I'm commenting a bit late, but would like to mention 3 dog parks in the city of Sydney. Two were fantastic, one was not. There were some very valuable lessons I learnt from each.

Primrose park was a large, unfenced sport oval (2-3 soccer fields in one). I was boarded by bushland on 2 sides, an inlet off the harbour on one, and a road on another. For the most part, the dogs were typical dog-park types; undertrained and pushy. I went there for 3 years and only saw a handful of minor scuffles. Why? Because people all walked around the oval in the same direction with their dogs. There was enough room for professional dog walkers to play fetch with their dogs, and for trainers to practice Ob (I only saw that once, though). The only time I saw fights break out was when someone went against the flow, or decided to sit down/stay in the same place. It wasn't uncommon for 40+ dogs to be there at one time. I even went to a Christmas party where 74 dogs attended; everything from an unneutered Great Dane to a 4 month old Peke pup. It was a 40+ degree day, so I think the dogs were all too buggered to move, let alone get aggro. For people with not-so-social dogs, there was a stretch of bush walk that led to the water and a cold, freshwater waterfall. Beautiful place!

Tunks park was even bigger, and had extensive trails behind the park and up some hills. You could walk from Primrose to Tunks, which I often did on Sundays. There was also a more protected patch of water that was more shallow (no chance of bullsharks). In the rainy months, the park would get flooded up to your knees, which the dogs loved. I never, ever saw any aggression here. I think it was due to the size (it was unfenced too). And the fact that people all walked in the same direction, at a relatively fast pace (people even biked with their dogs).

Then there was North Sydney Park - across the road from my house. Boarded by 4 major roads (one which led to the Harbour bridge), and unfenced. This would get very busy, and this is where I saw 2 dogs die. One being chased by 2 larger dogs, one running after a ball, both onto a road. There was a 'clique' of people with little dogs that were, for lack of a better phrase, little mongrels. They worked as a pack and mobbed any dog they saw. People were largely stationary and let their dog do whatever they wanted. If anyone asked them (no matter how nicely) to call their dog away, the PEOPLE ganged up. There was a lot of nervousness and stress here, with not so much room to run around. People often walked here with their dog on leash too, which seemed to add to the tension.

To conclude my long and convoluted comment, the common themes of a 'good' dog park is constant movement from the owner and dog, a very large area with enough room for walking and play NOT in the same direct area, and movement all in the same direction. I should also mention that any 'bad eggs' should be reported. There was an extremely dog-aggression Weimeraner at Primrose that would go after anything that moved. Everyone left when he rocked up. He ended up biting a kid and is now declared dangerous.

Oh and another thing, I've moved houses to the suburbs. There is an abundance of dog parks, none of which I'd ever go to. They're tiny, fenced and are - at best - a calculated risk. While I literally can't with my 2 at the moment - one thinks dogs are lunch and the other has hurt a leg - I wouldn't anyway. To supplement the experience of off-leash fun, I go to ovals at the crack of dawn. There are 4, and there's always bound to be at least one that's deserted. When I have the energy for it, I take Sarge (not dog friendly) to the outside of dog parks to work on his Ob, and do some counterconditioning stuff. If I stay long enough, there's probably going to be a scuffle - a VERY good distraction for Sarge.

Thanks to the dumbass local and state councils, all the nature reserves have banned dogs. On leash and off. I understand this, to an extent, but it's really really unfortunate for the mental and physical wellbeing of dogs in NSW. Fortunately, there's a dog training centre that's opened up about 30 minutes away - trieball, herding, dockdogs, agility, Ob, nosework, high jump, weightpull, lurecoursing, earthdogs etc. All there! It's a roaring success (only been open a year, already expanding), and I find myself referring people to them all the time. If anyone here wants to make a buck, I'd suggest opening one up

Exactly, and I'd even pay a fee to use an individual area.

I'm very fortunate that within 5 minutes of my house is a fully enclosed baseball field and 10 minutes away is a fully enclosed soccer field.

At the baseball diamond, I go around and close the three gates and then turn my girl loose for training and a quick run.

With the soccer field, the chainlink fence is 9 feet high and there is only one really big gate to close. There is a baseball diamond right beside the soccer field, so it makes for some good distraction training when there is a baseball game playing.

If anyone happens to show up and wants to use the diamond or the field, I recall my girl, leash her up and we leave.

Last winter they started locking the gates so I'm on the hunt for another place we can safely train off leash in the winter.

It dawned on me reading these posts that lots of people on the board live in cities.

I take it for granted that I live in a quiet Norfolk village, with miles of open spaces where I am free to wander, without having to get in a car to get to, and can get the hell away from other people with dogs.

If people live in cities, and don't have transport, what options are there other than parks?

Where can the dogs run out?

 Quote: tracey holden

It dawned on me reading these posts that lots of people on the board live in cities.

I take it for granted that I live in a quiet Norfolk village, with miles of open spaces where I am free to wander, without having to get in a car to get to, and can get the hell away from other people with dogs.

If people live in cities, and don't have transport, what options are there other than parks?

Where can the dogs run out?

They cannot.

I suppose what they don't know they don't miss...??

I never even thought about that until this thread.

Little League fields are completely fenced. If I have a springy pawed dog who needs to run off the energy I find one of those and we play. I still keep an eye out for people approaching but I'm normally mixing in enough training exercises that people seem to just understand that we're using the field. There are signs stating that dogs are "strictly prohibited" from using the field but I've never had anybody approach me about it. It goes without saying that I never enter the field without a poop bag.

I was at training class today and had to ask a woman to watch her dog on a Flexi. She had her back turned on it digging through clearance bins and the dog walked right up to Tanner. Tanner is not dog aggressive and the dog seemed really neutral but it was a small Lhaso and Tanner is a bit rude/physical with intros. He was also already somewhat amped from the puppies in class begging him to play. The woman was highly offended. She made a snide remark about "God forbid, you sniff that dog" to her dog when she passed me later. People just don't get it.

Here any ball parks are closed to dogs and it is enforced, and frankly I can't blame them. I always pick up Ambers poop but not everyone does, and some poor little leaguer or kid on a playground shouldn't have to step in it, there's a mastiff where my sister lives who the owner walks the dog to the school next door and never picks up the waste, one ignorant person like that can ruin it for everyone else. Happily the beaches here open up in another few days.

 Quote: tracey holden

I suppose what they don't know they don't miss...??

I never even thought about that until this thread.

Tracy, it is really frustrating! We live in a really nice coastal city in So. CA. You used to be able to have your dog off leash at the parks and schools, but people have ruined it for all of us - they have aggressive dogs who have bitten, and there are always people who don't pick up after their dogs. So now there is NOWHERE except one dog park (which we wouldn't go if someone paid us). We are up in Mammoth Lakes (a beautiful mountain resort in the High Sierras in CA), and you can go hiking all over the place with your dog off leash. Kasey is always in 7th heaven here! He loves being off leash and is awesome at it - he runs ahead maybe 10 feet and then stops and waits for us to catch up, then runs ahead again. We have not run into one single aggressive dog here since we started coming up here many years ago, and that is really curious to me! But this is the only time Kasey gets to run free. Sometimes at home I feel 'claustrophobic' for him!