What Lessons Have You and Your Dogs Learned at Dog Parks (good, bad or other)?

The Good- Apollo gets to show off how calm and well behaved he is for a Border collie puppy. He gets to swim, and has even coaxed a few of his play mates to try out playing in water.

Also, I get to see some REALLY pretty dogs, and I get to get advice from other dog owners on certain things

The Bad- he is a very submissive dog, and is only half the size he eventually will be. He was ganged up on by 6 Border collie/lab mixes, who jumped all over him and mouthed him. He tried to get out of it, and I tried to get into it to get him out, but there were a lot of mouths in that mess. When I eventually got him out, the dogs all jumped on me, and one of the owners of the other dogs said "they weren't done playing with him yet" like I just took away some prized toy from their dogs.

Thankfully, he kind of forgot about it five minutes later to go run off playing with a husky puppy, but it scared ME.

Other- I have also met some park regulars, and their dogs are all nice and well behaved. They kind of treat Apollo like a little kid, and will run off without him sometimes, but his favorite game is to have a group of five dogs that are all three times larger than him chase him around the park, and when they grow tired of it, he chases after one of them.

I have not had to many issues at the dog park other than the dogs that clearly do not want to be there, lately there have been a few bite incidents so I do not go that much anymore, my kids are always with me unless if it is a Sunday, when I first get there I do watch all the other dogs and how they are around my kids if there just one iffy dog I keep my kids away and if the make me too nervous we leave. Tyler just runs and plays and comes when I call him to leave, so I do not have to worry about him.

I do find it refreshing to go to the dog park as well, I try to go early in the morning with the group of regulars.

I do not think anything else can be done to keep the not so great owners and aggressive animals out of the park, other than leaving, I have said something to someone before that had a very old uncomfortable dog that had the "look" I am going to bite, and right after I said that she bit another dog.

Most of my dog park experience has been pretty good. Maybe it's just the park that I used to go to.

The good: The park was owned by and right next to a boarding kennel. My husky didn't like dogs much, but having a bunch of dogs nearby, most of which were friendly and well-socialized, helped him overcome some of his fear. After a few trips to the park he'd start wandering closer to the kennel side of the fence until he could approach the fence and not be paralyzed with fear. Never got totally over it, but after we moved away the lessons went with him and he wasn't so terrified.

The bad: Too many people will NOT clean up their dog's poop. I don't know how many times I picked up the scooper to clean up after my husky and wound up doing a complete sweep of the entire park so somebody else didn't have to.

Other: Everybody seemed at least somewhat sensitive to others in the park and kept their animals under some semblance of control. If a dog was NOT friendly, the owner would ask before coming in, or not come in at all and just leave, or if they were in the park and somebody else wanted to use it, they would leave. People seemed pretty conscientious about their dog's behavior.

Suggestion box: I'd also love to see staff of some sort. If only it were financially feasible! The park I went to was monitored during business hours because the kennel owned it and it was used by the vet next door once in a while as well. The park I went to also had a few large shade trees, a picnic table, a kiddie pool with a water spout for fresh water, and a small creek. I'd like to see other dog parks enjoy such features.

They were going to put a dog park in the town I'm in now. There was a big huge sign that said "FUTURE DOG PARK!" and it was in the news paper! Now the lot is coming along nicely...as a residential community!? UGH! Only ONE city park allows dogs at all, and they obviously must be on leash because it's not fenced. They provide clean-up baggies too. It's a large-ish wooded hill with 4-6 miles of hiking trails, some of it is kind of rough terrain, with beach access, surrounded by the lake on 3 sides. It was donated to the city by some guy that owned the property when he died for use as a park. :D

My experiences have been pretty much the same as you. My dog loves the park it's where I can throw her a ball or play frisbee and have her in a safe location.

I've met nasty irresponsible owners that simply piss me off to no end who don't pick up or they simply ignore their aggressive dog that's fighting with another dog. It stresses the dogs out and it stresses the owners out.

I have Park Watch on speed dial and I am good friends with most of them, I notify them when there are no poop bags, I let them know that there are aggressive dogs and their owners won't leash them up and leave, I've even so much as called 911 to report a fight between two park goers.

I used to go to the park to relax, be outside enjoy the beautiful weather and nature hang out with some great people who are true dog lovers but now I get frustrated and fed up with all the irresponsible owners out there that think their unsocialized mutt should go to the park.

Felicia, great Q that will serve to educate those that never had the "pleasure" of a day at the Dog Park! I personally would never go; heard the stories, and know about dogs not UTD on shots, not trained, aggressive, and owners that do not monitor their dogs. I vote more for a group of friends that know of each others philosophy, and trust the dogs under their care with the friendship pack.

I integrated 3 of my dogs with a friend's 3 in Fla. I knew each dog well to begin with, and really did not have any major problems. That is because I knew triggers, and body language, so any squall was stopped dead in it's tracks.

So, great story about the POOP lady.....Her breed of choice should have been a "Pointer"...lolol

Where I live there are no formal dog parks but there is a walking trail that is well known among dog owners as a meeting spot.

My experiences there were not entirely positive.

The bad: There were owners who were clearly "regulars" & felt that because of this certain rules of courtesy didn't apply to them. One lady owns several large mixes, all of which she lets off lead & run around with no regards towards what they do. She assumes that since we are all "dog people" that we OK with having her big mutts jumping all over us & our dogs. It didn't help that at the time Ava was a younger pup. She was very uncertain of these dogs & didn't appear to enjoy herself what so ever due to that.

Myself, as well as another newer person who were there, asked the women if she would please hold back her dogs & she just shrugged it off saying "they're friendly". She missed the point entirely.

The good: I did meet some other GSD people there. Sometimes we meet up elsewhere for hikes in a different area.

In general these places are not for me & not for my dog. I don't enjoy myself there & she doesn't seem to either. I stick with meeting up with people & dogs I know personally. But all & all we both seem to prefer exercising just with the two of us.

BAD: -There is one lady at the dog park that makes me leash and run immediately too. She sees my dog and proceeds to pick her up and coddle her like a baby doll and say, "Oh she just wants to be held!". No actually you crazy lady she wants to be put down so she can interact at the park. Seriously, when is the last time you picked up and hekd someone else's dog at the park.

GOOD: I have small dogs and there is a "small dog" section of the park for small dog owners to use if they want. I have learned that is the last place we want to be because there are some of the most unsocialized misbehaved hyper dogs I have ever met playing in there.

The bad: Worms, ticks, fleas, contagious disease such as parvovirus.

Untrained dogs with poor handling who can start a fight and permenantly blind your dog in a split second by hooking a tooth in the eye, disfigure permenantly by tearing off a nose, or ear, or tail, or even a leg. Or can cause near instant death if the dog is bitten in the wrong place or your dog is a small dog and the other dog is large.

Your dog may be attacked or dominated and become fearful of other dogs.

Your dog may be attacked or dominated and become aggressive towards other dogs.

YOUR dog may harm someone else's dog and you may be held financially responsible...sorry but none of us are God or Ms. Cleo and assuming to presume you know what an animal with a tiny 3 or 4 ounce brain is going to do just isn't intelligent.

Your dog may develop obedience issues aka would rather see what a stranger's dog is doing rather than pay attention to you since you've "trained" it to think of dogs as "fun" instead of training and spending time with you.

The Good: What good? Being able to watch your doggy children play? The only benefit is the benefit to the humans. Your dog can live a normal happy life and be exercised without ever risking going to a dog park. Having puppy play time for your benefit is NOT WORTH watching some idiot's 120lbs dog shake yours to death while everybody else runs around in circles screaming and yelling.

Everything that Curtis said,

Plus,

I only been near one dog park that didn't stink to high heaven of urine. I can smell them a block away. I can't imagine letting my dogs run around in such filthy places.

I have never had my dog inside a dog park. I will not risk it. so I have no first hand experience, However, one day my husband came home quite shaken, He had been walking by a dog park and saw a large dog kill a smaller dog in a very violent manner. The first words out of his mouth were "Don't you ever dare take our dogs to a dog park". After assuring him that the idea had never entered my mind. The next thing he did was pet and cuddle our two dogs.

I have watched dogs in dog parks and I did not like what I saw.

We used to go to a small and private dog park...so nothing bad there. Most owners were more or less knowledgeable and there were NO incidents

One lesson....my dog seems to be a little reserved around bigger dogs...ha ha...

He had 3 great danes come up to him all at once....and he looked a little disturbed ;)

Nothing bad...but the park has closed since then. I'm not taking my dog to the public dog park where every dumbass takes their untrained and possibly dog aggressive animals to