Sorry to keep venting today, but we've had a bad week at the dog park this week with all the hormones running wild.
Today I took the kids to a park that is a little further away & we don't go to frequently. We were there about 5 minutes when a woman walks up with 3 LARGE dogs on leash, completely out of control, pulling her. She also has a very small puppy in her arms, prompting several people to offer to come out of the park & help her in (although nobody is allowed to bring in more than 3 dogs at a time). I kept a close eye on Booger after our incident earlier this week, and noticed him mounting a dog. To my horror, I noticed he was intending business, not just dominance stuff. I looked closer & the mountee was a female!!! I grabbed Booger & went to find the owner.
Me: Excuse me ma'am, is that your female with the red collar?
Her: Where?
Me: Over there, by the water fountain.
Her: (Searching for her dog, oblivious to its whereabouts) Oh, yea that's mine.
Me: Um, is she fixed?
Her: Um no
Me: Uh is she possibly in heat?
Her: No!
Me: Oh well its just that my male is trying to mount her & I was afraid he might accomplish something.
Her: She's not in heat! And mounting is just what dogs do.
Me: Oh okay, um, sorry I just would hate to end up with accidental puppies.
Her: Well she's not in heat!
I apologized & walked away, keeping Booger under a VERY close eye. At that point, she seemed to take notice that she was in a dog park with dogs & decided to actually keep an eye on her dog for a minute. When Booger approached again, she pushed him away (gently fortunately). I had to leash Booger & tried to walk him to another area, but finally gave up & came home. Grrr. If I had had a tissue I would have blotted her dog to make sure.
I just couldn't believe she had an un-altered female at the park & wasn't at all concerned that male dogs (Booger wasn't the only interested male) were attempting to mount it!!! I was more concerned than she, and I certainly would not have had to go through the pregnancy, vet visits, birth, homing in bad economy, etc…. (unless I was just a really really responsible person who felt it was the right thing to do) But she doesn't know if I am or not.
Oh, this is just awful. If the dog isn't fixed WHY wouldn't she be in heat?
Another "stupid on toast" person.
I wouldn't say you were venting Andrew. I have to agree with you. We actually had to stop taking our kids to the dog parks. Just too much bad came of it. Either people would try to give our kids treats which caused our little kids to develop the runs for days (god the misery of coming home to poop all over the stairs which took hrs to clean up) or other dogs trying to attack. Needless to say the far outweighed the good in the end and we just threw in the towel.
Too many ignorant people I hate to say. They don't pay any attention to their dogs once in the dog parks. Its as though once they let their dog off leash it becomes social hour and they could care less about their dog!!!!!
Alex and I would spend our time there scanning the area like an eagle making sure nothing could potentially go wrong.
Our dog park that is close to the house is not as closely monitored as the bigger one about 15 miles away in Chesapeake, VA. The bigger park gets regular visits from the park ranger and she does check to make sure the rules are being followed. I have seen her kick people out of the dog park for not following the rules which I think is great, I just wish that they were around to police the other park as well sometimes.
Anyway, here our dog park rules that are posted at the gates:
Dog Park Guidelines
All dog owners and their pets are welcome to enjoy this park— to insure that
this purpose is met, please follow these guidelines and have fun!
General Guidelines
Please be a responsible dog owner and follow all posted rules.
Dog owners are required to license and vaccinate their dogs and have proof
while at the Park.
Dog owners will be liable for the full value of any Park property damaged by
their dogs.
Park staff will monitor and spot-check usage, licenses, and compliance with
Dog Park rules. Animal Control will insure compliance with all City ordinances.
Dog Dos
DO clean up after your dog(s).
DO have a collar with proper tags showing licensing and immunization proof
on your dog at all times.
DO watch and keep an eye on your dog. Stay with your dog at all times.
DO everything to avoid dog fights. If a fight starts, pull the dogs apart from the
back.
DO teach your dog to play quietly. Barking or uncontrollable dogs must be
removed.
DO remove your dog immediately at the first sign of aggressive behavior
toward people or other dogs.
DO leash your dog before you leave the Dog Park.
Dog Don'ts
DON'T bring dogs that are sick into the Park.
DON'T bring female dogs in heat into the Park.
DON'T bring male dogs over 1-year-of-age that have not been neutered.
DON'T let your dog dig holes.
DON'T leave your dogs unattended in the Park at any time.
DON'T bring children under age eight into the Park.
DON'T feed your dog in the Park.
DON'T have a leash on your dog while in the Park.
Good rules and the parks we like the most have similar ones.
Vanessa, do you have another place that yours can run? We live downtown and I can't imagine what my house would look like if we couldn't take Bongo to dog parks. A tired basenji being a good basenji and all.:rolleyes:
I have to say, thus far, our good experiences have FAR outweighed the bad, which is very very good for us as our kids LOVE the park, we don't have a yard for them, and I know many on the forum no longer take their basenjis to the park because of such experiences.
Our local parks do have very similar rules including 1) No leashed dogs (in the instance of the incident earlier this week with the leashed dog's owner kicking Booger) 2) No females in heat 3) No more than 3 dogs per person (the woman today had 4 & had NO IDEA what they were up to! And one was a puppy that could not have been more than 10 weeks old.
It would be nice if we had park rangers to monitor the stupid behavior, but it would be even nicer if ignorant people just wouldn't come to the park at all.
And we also watch ours like hawks, and they keep in sight of us at all times. Booger is actually the type that if he thinks we're NOT watching him, he'll run up to us & "check in"
We drive about 20 miles once a week to a really nice large park that is occasionally monitored by park people, but the 'regulars' keep it up really well without supervision. The dogs and people are nice, and it is great fun. We have a smaller park that is close to home, not kept up nearly as well, but 5 minutes away. It is a bit social, the regulars meet up every night and watch the sun set and the dogs play, or just lie about, we all laugh about not having any social life other than dog park!
Anne in Tampa
I like most of those guidelines minus one. I think that an intact male over 1 at the dog park is fine if they aren't humping everything and fighting. Half of the dogs at my park are not neutered and do just fine.
I have luckily not had a run in with the stupid people from the first story. Once there was a husky in heat, but after two dogs tried to mount it, the girl to the dog home and didn't come back for a couple months.
I guess the one thing about the rules that bothers me is why does your male need to be neutered but your female does not need to be spayed? Is a female in heat so obvious? Could there be a possibility that you could be in heat and you would not know? I guess I don't see why the rule singles out the boys and not the girls.
Speaking as a rescue person, unless a dog is a show Ch and has wonderful test results, I think they ALL should be fixed.
I am blessed with good dog parks in abundance here in Portland. I have a choice of 12 parks with off leash fully fenced areas within about 15 miles of the house. I really have had only a couple issues at the parks here, and most of those were before I had Zaire (Charlie was one tough little pup to train). 
I also learned with Charlie which parks are the best, and have found 4 that have both all dog and small dog areas. I have to do this for Charlie as he gets a little worked up with big dogs sometimes and needs a small dog cool down.
Generally I find the folks that go to the parks here to be very responsible with their dogs. And with a wide choice of parks I can pick the ones that tend to have the more responsible owners.
Speaking as a rescue person, unless a dog is a show Ch and has wonderful test results, I think they ALL should be fixed.
Speaking as the owner of a beautiful Dual Champion sired by a completely untitled but health tested dog of old healthy lines, I would have missed out if every dog had to have a CH to be bred. Speaking as the owner of a lovely half African sired by a dog with nothing more than a JC and well health tested from health tested lines out of that beautiful Dual Champion, I would have been doubly robbed if only CHs were ever bred.
I do think that exhibiting is a part of responsible breeding but there are a lot of really deserving dogs who don't finish the CH title and plenty who have it that I wouldn't touch with a 10 ft pole.
Speaking as the owner of a beautiful Dual Champion sired by a completely untitled but health tested dog of old healthy lines, I would have missed out if every dog had to have a CH to be bred. Speaking as the owner of a lovely half African sired by a dog with nothing more than a JC and well health tested from health tested lines out of that beautiful Dual Champion, I would have been doubly robbed if only CHs were ever bred.
I do think that exhibiting is a part of responsible breeding but there are a lot of really deserving dogs who don't finish the CH title and plenty who have it that I wouldn't touch with a 10 ft pole.
Well, said +1! Showing is wonderful, but it can be extremely expensive to finish a dog if you do not live close to highly populated areas. I think function is every bit as important as form, so there more to it than perfect show scores!!
I only have one dog park within reasonable distance (8 miles) and I've only gone there a few times but I must say the people i've met have all been very nice and the dogs well-behaved. One dog did get upset with EL D when we showed up but the owners quickly picked him up AND APOLOGIZED and took him home .
Anyway - here's another rule that I've seen … do not bring your dog's favorite treats or toys as this could start fights.
I only have one dog park within reasonable distance (8 miles) and I've only gone there a few times but I must say the people i've met have all been very nice and the dogs well-behaved. One dog did get upset with EL D when we showed up but the owners quickly picked him up AND APOLOGIZED and took him home .
Anyway - here's another rule that I've seen … do not bring your dog's favorite treats or toys as this could start fights.
Oh yes.. One of the things that I like about the parks here. They all have toys that belong to the park, so you don't have to bring toys that dogs feel they own. It makes it much easier.
Good rules and the parks we like the most have similar ones.
Vanessa, do you have another place that yours can run? We live downtown and I can't imagine what my house would look like if we couldn't take Bongo to dog parks. A tired basenji being a good basenji and all.:rolleyes:
We've gone to 3 parks near our house and each time we have had different experiences which were not favorable. In the end our B's became sick and our youngest Kiya would develop severe diarrhea and I would come home to a nasty surprise. It was a disaster. Once we realized it was the dog parks and we stopped taking them there poop became solid again and I no longer come home to that ever so lovely surprise :eek:
I don't go to dog parks…. with the exception once in blue moon to Ft Funston in San Mateo... but the only time that it is really acceptable for there is during the weekdays.... and since I work, can't do that much.....
But if you can arrange your schedule for weekdays at Ft Funston, it is a great place... not like your run of the mill off lease park...
Woo. That's a drive from Pleasanton to San Mateo. lucky dogs.
my familly still lives in San Mateo, we always liked the doggie park there too.
Ft. Funston is amazing! Some years back I visited a friend in San Francisco and we took her Husky there several times…doggie heaven! Worth a long drive to go there once in a while!
Anne in Tampa, with a few good dogparks, but nothing is like Ft. Funston!
