# Pretty upset --dog park



## JLeigh (Jul 15, 2012)

Never again will I be bringing Alice to the off-leash dog park during peak times on the weekends. I love this park but I realize that there is an element of unpredictability at dog parks that increases my liability risk. The riskiest thing is when people bring their small children. It was pretty busy there today, and Alice (unfortunately for me today) loves kids. There are picnic tables here and there, and the dogs jump all over them. I will say that I have spent a lot of time trying to train that out of her, but it sets training back some when she sees other dogs doing it. A young couple brought their dog and their toddler to the park today, and the toddler was sitting at the picnic table right at the river where most of the dogs like to congregate. Alice jumps up to greet her and knocks this child right off (thankfully, the child was not hurt --just understandably scared). The father goes ballistic and starts trying to hit Alice with a stick. Alice obviously starts snapping and barking at him. The father is threatening to call the police because Alice was "attacking" his child. The mother is trying to calm her husband down by telling him that the child is only scared and that hitting the dog WOULD make it attack. We left immediately. *I* called the police a bit later because I didn't know how I should have handled this or if I should have called them at the time. They told me that I should have called them the instant the guy started hitting our dog because HE would have been in trouble. Well, I'm glad I didn't because I would have felt AWFUL if the guy had been arrested. I realize that he was in panic mode. However, he was completely out of control. 

With all that said, (and I hope I don't get flamed for this) I do not understand why parents bring their tiny children to an off-leash dog park! A pack of dogs running around and jumping and playing is rather a dangerous place for a toddler to be, isn't it? I'm fully aware that Alice should not have jumped on the picnic table. But, I'm also aware that stuff happens when a bunch of dogs are off-leash. There isn't any way to mix strange dogs off-leash and strange kids in a park and have a reasonable expectation that everyone will stay safe (and dog-owners not have the pants sued off them later on). 

This is more of a vent than anything else. I will keep going there because there is nowhere else I can bring her to burn the energy off, but if I see any children under the age of 8 there again, I'm either going to snap on her leash and walk to another area (the park is, thankfully, 10 acres), or I'll leave and come back later. I'm just so upset that this happened! :frown:


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## Jacksons Mom (Jun 13, 2010)

Sorry, but I think young children in a dog park is just stupid. I don't really mind it personally, my dog is fine with kids, but as a parent you should expect that your kid is most likely going to get jumped on, knocked over, licked, or whatever and NOT be mad about it. It's a DOG park. Imagine if we just let our dogs loose in a fenced in children's playground... I am sure it wouldn't be appreciated, and also that certain kids may be scared of dogs, etc, and it would be a park specifically aimed at children. Just like dog parks are aimed at dogs... being let loose to have fun. They shouldn't have to worry about kids.

One of my local dog parks has more visiting children than the other (where it's enforced by park rangers) but I have to say there's been no major issues; except for TWO people. One mother was letting her two young children play in the baby pool for DOGS (which is disgusting - it's been peed in, muddy, dirt, etc) so I was a little disturbed by that. Another brought her young daughter in (with NO dog) just because she wanted to come look at the doggies. The child was holding a juice box in her hand and a snack of some sort. My dog is a begger... plain and simple. I am not going to chase him around the dog park telling him to stop and get off a million times. I'll restate, we're in a dog park: you're a mother with a young toddler with no dog lol. That was a little annoying. While I would never purposely allow bad behavior from my dog in a dog park, I also do not think they should be expected to act perfect, and it's their time... 

So yeah I do not believe you were in the wrong in any way.


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## JLeigh (Jul 15, 2012)

Thanks, Jacksons Mom.  This has just been bothering me all day, and I needed to vent about it. Alice loves kids, but she can be overly exuberant (she just turned a year old). I don't want to worry every single second that she's going to go barreling into a child while playing with other dogs at a dog park and hurt the child, and I don't want to be sued! I watch her vigilantly at all times even when playing with other dogs just so that I can be sure she's behaving herself and not being too rough or getting obnoxious, but a small child has almost no defense against rambunctiously playing dogs. Again, Alice should NOT have jumped on that table, period. I take responsibility for that. I will just have to be even more aware in the future, and stay far away from young children. I don't take her there to play with the dogs. Playing with the dogs is more of an added bonus for her if we run into them. I take her there so that she can flat-out run in the grassy field area. She leaps about in the tall grass like a deer and hunts mice.:biggrin:


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I'm right with you, I cannot stand when people bring kids to the dog park, its not a playground for petes sake! The parks here have a huge sign at the entrance that says , no kids under 12 allowed. But the city I recently relocated from, had no such rule, so I avoided going there because of the run ins with squealing toddlers getting up in dog's faces with parent's chatting away or crying babies in a stroller with all the dogs piling on trying to sniff while the mother freaks out. This one time, we had little bit of snow and this girl, maybe 5-6, decided to make snow angels in the middle of the park, little did she know that under that snow was a pile of dog poo.. needless to say, I had to laugh. 

I understand that sometimes you have to bring kids along, but keep them outside the gates for everyone's safety.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I think that's why there's a sign at the entrance of all (?) dog parks that enter at your own risk and parents are 100% responsible for their children. Meaning if a child gets hurt its the parents fault for not being on top of it.

That said, if I had small children they would never go to a dog park. It's just asking for trouble. 

I remember once when I took Emmy to the dog park on our nightly trip that there was a young couple with their dog and their young toddler. Dad thought it was a safe idea to carry the toddler on his shoulders to keep him out of reach of all dogs. WRONG. A big dog jumped up on the dad and knocked him flat ok his back which sent the kid flying though the air, landed on his head and was knocked out cold. I instantly called 911 to tell them there's a kid down at the dog park and of course the kid comes to a minute later. Ambulance showed up as well as the cops, questioning which dog was at fault, etc.....how is it the dog's fault?!??! The kid should never have entered in the first place. Luckily the kid left pretty much unharmed and the dog who jumped up never got in true trouble.


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## Chocx2 (Nov 16, 2009)

Well, I think it would be foolish to bring a toddler into that situation, shame on the parents.

I'm a po po, I would have told the guy to get a grip, what do you think would happen when you don't think things out.

I'm sure if you had called the cops nothing really would have happened, just calming everyone down.

We go to a lot of disagreements all day long, I think we are just like refs in fights lol, maybe thats what that whistle is for that I have lol


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## Little Brown Jug (Dec 7, 2010)

I only go to dog parks when there is no one else there. It just avoids issues, Boone doesn't like kids and likes to herd dogs, Woof doesn't like small dogs and can be rough playing and choosey about larger dogs, nothing really bothers Ranger but he barks, a lot and doesn't seem to know just how big he is. Moose in a china shop describes him. I don't believe children belong in dog parks, I think it is a huge risk to the child as well as to the dogs that might encounter someone like that father when their child gets knocked over or scared.


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## Neeko (Aug 11, 2010)

The dog park we used to go to had a sign that read "No children under age 12" but of course there were those that came in with strollers and babies in slings...


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## kathylcsw (Jul 31, 2011)

Luckily I have never seen children at the park I take Buster and Lola to. I do take my 11 year old son with me but he is big enough to fend for himself. I think it is just crazy to take babies and toddlers to such a place. And may I add that I would have gone off on someone hitting my dog with a stick! It would have gotten really ugly, really fast. What a buffoon!


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

We don't have any dog parks around here, and I think I'glad. Everytime I hear anything about them it always seems to be trouble. If we did have one, I wouldn't go.


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## JLeigh (Jul 15, 2012)

Thank you for the replies, everyone! There are no signs about age limits for children at this park, unfortunately. And, now that the weather is cooling down, I expect I won't see many young toddlers there for awhile. Thankfully, the park is huge and there are areas I can hike to where there won't be any little ones around. 

My husband got involved and grabbed Alice before the guy did any damage. Had he done any real damage there would have been hell (hope I'm allowed to say that here) to pay. I've been alternating between feeling guilty that my dog scared a child, and anger that I should feel guilty at all when I'm not the one that put that child at risk. I plan on calling the Parks Department in a bit here to talk to somebody.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

We have a dog park here but I don't go. I'm no longer someone who believes that dog parks are a healthy place for all dogs....physically and mentally. Just don't take any chances anymore.


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## JLeigh (Jul 15, 2012)

I wish I had other options, but I really don't. We would take her for long (1 hour +) walks 2-3 times a day, and she would still be so hyped up that she would be tearing our house apart and whining all the time. This dog needs to _run_. Once we found this place, all that stopped. We take her there for 1 1/2-2 hours every single day, and she's a very happy camper. It's not your typical dog park. As I described in another thread, it's 10 acres (I thought it was 5 acres, but the website says 10) of river, woods, grassy fields, and hills. That means it's easier for me to avoid other dogs if I want to, or small children. She has a pretty solid recall, so that helps too. Still, as yesterday's incident proves, there's still an element of risk. I'll never take her to a typical dog park around here. They are always crammed with dogs and people and kids. WAY too crowded for my comfort level. 

Anyway, new rules for us are: during the week we can take her during the day as long as we leave by 3, and on the weekends, not until after 4pm. It's deader than a door-nail at the park during those times, so I'll feel much better going.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I use old logging roads and abandoned places like an old campground to run my dogs, I don't like dogs parks and never use them!


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## JLeigh (Jul 15, 2012)

That sounds like a good idea. I'll have to look around here to see if there is anything like that. We live in the city of Milwaukee, WI. If anyone from this area knows of any places off the beaten path where I could take her to run, I would love to hear about it.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

We have no dog parks here and I'm glad. We have a fenced in ballfield that some of us use as a dog park. We were there once, we see a family come in. In the time it took us to gather our three dogs, another dog started running after the ball to catch....dog ran after kid, kid starts screaming and running away. Two of my dogs start running with other dogs. Kid falls down, a bunch of dogs all around him. Stupid father says he's afraid of dogs. What a dumb a**. Why not wait til the dogs leave before entering a field with a dozen dogs with a kid scared of them?


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## Chocx2 (Nov 16, 2009)

We have some dog parks, but I wouldn't and haven't brought my crew to them. I too take them to empty areas to run them. And I have a friend who lets me use his cattle land to train on, I just have to watch out for gators in the lakes and snakes around in the fields, but I bring a gun with me to take care of any of that.

My dad tried to bring his dog to the park, his dog is so carefree but some of those other dogs aren't so he stopped taking her, they both swim in the pool three times a day lol


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## nupe (Apr 26, 2011)

Just a little off topic here or maybe not....I take Buddy out to a park here in Queens, Ny...that has a big Tennis court...when no one is in there I take him in shut the gate and just let him run until he gets tired...playing fetch with him with a tennis ball...I definitely do not like dog parks, because you never know what owner and what dog will show up!!....some owners think they have their dog under control until they DONT!!...Just saying!

possted this in a similar...""I HATE DOG PARKS ...THREAD""/....FIGURE ITS APPROPRIATE HERE TO LOL


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## StdPooDad (Mar 16, 2012)

Truer words have never been spoken! (or typed)



nupe said:


> some owners think they have their dog under control until they DONT!!...Just saying!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

StdPooDad said:


> Truer words have never been spoken! (or typed)


It's actually a rarity for people have true control over their dogs.


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## dogdragoness (Sep 9, 2012)

i hate kids, even on the best circulstances... i really hate kids with entitled or stupid parents. they invade every aspect of my life & even insist on inserting themselves into places that are SUPPOSED to be for dogs to be dogs, now we have to wwatch out dogs there because some stupid person brought their darn kid... really raises my hackles. i mean thats what Chucky Cheese & Toyr R Us is for... for KIDS to go & do THEIR thing!!! places like petco & petsmart & dog parks are OUR chucky cheese & toys R us... please stop ruining it for us.

that being said, if someone tried to hit my dog, you would have me to deal with no doubt about that, most DP's have rules saying no kids under a certain age, if someone is breaking the rules, i have no probs bringing it to their attention, if they refuse to leave, then i say they are there at their own risk & what happens happens.

i would not have left i would have let him call the cops, then told them that he had a kid who was younger then the posted age, therefore he was the one breaking the rules, not me & my dog. i have been in a situation like that before with Izze when i lived in the city, she is great with other dogs (didnt herd them) but hated kids & didnt want to be petted by strangers, so yes i got into a few skermishes on her behalf but hell... its a DP i am the one who is supposed to be there... why should i have to leave if i am not the one in the wrong, i say any parent stupid enough to do that gets what comin' to em & i dont feel sorry for them.


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

I avoid dog parks like the plague for the most part. I've only been to one, and it is never busy. No one is ever there, and the one time some one was, it was just a man and his malimute.


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