I'm a dog park advocate. We have four in town, the fourth one just opened. We use the one in the east end near where we live, it has open areas for both large and small dogs, but best of all, it has paths through wooded areas which wind around, up and down.
The large main field slants down at a 15 degree angle, and provides enough space for 100's of dogs to run around having fun. But, even on a very busy day, I think it rarely passes 60 or so.
We avoid weekends and anytime after 5 pm. The crazies come out after 5...dogs locked up all day who freak out. And weekends...people and pets that have been locked up all week.
I pack up and leave when people come with their small kids and their dogs...BAD COMBINATION.
Time and Time again...people with dogs and small kids turn the place upside down, screaming, yowling, freaking out because little Tommy of little Janie got knocked over by a dog in a dog park. Sense and sensibility flee from these types and so do I.
The two worst events we've seen at the park were perpetrated by parents towing very small children around and freaking out over children being knocked down and their purse dogs getting scared by all those big dogs running around.
Two weeks ago a mom, dad, three toddler to 4 yr olds and a combative american bulldog who had not been neutered, entered the very icy park (think ice storm.) 90 per cent of the park was unuseable. So, a small collection of dogs and people were collected on a small spit of land on the high side of the big field above the ice flow. Several dogs ran to the gate to welcome the newcomers. Bailey stayed at the top end, so she wasn't involved with the first incident. Two of the small children slipped and fell on the ice coming in. They were 15 feet from the gate and the ice was very bad, but the dogs that ran to meet them got blamed. The mom was nowhere in sight and the beleaguered dad was struggling with them and a violently out of control AM Bully. The Bully attacked a small long-haired Jack Russell. The Bully was shaking the poor little dog and all of us jumped into action. The male owner of the Jack Russell, who had physical issues and used a cane, grabbed the Bully's tail and jammed his thumb in the Bully's butt. The Bully finally let go and the Bully's owner grabbed it and tussled it to the ground. Both owners started screaming with the younger man threatening the older disabled man. The idiot couldn't control his Bully and fought him, falling every few feet, to the gate. Then came Mamma Bear, and she was a Mamma Grizzly. All hell broke loose as this low individual treated us to the basest language that you could imagine. The disabled man's wife went to her and tried to calm her down, but was met by screaming and abuse. I joined her and reiterated that the biting dog leaves. The rules: the biting dog leaves. No if's, no and's, no but's. LEAVE!
FAMILIES WITH SMALL CHILDREN SHOULD BE BANNED FROM THE PARKS. THEY ARE AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN. TWO AND TWO EQUAL FOUR, EVERY TIME. Perhaps there should be a viewing area with benches or chairs, outside the main field where small children can wait with one parent while their dog plays and exercises.
HAVING SAID ALL THAT: I am an advocate for dog parks. The good outweighs the bad, and the joy that my dog experiences running free and exploring through the woods, the friends that she makes and greets enthusiastically every visit, the lessons she has learned about size and strength and right and wrong and about the good and bad in people, this is an education to be desired. Bailey runs and plays and has a great time, and, occasionally, just like our real lives, she sees anger and upset and compromise and learns ways of working things out: and she also learns to leave and fight again another day. Not all battles need to be fought, some need to be won by voting with our feet.
@Bailey's Mom
I so so agree!!!
Personalky, it's not the kids that bother me as much as the crazy adults, who drive me up the wall.
I have actually been screamed at the dog park on several occasions, but one really sticks in my mind.
The case of the psycho lady jogger.
Absolutely terrified of dogs, she would go jogging through the park every morning (even though there's a jogging/bike path right down the hill).
Anyway, whenever any dog ran towards her, she would jump up and down, waving her arms in the air and scream in a high pitched shrill voice. Then she would commence trying to outrun the dogs.
I'm sure you can imagine the out come. Crazy woman running, screaming like a banshee, with a pack of dogs dancing around her, thinking that this was a great game.
One day, I caught up with her and hollered for her to stop.
I asked her if she was aware that this was an off leash dog park?
Yes, of course she was, seeing as she lived right at the enterance.
Trying to be deplomatic, I politely suggested, that seeing as she was obviously uncomfortable around dogs, maybe the jogging path would be a better option for her.
Well, she went absolutely hysterical and started crying, and literally screaming at me as I stood there with my mouth hanging open.
"She was a human being, a HUMAN BEING! and she had a right to jog wherever she wanted, and she was not afraid of dogs, and we shouldn't have all these AGGRESSIVE dogs attacking her, or running towards her, or coming anywhere near her.... she was a HUMAN BEING, A PERSON! for God's sake, and she had RIGHTS!!!"
This stupid situation got worse and worse, and lasted for arlund three months. It came to a point, where she brought out her husband, to show him all "the aggressive dogs". The poor man looked so embarrassed, standing there with his hands shoved into his pockets, watching a vicious bichon/shi tzu, an aged Golden, and my two sniffing a tree, then he turned around and went home, never saying a word.
Our lady though was undeterred and quite determined. She called animal services and complained about everyone at the park. She would snap pictures of people and their dogs.
I changed my walking times, but somehow she would always show up. I was begining to feel paranoid, looking over my shoulder as she would pop up from behind a tree or a clump of bushes. Even some of my dog walking friends, started noticing these weird coincidences.
I was actually asked by several people, if she was stalking me ?
because every time I would walk into the park, there she would be right behind me with her camera, and jog right up behind us, then pass us at a run.
Finally whenever she would show up, a group of us would make our dogs sit pretty and we would pose for the photo shoot, smiling, fingers raised in a peace sign.
Then one day she just disappeared. Not sure if they moved, if her husband murdered her, or if the psych ward revoked her day passes, but let me tell you, there was dancing in the street that day, both human and canine.
I love taking the pups to dog parks. It gives them such a wonderful opportunity to run and play and socialize with others of their own kind that you can't get anywhere else. They have so much fun.
I just wish that rude, crazy people wouldn't ruin it for everyone else.
