Maybe I'll never understand...

My neighbor's mother was playing with her Poodle over the weekend so we started chatting about dog stuff. She asked if I ever take Ginger to the dog park. I said, "no".

She said, "Oh... you should. It's great fun for the dogs. They love it."

(Trying to act as innocent as possible, knowing where this was going)

I said, "Well, I just think I want her to look to me for her fun, not strange dogs. Plus, I hear there can be fights and I really don't want to take that risk".

She said, "Sure there are fights, but they are usually broken up quickly. The owners are very good about it".

"How often are there fights?", I asked. "I heard it only takes one fight and a dog can be affected for the rest of it's life. Many become dog aggressive and can't be around other dogs".

"Oh, almost every time, but they are just little scuffles and the owners break them up and it's usually only with the big dogs. They have a big dog area and a small dog area".

I said, "Honestly, the meanest dogs I've been around have been little dogs. Pomeranians and such."

"Well, they fight too, but they're small, so it's not that bad", She said.

I said, "Hey, maybe I'll get Ginger and she can come meet your dog?"

"Oh NO", she said, "She can't be around any dog smaller than her or else she gets VERY aggressive".

(thinking to myself)

Uhhhhhh. ok. And explain it to me again why you take her to a dog park?

This is priceless!!

Mike, that is such a good example, it should be made into a sticky!

Fuel to drive to dog park $5.00

Starbucks Vente Latte to sip on and chat at Dog Park $7.50

Stitches at Vets office from GSD ripping up your Pom $275

Listening to someone explain why Dog Parks are good: IRRITATING!!!

Ugh......great example Mike....Will is right, should be a sticky.

Thanks.

The whole situation made me wonder if someone would take their kids to a park that had fights "almost every time".

Why someone would want to put their dog in that situation is beyond me.

 Quote: Will Rambeau

This is priceless!!

Mike, that is such a good example, it should be made into a sticky!

Ditto!

Any whyyy is it that people take their dogs to dog parks??? Do they really just like to watch the drama of dog fights??? And these are the same people who talk bad about Vicks.

 Quote: mike hawker

"Well, they fight too, but they're small, so it's not that bad", She said.

This statement that she made is the exact reason why I do not like most small dogs and small dog owners. The belief that a small dog does not need to be trained in any way and can be as aggressive as they want because they are so small just pisses me off.

I actually witnessed an extremely dominant small dog (Italian Greyhound, all of 12 pounds) over the holidays, growling at his owner's 14-month daughter ("Oh, he doesn't like her, because she isn't very gentle with him"). The dog actually bit the child (no skin broken, and the baby didn't even cry - must happen a lot?) when the dog was laying on the couch behind its owner (the baby's dad) and the baby reached for him.

This same dog bullied an 82-lb Lab off of its own bed, then cocked his leg on it (the dog bed). The owners stance: the Lab should stick up for herself.

But he's small, so it's OK, right?

I used to go. I used to think it was a great idea. Until my dog got beat up so many times, he is dog aggressive now.
Bart was the most well socialized pup you could have met. He went with me everywhere starting at 11 weeks when i got him. I took him to dog train classes, their playtime, the petstore, parks, everywhere.
Then i moved, and found a dogpark about a 30 min walk away. Perfect i thought. And all was good for several months. Then other people would bring in their aggressive dogs, and they would harass bart. They would hump him(he does NOT like that) and the owners wouldn't do anything. I would tell people, bart isn't allowed to hump, or be humped, please respect that, or, please don't let him jump on you, jump in the benches, etc. Instead, they gave dirty looks, and pet him when he did it.
Eventually, he learned to strike before he got jumped on again. He became resource aggressive, and then he started fighing with the other dogs. Actually, it was only the crazy labs/goldens under 2 years old that set him off(weird), but he would freak out when one came in.
I quit taking him inside the park, we just walk around it, in the baseball fields and the creek. If other owners are calm, and don't EXPECT him to get in it, he won't.
To make things worse, people have no clue about how dogs act. Bart never bit another dog, and never hurt one. He only ever pinned them down, and snarled. That's not ok, but it isn't him attacking another dog. He would also knock it off when i told him to. But while the "fight" would have ended in a flash, they start yelling, screaming, KICKING MY DOG, and otherwise making the whole thing worse. The owners of the 20 other dogs not involved of course not only won't call their dogs, but THEY run into it, with their dogs, and well you can guess the scene then.
Thanks to my ignorance, and to dogparks, bart is dog aggressive now to dogs he doesn't know. He is fine with our pack(my other dogs) and with out extended pack(the ones we hike with), but he has learned to make the first move.
I try to explain to people why they shouldn't go inside dogparks, but i guess until their dog gets hospitalized, they will still take the lazy way out and go to the dp instead of walking them.

Yeah, me too. I'm a big time offender of going to the dog park and inviting others.

That ended almost a year ago. THANK THE MIGHTY LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But, when I first got my dog, when she was old enough, I'd take her there for exercise. About 1-2 times a week. I even found a Boxer meetup online and went when they had the meetups. IT WAS TOTAL MAYHEM!! On my own, I started noticing how many problems would arise when the park was pretty full and on the meetups it was really bad. I started going late in the evenings or at night, when there was only 2-5 dogs. That was much better, but once I started getting more into Leerburg and I saw "the light". NO MORE, and I told everyone I used to invite, how it was a mistake and I should've never went or invited them.

Now, for exercise I take my dog on a long run, or bike ride and occasionally let her off leash in a fenced field and throw her orbee or frisbee. MUCH MUCH Better. I'm lucky my dog never got attacked to the point she is dog aggressive, but she did get her scuffles. REALLY LUCKY.

Fenced baseball diamonds are good if you want a field with a little extra security.