there yesterday in the snow. Fortunately our park is usually not very crowded and most of the dogs are well behaved. One of the first times we went Jack was standing about 10 feet away from me minding his own business when a large rottweiler t-boned him, knocked him down, and stood over him. Jack is not a small dog at 100 lbs. The owner was good and and got control of his dog, but Jack never forgot. Every time the rottweiller came in the park Jack would come running up to me as if to say "Okay, Mom, I'm ready to go"
There are several dogs that come to our park that play a little rough, when I see this starting I call my boys and we walk to the back or anywhere to get away from the situation. I also try to keep them away from the gate where things can get tense. Sometimes this is hard since one of mine thinks he was a Walmart greeter in a different life.
I would definitely report the situation to whoever manages the park.

[Debbie Penny]

Laci, what a horrific experience, it's so sad when other owners do not teach and control their pets changing what could have been a fun experience to such a frightening and negative experience. I have yet to take any of my dogs to a dog park, I have found some quiet area's where there is room for off leash training, and have run into a couple of dog and owners, but I always have control of Charlie to do the first greet if the opportunity arises. Puppy training taught me that it's only polite to have an 2 second initial smell, and then to pull them away from each other, this gives you an opportunity to see if they are receptive or not to the other dog. I hope Holly and you find a more positive experience at some other place with responsible owners.