Off-Leash Dog Parks

[Sarah_Rose]

Do you use off-leash dog parks? We have tons of them in our area and I used to use them VERY frequently - I was at one almost every day during the last few months of my pregnancy last summer, when I couldn't walk/run with my dogs enough to tire them out. Lately, I've been having such bad experiences with them.... unsocialized dogs, rude owners, freaked out small dogs in the big dog areas, etc...

What are your feelings on the parks? Good or bad idea?

 

[Pakey]

We tried taking our dogs once and they were very intimidated by it. I have one rescue dog with severe social issues.

The small dog area is smaller than our back yard so it really wasn't worth it for us.

 

[dngnb8]

I have big dogs so yes I use them. But I have seen big dogs take out little ones.

 

[minkydog]

I don't like them for all the reasons you listed. My dog was well behaved, but i don't know anything about other people's dogs. I didnt appreciate younger dogs hassling my old gentleman dog. And then you have those people who don't pick up after their dogs--where do they think all that poop goes? It doesn't disappear into thin air. No thanks.

 

[golfgal]

We used to go all the time. Dog Park became one of those words we couldn't say in front of the dog . After she was attacked by our neighbor's dog (not at the dog park) she doesn't like being around other dogs so we don't go any more. It was pretty fun to watch her play with the big dogs, she is only 12 lbs. She was never intimidated by the big dogs.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

I have two big dogs and we have a really tiny backyard, so we've always really appreciated having the option to go to the parks. I will admit that most of the problems we've been having lately have involved small dog owners. The dog park we use most often doesn't have a "small and shy" area, but the small dogs that I've seen lately have all been pretty unsocialized around large dogs.

Although I'll admit that I nearly killed myself laughing to see my large dog holding a 10 lb terrier (who lunged at my dog and bit him several times) by the scruff of the neck (the terrier was unhurt, just dangling there and barking furiously), innocently looking around like, 'does this belong to someone?'. But it's starting to take the fun out of the dog park.

 

[golfgal]

I have two big dogs and we have a really tiny backyard, so we've always really appreciated having the option to go to the parks. I will admit that most of the problems we've been having lately have involved small dog owners. The dog park we use most often doesn't have a "small and shy" area, but the small dogs that I've seen lately have all been pretty unsocialized around large dogs.

Although I'll admit that I nearly killed myself laughing to see my large dog holding a 10 lb terrier (who lunged at my dog and bit him several times) by the scruff of the neck (the terrier was unhurt, just dangling there and barking furiously), innocently looking around like, 'does this belong to someone?'. But it's starting to take the fun out of the dog park.

The people at our dog park were all pretty good about getting on owners that had unsocialized dogs. There was a boxer that used to go to the park that everyone would just groan when it showed up because it would terrorize all the dogs. They finally had to bring in the county park officers to ban these people because their dog was so bad. The owners would just laugh at their dog when it did that.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

We know our dog isn't as social as other dogs, so we don't take her and agree people who do not have socialzied dogs should either slowly break them in to becoming more social or realize it's not a good option for them.

 

[RF536]

We love the dog park near us, we have never had any problems with unsocialized dogs. Our park does not have separate areas for big and small dogs. It is very large with a large pond for the dogs to swim in. Most people are very good about picking up after their dogs, and some will even pick up stray piles.

I guess we are just lucky, the one we use is close to Michigan State University and have a lot of college students who use it and we have never had a problem. The owners are real quick to call other owners out if their dogs misbehave.

 

[Hutchy]

We've gone a few times and one of our girls has a bit of an anxiety issue and foams at the mouth after a few minutes there and looks rabid. We couldn't for the life of us figure out what was going on with her, we thought maybe it was a reaction to something in the grass or who knows until we googled it. We don't go anymore because it's obvious she's not having fun. lol

 

[JessicaR]

We used to go all the time. I have 2 large breed dogs. Last time we went my male was surrounded by huskies that were up in his face. I asked the owner to back her dogs off as my male was feeling threatened. She thought it was funny. We leashed our dogs and walked away to another section. They followed! My husband said time to leave and we did. Really ticked me off. We may try again but that last visit ticked me off.

My dogs are over 160 pounds and are respectful. Leave us alone and we'll leave you alone. They were humping my poor boy from the front and back! When he growled at them we were the bad guys.

 

[simba928]

I work at an animal shelter and have seen and heard a lot of things. I may be overly paranoid but I do not and would not take my dogs to a dog park. I don't know that the dogs are vaccinated and healthy. People don't clean up after their dogs and I don't want my dogs exposed to whatever is in your dogs' (that I don't know what the dog has, where it's been, or when the last time it was at the vet) business. I've seen people that have dogs with severe hairloss and they have no idea what it is (just a severe flea infestation or contagious mange?) but they allow their dog to come in contact with other dogs. The fact is that nobody else cares about my dogs, understandably, and are only concerned with their dogs "having fun". They don't care about exposing other dogs to whatever their dog may have. And then add the socialization issues to all my medical concerns. And there was a story recently about a rabid raccoon that went into a local dog park and started attacking the dogs. There have also been numerous dogs and cats that have been tested positive for rabies locally, not to mention the number of rabid raccoons and squirrels recently. Like I said, I'm overly paranoid since I started working where I do, especially since my dogs are vaccinated, get monthly flea and tick preventative, etc., but that's just me.

With that said, another local shelter does doggie socials weekly for small dogs and I do take one of my dogs there. They require vaccine records and will check them before you come in. There are volunteers there supervising the dogs. All the dogs are well socialized and the owners are on top of their dogs. If a dog goes to the bathroom, the owner immediately cleans it up while other peole nearby help keep the other dogs away. Everybody watches their own dogs but also watch out for the other dogs. There are no "snowflake dogs" with the regulars (I have seen a couple "snowflake dogs" with newbies but they typically only come once or twice, that's not tolerated by the regulars). In fact, my dog is the smallest one there at 4 pounds and everybody LOVES her (when we walk in she goes to see all her people friends before her dog friends and everybody fights over who holds her first) and they make sure she doesn't get picked on by the bigger pugs or westies, even though her best friend at home is a 70 pound Doberman mix.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Not a fan. My dog has little interest in playing with other dogs but she loves walks in the woods and along the beach, etc, so we'd rather do that.

 

[clh2]

Although I'll admit that I nearly killed myself laughing to see my large dog holding a 10 lb terrier (who lunged at my dog and bit him several times) by the scruff of the neck (the terrier was unhurt, just dangling there and barking furiously), innocently looking around like, 'does this belong to someone?'. But it's starting to take the fun out of the dog park.

What a hilarious story. By the way - those nasty little things are TERRORs not TERRIERs. We have neighbors with 4 of them. And they just give me the creeps. (FTR - the owners use an electric fence, in lieu of watching their dogs.)

I used to take our last dog to a dog park. He LOVED going. Absolutely LOVED going. Our last visit to the park - we needed to stop by Petco and do a "self-serve" dog wash. Riley went swimming in the river. Never went to a park again.

 

[robinb]

I use dog parks occasionally. My poodle is very social and loves to run and play and the dogs and the people are mostly well behaved.

Be aware that once you have your baby you'll probably have to give up the dog park . It's no place for young children, even those who grow up with dogs.

 

[MichelleVW]

I'm not really a fan. My dogs don't really like to play with other dogs. One likes to fetch, one likes to sniff around and not be bothered, and one likes to annoy the one who likes to fetch . Thankfully we live in the country on 4 acres so my property is their dog park!

 

[Sarah_Rose]

Be aware that once you have your baby you'll probably have to give up the dog park . It's no place for young children, even those who grow up with dogs.

Callum is 9 months old and I've recently started taking him to the dog park (the weather is finally nice enough to really get out more), but high up in a hiking backpack. The pack keeps him pretty high up off the ground (his head is above mine) but once he starts walking in a few more months and doesn't want to be in the pack anymore, we're going to be done, again.

Oh well, I'm starting to lose my taste for the dog park, anyway. There is one dog park in the Seattle area that I still love - it's HUGE and unfenced, so the general behavior level of the dogs is pretty good... if you don't have control over your dog, you don't go there. But other than that, I'm losing the love. Which is sad because my male dog LOVES to swim and dogs aren't allowed on the beaches here, unless it's an off-leash dog beach.

 

[Feralpeg]

This is a picture of Mulligan. He belongs to a friend of mine. Notice the chunk missing from his ear. That happened recently at an off leash dog park. A big dog just came up and attacked Mulligan. If my friend hadn't pulled it off, I'm not sure what would have happened. The owner of the dog never came to see what was going on. I don't feel that they are safe.

By the way, my friend says that Mulligan hates the lamp shade!

 

[ArchOwl]

I have a Yorkie and a Cavalier and really, the small dog area of our dog park is a joke. My dogs may be smaller, but it doesn't mean they want to play in an area the size of a postage stamp! The large dog area is okay, but people don't watch their dogs and their big dogs will run over, swat at, and harass my dogs. No thanks. A lot of people don't vaccinate their dogs, etc.

Fortunately we have lots of fenced ponding basins in my neck of the woods, so we take our dogs there or to the lake to play. They also go to doggie day care once a week with dogs that are pre-screened for vaccinations and behavior issues. Alternate this with good walks and my dogs don't miss the dog park.

And terriers don't have to be terrors. Just like Rottweilers don't have to be aggressive. It is all in the training and socialization. My Yorkie has very good manners!

 

[Sarah_Rose]

I have a Yorkie and a Cavalier and really, the small dog area of our dog park is a joke. My dogs may be smaller, but it doesn't mean they want to play in an area the size of a postage stamp! The large dog area is okay, but people don't watch their dogs and their big dogs will run over, swat at, and harass my dogs. No thanks. A lot of people don't vaccinate their dogs, etc.

And terriers don't have to be terrors. Just like Rottweilers don't have to be aggressive. It is all in the training and socialization. My Yorkie has very good manners!

I'm absolutely terrified every time I see the really little guys (like small Yorkies and Chihuahuas) in with the big guys. Even putting aside issues of breeds with prey drives or the bigger dogs ganging up on the little ones, it's just too easy for innocent accidents to happen. One of my dogs (the ball chaser) has had a couple full-speed collisions with other dogs at the park.... no one at fault, just they simply got in each other's way. When my dog collided with a Lab his size, they both went flying, got up, walked it off, and were playing within a couple minutes. If my dog collided with a tiny little guy... it wouldn't end well. Whenever I see a really little dog enter the park, we either get way out of the way, or we leave. I do agree that a lot of "small areas" are pretty pathetic, though! Little guys need room to play, too!

And I 100% agree that any breed can have good manners or bad manners!