So today at the dog park...

[skiba]

I need to vent! Have you ever been at the park or on a walk and seen something that makes you want to smack the owner upside the head? I know there are a lot of good dog owners, but I've been seeing a lot of bad ones lately.

 

I wish there was a test of some kind you had to take before you were allowed to get a dog. Some people just should not have pets.

 

Just a few things that bug:

-Not picking up your dogs poo

-Leaving your dog in the backyard 24/7

-Too severely punishing your dog. You say "No" when it happens and leave it, not continue smacking (that pisses me off) and/or yelling at the dog for another 10 minutes. (I'm a big fan of positive reinforcement. You don't hit your children, why would you do it to your pet?)

-People who take their dogs (mostly little ones) to the park and hold them the entire time.

-People who don't know the difference between play and fighting.

 

Today I saw a guy yelling at his dog for jumping out of his truck, and once the dog was back in he said "Now stay. Bad dog!" If I were the dog I'd be slightly confused.

 

 

I can't be the only one who notices these types of things.

 

 

Sorry if this was posted in the wrong section. ><

[njnovice]

Well, honestly, I probably won't be going back to the dog park anytime soon. I'm sick of idiots.

 

The last time I was there this is what happened:

 

I'm playing fetch with Mick, and some big lab/GSD mix kept getting in his face. I mean, really in his face. Chasing Mick and BARKING with his face inches from Mick. Mick tends to be very focused on the task at hand, but doesn't like in your face dogs. I asked the guy to please call his dog off. His reaction, "My dog needs to learn a lesson. Don't worry about it." Seconds later, Mick snarls and snaps at his dog. His dog runs off. A few minutes later, the same dog comes back and resumes his whole barking thing. Mick had already fired his warning shot, so this time, he chased the dog down and basically attacked him once he got him to the fence (a few seconds really). I called Mick off and left. The other dog appeared to be fine and the owner told me not to worry about it because his dog needed to learn a lesson.

 

Mick is perfectly fine with dogs that understand normal dog behavior, but he doesn't tolerate idiot dogs. The other dog was the equivilent of the really drunk guy at the bar that no one can get rid of.

[mbc1963]

His reaction, "My dog needs to learn a lesson. Don't worry about it." Seconds later, Mick snarls and snaps at his dog. His dog runs off. "

 

Yeah, that's ONE of my pet peeves, too! I tell the other owner my dog isn't going to be friendly, and they say, "That's OK! He needs to learn that not everyone wants to play!" Well... OK... I agree. But this isn't an empty field in the middle of the night with no humans in sight, which is the perfect place for dogs to work out pack dynamics. This is a PARK with HUMANS around, including me. I don't particularly want to be in the middle of a dog scuffle, and I know from experience that the typical dog walker doesn't understand dog dynamics enough to tolerate Buddy's version of "teaching a lesson," which involves pinning the other dog upside down, staring into its eyes, and growling low and hard for a good 30 seconds.

 

There's a field down the road that's a makeshift dog park. I walk Buddy by, and sometimes let him meet the dogs through the chain link fence, which desensitizes him to those particular dogs, so that as we walk about the neighborhood, he can perhaps learn to greet them without fear. (He just can't cope with large swirling masses of dogs - but one-on-one, he can learn that dogs are friends or at least neutral acquaintances.) There's one particular owner who always says, "You should just let Buddy out in the field! They'll work it out!" Well... yeah... they will. But the "working out" will mean Buddy is pushed way too fast, too far over his threshold, until he lashes out and likely causes a massive fight among ALL the 14 dogs in the field as they get excited and start pig-piling into the action.

 

Owners of non-reactive dogs who give me dog-training advice or clueless owners whose "friendly" off-leash dogs generally disrupt my peaceful walk with my reactive dog are my #1 pet peeve.

 

Mary

[njnovice]

Yeah, that's ONE of my pet peeves, too! I tell the other owner my dog isn't going to be friendly, and they say, "That's OK! He needs to learn that not everyone wants to play!" Well... OK... I agree. But this isn't an empty field in the middle of the night with no humans in sight, which is the perfect place for dogs to work out pack dynamics. This is a PARK with HUMANS around, including me. I don't particularly want to be in the middle of a dog scuffle, and I know from experience that the typical dog walker doesn't understand dog dynamics enough to tolerate Buddy's version of "teaching a lesson," which involves pinning the other dog upside down, staring into its eyes, and growling low and hard for a good 30 seconds.

 

There's a field down the road that's a makeshift dog park. I walk Buddy by, and sometimes let him meet the dogs through the chain link fence, which desensitizes him to those particular dogs, so that as we walk about the neighborhood, he can perhaps learn to greet them without fear. (He just can't cope with large swirling masses of dogs - but one-on-one, he can learn that dogs are friends or at least neutral acquaintances.) There's one particular owner who always says, "You should just let Buddy out in the field! They'll work it out!" Well... yeah... they will. But the "working out" will mean Buddy is pushed way too fast, too far over his threshold, until he lashes out and likely causes a massive fight among ALL the 14 dogs in the field as they get excited and start pig-piling into the action.

 

Owners of non-reactive dogs who give me dog-training advice or clueless owners whose "friendly" off-leash dogs generally disrupt my peaceful walk with my reactive dog are my #1 pet peeve.

 

Mary

 

I'm just lucky that Mick will immediately get off a dog with a "knock it off" command. He honestly does perfectly fine with large swirling masses of dogs, and is pretty damn good around dogs in general. His issue is dogs getting really obnoxious in his face, and I don't blame him. I wouldn't like it either.

 

Personally, my favorite time to walk my dogs is late at night. There's no people or cars out then where I live. It's a good time for me to work on obedience stuff with Mick, and Sinead gets to have a nice off-leash walk. Ginsberg, the cat, usually follows along, so we're a very odd-looking pack...me walking with Mick on a lead...being trailed by a pit bull and a big tomcat.

[MicheleS.]

Visiting a dog park would make my blood pressure rise so I just stay away. I have enough family members with dogs and dog training friends and my dogs play and socialize with them and their dogs.

[muttlycrew]

I used to go to the park a lot when I first got Stella. Our backyard is a mud pit most of the time and our park is nicely mulched. It's also a good several acres which is great for the Chuck-It.

 

Our last visit was the final straw. There was about 15 dogs there and Stella and I went to a secluded spot to play our game. A doberman came over and started to get really fixated on Stella, who like Mick, gets very focused on the game. She tolerates dogs chasing her and doesn't really adknoweldge them. But when said dog started to grab her collar and body slam her, she got in his face. He immediately turned around and started lunging and doing a type of "pecking" thing at her while barking. I calmly told the girl to "get your dog under control and away from mine". She came over and said "He's not aggressive, just playing. He won't bite". I returned with " That's great, but when rude and obnoxious dogs push mine too far she will bite." THAT got her attention. Not that Stella will bite, but she will correct....not that your average pet owner knows the difference.

 

The dog kept coming back, obviously singling Stella out. Whenever he would approach I would call her and give her the "line up" command which means lie down in between my legs. We remained that way until the stupid girl got the hint to leave the park.

 

FWIW -- I have nothing against Dobie's. My friend has 3 of them and they are the goofiest dogs.

[rushdoggie]

For a while after my divorce I lived in an apartment with 3 active dogs (two Papillons and a Border Collie) and the dog park was the only place we could get exercise. I hated it...so many stupid people and untrained dogs. I'm grateful to have a large fenced yard and plenty of dog activities to keep my dogs exercised, socialized and busy without having to set foot in a dog park again.

[Jumpin Boots]

We don't go to dog parks, mainly because we live in such a rural area there are plenty of trails and the fact that we are on 5 acres and my folks are on 10, so there is plenty of places to go let the dogs run, although I would be hard pressed to go to one anyway b/c of all the clueless people and rude dogs that you always hear about. But one thing that burns me is when we will be on a trail that is suppose to be a leashed area and some huge, obnoxious dog with come bounding up to yours w/ the owners either out of sight or so far away there is nothing they can do. Seems like most the time the people don't even bother saying anything or trying to call their dog back, oh and I love the 'don't worry, he's friendly comment.' Hello mine may not be and in fact often aren't when some strange dog comes bounding up to them. Now I will admit that I too am guilty of taking out dogs off leash in the leash areas, but not until we are far away from the high traffic areas and ONLY with our two that have almost perfect recall's (I only say almost, because they will linger after wildlife); we also always keep the dogs from going around the corner of the trail before us. It amazes me how many off leash dogs we will run into who's owner is back around a turn or two and they have no sight of what they are doing...aughhh!

 

One really neat concept that a local trainer offers at her facility is call Doggy Social Club. It's offered on Sundays, Small dogs and puppies have a seperate time from big dogs and it's basically like a controlled doggy park. There are rules; no humping, no biting, no growling or rude behavior. If a dog starts to get out of control they go to 'doggy jail' for a cool out and she is there monitoring the dogs the entire time. Dogs also have to go through a behavior check before entering. I have taken my guys to that and while they aren't real big on playing w/ other dogs, it's a nice chance for them to work on being around playing dogs.

[bcnewe2]

I have comments from the other side.

I recently took Dew (my only real friendly dog) with me on a hike. It looked like the trail was pretty empty. It wasn't. We passed the first off lead dog and I called Dew to me, held on to her collar, she wasn't on lead but I had one with me just in case we needed it. The other dog ran up and past us quickly. OK 1 dog down with no problems. Here comes another couple dogs with owners back a ways. Again these dogs ran up to us and then right past us. Again I had Dew very close to me incase I needed to do something. so by now I"m getting pretty comfortable.

Turns out we finished our hike while passing at least 8 off leash dogs and not once did we have an issue. It seems that this trail is popular with dog people but good dog people. My dogs mind their own business and so did these.

It was quite refreshing.

[bc4ever]

Flexi-leashes!!!

[geonni banner]

Flexi-leashes!!!

 

And how! I've still got scar tissue around the base of my left pinkie from nearly having it sawed off by one attached to a clueless Labrador at one end and his even more clueless owner at the other - at a dog park. :D Oh, yeah, he's friendly, and stupid and completely mannerless.

[AlexC]

Ugh, yes to all of the above. Today at the dog park--before all the screaming doodles got there and we had to leave--there was a very nervous-looking dog (L) there I had never seen before, who apparently didn't like other dogs but didn't have a problem with mine, who is very bouncy and playful but good at minding her manners around anti-social dogs (though L did mostly avoid her). Every time L would do something "wrong" (like go onto the path when a bike was coming, or go near the water she was allowed in before) the person she was with (not her owner) SCREAMED at her. A couple times the person demanded that she sit, for no reason I could see, by yelling "SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT" and waving her arm violently in front of her. The poor thing was giving out so many stress signals, was sooo anxious. I felt so bad for her. No wonder she was reactive.

 

But, after a few moments of very gentle touches, L let me pet her, crooned when I scritched her butt. I couldn't help thinking how much better off the girl would be with ... well, me. : P I'm not perfect, not nearly, but at least I don't seem to make my reactive/fearful dog worse by being there.

[njnovice]

Ugh, yes to all of the above. Today at the dog park--before all the screaming doodles got there and we had to leave--there was a very nervous-looking dog (L) there I had never seen before, who apparently didn't like other dogs but didn't have a problem with mine, who is very bouncy and playful but good at minding her manners around anti-social dogs (though L did mostly avoid her). Every time L would do something "wrong" (like go onto the path when a bike was coming, or go near the water she was allowed in before) the person she was with (not her owner) SCREAMED at her. A couple times the person demanded that she sit, for no reason I could see, by yelling "SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT" and waving her arm violently in front of her. The poor thing was giving out so many stress signals, was sooo anxious. I felt so bad for her. No wonder she was reactive.

 

But, after a few moments of very gentle touches, L let me pet her, crooned when I scritched her butt. I couldn't help thinking how much better off the girl would be with ... well, me. : P I'm not perfect, not nearly, but at least I don't seem to make my reactive/fearful dog worse by being there.

 

Sounds like they were related to the "FORWARD...ONWARD...IGNORE IGNORE" lady with the German Shepherd at the lake path I walk. I believe it was sheeptramp that said on here, "There's no situation with a dog that can't be made worse by screaming."

[moabams]

I HATE the "don't worry, he's friendly" comments, too. This is (working on was) my guy's mindset. He has a big, black (seriously hard to see at night!), goofy lab mix of some sort that wouldn't hurt a fly, but you wouldn't know it the way he rushes people and other dogs to say 'hello'. He's completely mannerless (they live 130 miles away right now so I only get to see him every other weekend, but whenever he's over he gets a crash course in manners from me) but Steve always says, "but he's friendly and just wants to say hello!" to which I reply, "he may be friendly, but you know my dog Aspen, and he's NOT, how do you know the other person's dog isn't afraid and will lash out, too?"

 

Like I said, I'm working on "was" with my guy--but he's a work in progress, too.

[shadowmarie]

I have to agree with you all. The very worst dog ownership I saw in the dog park was a couple with a very fearful corgi. The guy kept forcing the dog into a "alpha roll" whenever another dog came up to his dog and he (the corgi) snapped at it out of fear. The dynamics of the whole situation were horrifying as many of the other dogs sensed the corgi's fear and were really pushing his buttons. After about 5 minutes of this, the corgi was a complete wreck. I couldn't keep my mouth shut and told the guy he should go to a trainer, but he assured me that he had a trainer and that this is what he/she recommended! And this is why I only visit the dog park before 7 am or after 8 pm.

[pansmom]

I have to agree with you all. The very worst dog ownership I saw in the dog park was a couple with a very fearful corgi. The guy kept forcing the dog into a "alpha roll" whenever another dog came up to his dog and he (the corgi) snapped at it out of fear. The dynamics of the whole situation were horrifying as many of the other dogs sensed the corgi's fear and were really pushing his buttons. After about 5 minutes of this, the corgi was a complete wreck. I couldn't keep my mouth shut and told the guy he should go to a trainer, but he assured me that he had a trainer and that this is what he/she recommended! And this is why I only visit the dog park before 7 am or after 8 pm.

 

Ugh, that's horrible.

[njnovice]

I have to agree with you all. The very worst dog ownership I saw in the dog park was a couple with a very fearful corgi. The guy kept forcing the dog into a "alpha roll" whenever another dog came up to his dog and he (the corgi) snapped at it out of fear. The dynamics of the whole situation were horrifying as many of the other dogs sensed the corgi's fear and were really pushing his buttons. After about 5 minutes of this, the corgi was a complete wreck. I couldn't keep my mouth shut and told the guy he should go to a trainer, but he assured me that he had a trainer and that this is what he/she recommended! And this is why I only visit the dog park before 7 am or after 8 pm.

 

Some trainers are complete idiots. The trainer my mom had for her last German Shepherd insisted all dogs wear pronged collars. My mom used a choke chain. Her dog did fine with a choke chain. The trainer insisted on putting a prong on her. So she let her put the prong on, and the trainer proceeded to start yanking the GSD around to "show" it didn't hurt the dog. My mom's dog was shaking and terrified. She wouldn't let the trainer touch her after that.

 

Now, I used pronged collars on my dogs, so obviously, I don't have anything against them, but stuff needs to be done on a case-by-case basis. And a prong was VERY wrong for that dog.

[Alchemist]

We have a lovely local (unofficial) dog park - miles and miles of trails through 450 acres of mostly dense woods, with a nice stream and a large lake. Although there is, officially, a leash law, it's not enforced here, and most dogs you meet are off-leash. I've met dozens and dozens of dogs here, and most are well-behaved, with conscientious owners. On our part, I always put Duncan into a "sit-stay" when joggers, bikers, people with children, or people with leashed (or timid-seeming) dogs are approaching. We try to go there several times a week because (1) Duncan can get a lot more exercise there than he can get in any comparable amount of on-leash walking (good for his hips); (2) it's shaded (good in our hot and humid summers); (3) there's a lovely stream with a (somewhat muddy) beach where a lot of dogs congregate to swim or fetch sticks in the water. This part of it, in particular, is the highlight of Duncan's day.

 

canines in paradise

 

Today I met two Old English sheepdogs, a male and a female, while Duncan was doing his 'water rat in the stream' thing. They both seemed like lovely dogs. Noticing that the female seemed reluctant to approach the water, I asked the owner whether she disliked wading.

 

The owner told me that the female used to really enjoy going there, but two weeks earlier she had had a bad encounter with a GSD, and was now nervous to approach the scene of the crime. The GSD had initially launched an unprovoked attack on her male dog, who had yelped murder and had been bleeding fairly freely. She hadn't noticed until later that her female had also been injured in the melee.

 

I asked how the GSD's owner had responded. She said she'd been very apologetic, and had offered her name and phone number (but the person I was talking to hadn't taken her up on it, not realizing the injuries were as severe as they were). The GSD's owner also added that "normally her dog only attacked female dogs".

 

I ask you: if you had a dog that you knew was inclined to attack half of the canine population - would you allow it off-leash, unmuzzled?

 

I'm now keeping a keen eye out for a GSD whose owner is a female in her seventies. I told the Old English sheepdogs' owner that I'd have reported the dog to animal control. Maybe I'm a hardass, but I don't think a dog with this sort of issue has the right to continue to harm other dogs.

[ejano]

My beef is with the owners of "ankle biters" as my husband calls them -- and as a contractor, he's had his ankles nipped more than a few times by those little dogs "too cute" to discipline.

 

We just got back from the ice cream stand where there was one growling and yapping the whole time from it's gaurd position underneath one of the tables. If a dog even the size of a Cocker spaniel was carrying on like that around that many children (most of whom weren't more than 7 or 8 years old), it would have been perceived as a real problem...but since it's a lap dog, it's perceived as no threat even though it could do real harm to a child as well.

 

Liz

 

ETA -- Gotta add, I'm pretty proud of my Brodie. We kept the dogs in the car because it was pretty crowded (Yes, they get ice cream too), but Bro couldn't relax and eat his ice cream so I did takehim out and kept him a very respectable distance from the stand (and that little dog!). We found a quiet place to sit eat our cones some distance away from the stand where we could watch the comings and goings and he was quiet, wagging his tail and very relaxed.

[Mariji]

I have seen some real horror stories at the park. My number one worst had to be a couple of boys who brought down their Labradoodle and little Shih Tzu. Sure they were too young to have been dropped off with two dogs but the dogs were fantastic and the boys had great control over them. A lady comes in with her what looked like a Dali X it ran straight for the Shih Tzu which was completely minding it's own business and attacked it. The lady didn't take a second glance and I had to run over and separate them. the poor boy was in tears as his dog was screaming at the top of it's lungs and limping. I was utterly furious, I could have slapped this woman and her dog. She didn't say a word or even look our way. I had to calm the dog down and check it to make sure it was ok and calm down this poor little boy who was terribly upset.

 

We also recently went to the park with a girl (12) who I do private puppy lessons for. There were only about 5 dogs as we went early and 3 of them were Beagles. One of the beagles was leaping at her face continuously and eventually bit her on the hand hard enough it swelled and bled. The owner didn't even look his dogs way, I could have quite have easily given it a boot in the gut. When I go to the park my girls are well mannered, my oldest isn't allowed to chase other peoples toys and my puppy is put on leash if she is being annoying other wise all 3 of them have wicked dog manners and are just there run. If my dog attacked another for no reason or was leaping at some poor girls face let alone biting her they wouldn't be allowed down their again. And I would have alot of apologizing to do.

[lovemybc13]

Well aside from last years 4th of July fiasco with some idiot lighting off firecrackers in the adjacent soccer field.....

Lexi goes to the dog park to work, work with me and the balls. Does not like the "greeting committee" at all, in other words all the dogs come running to the gate to see the latest arrival. I have to stay with her to make sure she does not go into instant attack mode upon arrival. Most dogs get the hint that she is NOT interested in them. I do not like to see her go after other dogs and try to herd them but it happens routinely. She does not even want to drink when other dogs are at the water bowls. Maybe she knows something we don't, haha. I find it much nicer to go when it is not crowded with dogs who are basically there to run around and hump each other and pooping with the owners mindlessly chatting with others and they are NOT PAYING ANY ATTENTION or they sit down to read or get on their phones.

I am not thier day care provider, I am not their dog's playmate. If only there was lots of land for my bc to run, I wouldn't have to put up with such sillyness. Most dog owners of other breeds just do not understand how intelligent bc's are and it makes me crazy with their silly comments. I get comments like "oh, I see your dog isn't very friendly", or its a shame your dog doesn't want to play. Her ball retrieval IS her PLAY.....

 

grrrrr

[njnovice]

get comments like "oh, I see your dog isn't very friendly", or its a shame your dog doesn't want to play. Her ball retrieval IS her PLAY.....

 

grrrrr

 

Yeah, Mick will really only play with two dogs. Sinead and my mom's GSD. Unfortunately, the only place he'll play wrestle is inside.

 

Outside, he's all about balls and frisbees. He seems to very much consider it his job and he doesn't like dogs that pester him when he works. He'll sometimes let Sinead touch his stuff, but not often. I remember once my mom not getting it when he was at her place, and I said, "He doesn't want her to get his frisbee." She goes, "But that's my dog's frisbee." And I had to say in the dog world, it doesn't really matter who the frisbee was bought for. The frisbee basically is "owned" by whatever dog happened to grab the frisbee.

[lovemybc13]

ooh this pic makes me so sad. It reminds me of how my Lexi just loves the water and streams. She would play in streams for hours fetching sticks and checking out all the rocks/fish etc. But that ended last April when we were at one of her favorite spots and she cut her paw deep in something in the water. She came out of the water with her paw up and blood streaming down. It was truly frightning. I wish I could say what it was, but the vet did had to do 6 stiches. It took a month of wearing a bootie which could not get wet to heal. Probably someone thru glass in the stream. Believe me, if I ever catch anyone doing that, they will have hell to pay.

I just don't know if I could let her go back in the water again knowing what she went thru. It is a shame.

[njnovice]

ooh this pic makes me so sad. It reminds me of how my Lexi just loves the water and streams. She would play in streams for hours fetching sticks and checking out all the rocks/fish etc. But that ended last April when we were at one of her favorite spots and she cut her paw deep in something in the water. She came out of the water with her paw up and blood streaming down. It was truly frightning. I wish I could say what it was, but the vet did had to do 6 stiches. It took a month of wearing a bootie which could not get wet to heal. Probably someone thru glass in the stream. Believe me, if I ever catch anyone doing that, they will have hell to pay.

I just don't know if I could let her go back in the water again knowing what she went thru. It is a shame.

 

If she likes the water, let her swim. Dogs have all sorts of ways to hurt themselves, and there's no sense keeping her from doing something she likes.

[Tommy Coyote]

ooh this pic makes me so sad. It reminds me of how my Lexi just loves the water and streams. She would play in streams for hours fetching sticks and checking out all the rocks/fish etc. But that ended last April when we were at one of her favorite spots and she cut her paw deep in something in the water. She came out of the water with her paw up and blood streaming down. It was truly frightning. I wish I could say what it was, but the vet did had to do 6 stiches. It took a month of wearing a bootie which could not get wet to heal. Probably someone thru glass in the stream. Believe me, if I ever catch anyone doing that, they will have hell to pay.

I just don't know if I could let her go back in the water again knowing what she went thru. It is a shame.

I quit taking my dogs around water when I found old fishooks left on the bank. Well, that and a skinned cat that someone left hanging out of the trash barrel. Too dangerous. I simply don't understand some people. Were they just raised to be so negligent or do that somehow just end up that way by themselves? Got me.