Opinions about dog parks - Page 3

Thanks, guys. For some reason, that particular evening was German Shepherd time. The Kong belonged to the long haired Shepherd, which was a pound rescue. (His owners are the ones throwing the Kong.) My god, was he ever a gorgeous dog! Beautifully proportioned, nice manners...though he did tend to hog the Kong! I love the pic of him with his front legs buried so far under his body that it looks like he doesn't have any!

My two are the ones closest to the view in the pic of the red-haired woman, and my rescue is the one begging for the Kong in the pic of the single dog. (And yes, after seeing these pics, I have to agree with the person who assessed his build, and said he had weak, splayed feet...)

Dogs are pack animals - dog parks are fluid packs and just a fight waiting to happen!  Wolf packs don't all mingle together  -  it's not natural behaviour.

I use to do them (and ended up with two dog aggressive dogs!) and I will NEVER do it again!  The list of what's wrong with them is too long to go into (lots of the points were covered already) but when I want to socialize my dog with another dog I let my OWN pack interact.  I AM THE PACK LEADER - my dogs should look to me and when they see another dog somewhere and say "now what fun stuff are we going to do????" instead of thinking they are EVER going to meet a strange dog!

I think it also needs to be mentioned that some people think a dog is a dog is a dog.....  Never bring a puppy to a dog park (diseases aside) it's not proper socialization (puppies should play with puppies or dogs whose temperaments are well known). 

I use to fight this issue and want to have my dogs go and play. I stopped years ago and have to admit the vote for NO, is the correct one.

They had a large function there in the Am, so the park was full of Danes, Pitts, Rotties, GSD, Huskie's and the like. They were all lose and no issues.

Mother brings in her 10 year old (about) child and one of those little mop dogs, dog is on leash and the other end of the leash is the child and Mother is nowhere to been seen. It is starting to pick at me that there is a circle of dogs forming around the girl and her dog and less and less dogs roaming on their own. It dawned on me that dam thing was in heat. I asked the little girl if her dog was in heat and she told me yes, but she is past the time she can get pregnant. At this point I started VERY loudly telling everyone to get their dog. I could not beleive the stupidity of the Mother, and a breeder. Not only was there going to be a fight between the dogs and alot of them, the child was on the other end of that leash.

I think that taking a dog to a public (not private) dog park is a bad idea. I have never done it and probably never will. I have seen private dog care and play parks that were well-organized and clean, but of course they have standards and cost money.

I used to enjoy taking a dog or two to a "dog walk" that was sponsored in the spring by the city's park authority. It was usually enjoyable for the dogs, and a good way to waste a Saturday morning. But, since my dogs don't play well with others they are always under my control. I cannot say the same about other people who have no control over their dogs; get too close and allow a bad situation to begin. The repeated occurrences of these things caused me to leave the last one I attended and never return. There was just too much risk for a dog fight, and the possibility of injury to another person.

The dogs do need CONTROLLED socialization with other dogs and people, and I know that dog parks sound like an excellent idea for this. Perhaps they would be, if all dogs present were vaccinated, healthy and under the control of their owners. Pipe dream-I know!

Regards,

Bob-O