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so today was my 4th and final time going to a dog park...
Why? I took my 4 month old 30 pound american eskimo mix and he was running around having a great time, well some lady some shows up with her 3 year old kid who decides he is going to run and around and play with the dogs..next thing you know my puppy being the playful friendly little dog he is jumps up on the kids back (not aggressively at all) but it must have frightened the kid, or maybe he got scratched and the kid bursts into tears.
The mother was ok with the situation after coddling her child for a bit, i think she wasn't blaming anyone but herself at this point for not supervising her child better.
Then some older lady tells me "you know its not ok for your puppy to jump on children"
So I told her "Ok first of all, what puppy doesn't jump on everything that moves and plays with it? Secondly, why is a 3 year old in a fenced in dog park with all these strange and BIG dogs that could potentially seriously hurt a child.." I told her I certainly wouldnt trust a bunch of strangers' dogs with my 3 year old. Anyway she thought I was way out of line for thinking it was an inappropriate place for children to be.
That being said, ultimately I don't want my puppy to jump on people, but that is an ongoing process..and to BLAST me for it at a dog park while he is in total play mode is pretty silly. If i do go back i will leave the moment any small child enters.
You were right, she was wrong. And the mother of the 3-year old was incredibly wrong. Most dog parks I've been to prohibit children under 10 years old.
You were right. Your dog did nothing wrong. You have a 16 week old canine baby who is guilty of doing nothing but what puppies do!
At dog parks I'm familiar with, there's an age limit for children. IMHO, there is no place for kids in a dog park. Dog parks are for dogs. Kid parks are for kids. Kids should not be allowed in dog parks, just as dogs are not allowed in kid parks.
I'm not a fan of dog parks. One of my dogs is a 125 lb thug. One is a 25 lb bossy byatch. One is a 75 lb marshmallow.
Each of them is wonderful and social with other dogs but not 100 percent of the time, and I will not take that risk.
You were right. Your dog did nothing wrong. You have a 16 week old canine baby who is guilty of doing nothing but what puppies do!
At dog parks I'm familiar with, there's an age limit for children. IMHO, there is no place for kids in a dog park. Dog parks are for dogs. Kid parks are for kids. Kids should not be allowed in dog parks, just as dogs are not allowed in kid parks.
I'm not a fan of dog parks. One of my dogs is a 125 lb thug. One is a 25 lb bossy byatch. One is a 75 lb marshmallow.
Each of them is wonderful and social with other dogs but not 100 percent of the time, and I will not take that risk.
yeah..i was a bit weary of them to begin with...a bunch of morons with all sorts of dogs running amok seems like a recipe for disaster...its usually not the dogs but the owners i've had to worry about..just today before "the incident" some guy tried to feed my dog a grape. I'm no dog genius, but I'm pretty sure those are highly toxic to dogs and i almost ripped his head off but i contained myself because thankfully my dog wasn't interested. Then the other day there was the guy who brought his dog in and immediately gave him a tennis ball, and warned everyone to stay away and keep their dogs away because "he is aggressive when he has a ball" hmmm..lets see..your dog is aggressive when he has a ball..so you're going to bring him into a dog park with 30+ dogs and immediately hand him a ball? genius. There are just too many variables involved between idiot owners, and dogs of all shapes,sizes, and temperments.
yeah..i was a bit weary of them to begin with...a bunch of morons with all sorts of dogs running amok seems like a recipe for disaster...its usually not the dogs but the owners i've had to worry about..just today before "the incident" some guy tried to feed my dog a grape. I'm no dog genius, but I'm pretty sure those are highly toxic to dogs and i almost ripped his head off but i contained myself because thankfully my dog wasn't interested. Then the other day there was the guy who brought his dog in and immediately gave him a tennis ball, and warned everyone to stay away and keep their dogs away because "he is aggressive when he has a ball" hmmm..lets see..your dog is aggressive when he has a ball..so you're going to bring him into a dog park with 30+ dogs and immediately hand him a ball? genius. There are just too many variables involved between idiot owners, and dogs of all shapes,sizes, and temperments.
I know, right? too often, people are simply fools.
(Although on the topic of grapes, before toxic grapes were a Thing a Rottweiler of mine liked them so much I kept a bag in the freezer for him...and to this day after 37 years of owning Rottweilers he was my longest-lived. But I digress...!)
Anyway I see it from both sides. As a long-time owner of a breed that often Does Not Play Well With Others (and will be blamed for anything no matter what), I won't put my dogs in a risky position.
My terrier cross is small but very scrappy and my Lab is hopelessly beta and my Rottweiler is a thug so maybe I'm a "helicopter" dog mom but I am not willing to put any of my dogs at risk. Whether they're likely to be the aggressor or the victim.
They do go sometimes to a doggie daycare where I know the owner and she understands dogs and will not put dogs together if it's potentially risky.
I don't blame you for feeling the way you do. I find it ludicrous that people will let their kids run around, or even bring them inside the dog park. Are there no rules posted on the gate. Maybe you should get a petition started in your town, restricting small children...It is not fair, dog parks are the only place they can run and play....People who let their children run lose in a dog park are not being responsible.
I would suggest a doggie day care, even just occasionally so that you dog gets his socializing time. I used to take my bulldog to Petco every Saturday, she adores walking through the doors and "owning" the place. It was an alternative since we get horrible snow etc and the dog park closes often here.
Last edited by JanND; 04-07-2013 at 05:31 PM..
Reason: added text
I take them to doggy day care once in awhile, but the dog park is free (i guess you get what you pay for? hehe) anyway, after cooling down i wish I could go back and give that lady who lectured me a piece of my mind. Heck, just the other day I saw a 30 year old man who must weigh 150 got knocked flat on his back by a group of dogs running right through him while he wasnt paying attention..imagine if that had been this 30 pound child?
We stopped going to the dog park months ago.. We used to go every day for about 2 hours, my dog absolutely loved it. But there was just too many incidents and problems occurring that we just had to stop going.
We had the same problem with kids in the fenced dog park - my dog was probably 4 months at the time? There was a woman and her 2 young girls sitting ON one of the dog agility tables in the park, my dog was running around with some other bigger dogs and his go-to spot was up on the table. It was quite a high table, so he probably didn't even see people were ON the table. So he jumped right into the lap of one of the young girls and knocked her over (she didn't fall off the table). The mother THREW my dog off the table, and yelled at him. And the young girls proceeded to whack him a few times with their dogs leash they were holding (dog wasn't attached to leash...)! I was SO mad. That was just the beginning of problems there.
There was quite a few dogs in there that were terrified of children, the whole screaming, running, etc. Yet people constantly brought kids in. There was once a very young child, still in diapers, just learning to walk, the parents let it go wander in the dog park. It kept falling over, as a new walker does. Pretty gross with all the pee/poop around on the grass. Not to mention it went up to these dogs that were terrified, and the parents thought it was "cute" but meanwhile all these dog owners were highly stressed out about it.
Another time, a lady brought her special needs daughter in. Not trying to be offensive at all, but there was only me and my dog in the park, and another lady with her dog. But this lady was closer to the gate so as soon as this lady & her special need daughter came in, that lady left the park. I wanted to do the same, but we were at the end of the park, and couldn't make it to the gate. I thought about hightailing it over the fence! But it was too high and I couldn't have safely gotten me and my dog over it. So, this girl ran straight at us, screaming her head off, throwing sticks AT my dog, not FOR my dog, waving her arms all over the place. My dog was TERRIFIED. I'd never seen him be so confused and unsure. He didn't know WHAT to do. So he just dropped to the ground and laid there. Eventually she turned to pick up another stick and he ran to me and hid under my legs.
ANOTHER time (and the last time we've ever been to a dog park!) - this man brought his very annoying staffy to the park. It was the kind who wanted to lick all the other dogs mouths. Not all dogs like this! So one dog growled at the staffy for licking it's mouth, and the staffy responded by biting the other dogs mouth. So, a fight broke out. Naturally, as dogs do, all the dogs in the park ran over to see what was going on between the two fighting. The owner of the staffy (a very dodgy looking guy too), freaked out. His girlfriend was screaming HYSTERICALLY that their dog was "dying"!. Her hysterics were worse than the fight. But regardless, the guy began KICKING every single dog that was around the fight, until he could get to the two fighting and he kicked the heck out of the other dog, tried to pick up his dog, kept kicking other dogs. He went to kick my dog, and I've seen his leg coming at my dog from the side and I've scooped my dog into my arms, told the guy 'where to go', and left. Never went back.
Needless to say - my dog has had MANY bad experiences, and overall he has an awful lot of fear issues. My neighbor also hit him for barking at a cat in the drive way.... I can't win with people. My dogs fear issues come out as aggression now, because the only way he knows how to make the bad scary things go away is to get very aggressive with his barking, and if they get too close, I have no doubt he will unfortunately bite. We're working on his issues constantly, it's a very long and slow process. I definitely blame DUMB people for most of his issues. And I regret the dog park visits. You just don't expect people to be so down right dumb and do these kinds of things. Trust no one but yourself when it comes to your dog...
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