Introducing a dog to the dog park? (adopted, neutered, kids)

[Penguin_ie]

Any tips on introducing an adult dog to dog park fun when he's not used to it?

We have a 6-7 year old dog (male, neutered) we adopted at about 3 years old. He is a wonderful family pet, and when we go for walks he likes to sniff other dogs and is friendly with them, but that is always on the leash due to local leash laws. Occasionally, a tiny dog sneaks into our yard and our medium size dog has fun play-wrestling with him, no damage ever done. We have never gone to dog parks due to lack of local availability and also I have three small kids that would need to be supervised on top of the dog. But things are changing- more local dog parks here, and the kids are now all going to part-time playschool.

Anyways, my concern is that the dog is:
a) not used to being off leash other than in our backyard,
b) He is reasonably obedient, but does pull on the leash when he sees a squirrel/ rabbit, not sure how well he would "come back" when I call.
c) not used to encountering a lot of other dogs/ encountering dogs off leash.

Any way we can prepare him- and us- for dog park visits? Other than going when it is quiet the first few times, I can't think of anything.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Are there any local dog meetup groups that you can join. I find people in those groups tend to have more sociable dogs and be better aware of issues than just random people going to the park. They also sometimes have backyard get governess that can ease your dog into a more social scene. Plus then he'll have immediate friends everytime he goes to the park. It seems a little better than just showing up by yourself and him trying to figure things out all on his own.

[Dashdog]

I would let him play with some stable dogs of friends in their backyard before dumping him into the dog park situation.If that is not possible take him to the dog park during a time of day that there are only a few other dogs there not when the place has a ton of dogs.

It is always sad to see some one bring a dog in that is afraid of being there and 10 dogs race up to it to check it out. Take it slow and make sure your dog wants to be with a bunch of dogs,and stay close to your dog with out being too over protective. ( remember these are dogs not humans and yes they will wrestle and mouth one another as they are dogs) Going at the same time of day helps too as many people come at the same time every day and not only do they get to know each other but the dogs all become friends and enjoy seeing their pals.

[safak]

take dog to dog park, take leash off dog, watch him.
really the only way and if your dog is semi normal he will get used to it pretty quick.

don't let him be a jerk but let him wrestle or whatever. most people at dog parks are cool and know thats fun for the dog. you may get a person here and there that freaks out every time a dog puts his nose up to theirs..they don't belong at the dog park so don't worry about them.