Off leash park in newspaper

[JazzysMom]

An off-leash dog park just officially opened a few miles from my house. I won't use it, but obviously some Basenji owner is! Here's the photo from the front page of our local newspaper, covering the grand opening of the park.

Is it just me, or does that Basenji look uncomfortable ? Ears back, tail down…..

[dash]

he looks very unsure to me too.

[Ninabeana26]

@JazzysMom:

An off-leash dog park just officially opened a few miles from my house. I won't use it, but obviously some Basenji owner is! Here's the photo from the front page of our local newspaper, covering the grand opening of the park.

Is it just me, or does that Basenji look uncomfortable ? Ears back, tail down…..

Yea I think he looks a bit on edge as well. I'd be very careful if I were his owner.

You don't like off-leash parks because you cannot control other people's dogs right? I think I remember a thread a little while back where you talked about them. We have one up the street that I plan on taking Dallas to as soon as he is old enough…although if he looks like that dog we wouldn't stay!

[sharronhurlbut]

What area in Wa is this park in ?

[Barklessdog]

Sez it all here- Why I don't go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3YihpHn4Wg

[WBL]

I think it's more because the collie mix is shaking in the pic, Tiggy gets the same look when Reggie does that by him.

[dash]

@Barklessdog:

Sez it all here- Why I don't go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3YihpHn4Wg

That is exactly what Dash did. It progressed though. And that is why we no longer go. It will only take one dog to decide that he doesn't like being nipped.

[Ninabeana26]

I think he looks happy in the video clip. I guess because I don't have a yard right now I look forward to letting ours run for a little while.

[JazzysMom]

@sharronhurlbut:

What area in Wa is this park in ?

Sharron, this is the Howe Farm in Port Orchard that you'd told me about.
I think it's been open for a while, but the GRAND OPENING
was just this weekend.

Do you recognize the dog?

[JazzysMom]

@Ninabeana26:

Yea I think he looks a bit on edge as well. I'd be very careful if I were his owner.

You don't like off-leash parks because you cannot control other people's dogs right? I think I remember a thread a little while back where you talked about them. We have one up the street that I plan on taking Dallas to as soon as he is old enough…although if he looks like that dog we wouldn't stay!

Correct. I've met too many people w/unruly dogs off-leash who insist that Fido is under voice control, or "is a nice dog". Not willing to risk it.

AND I am not entirely sure that I could control my own off-leash in a situation where they were feeling edgy also.

[Barklessdog]

think he looks happy in the video clip

Oh, the basenji is happy, it's just the looks of the owners faces, like "what's wrong with that dog?"

Or the basenji goes to far with an unknown dog that can do some damage to the basenji or the basenji does damage to a little flopsy mopsy dog. What looks like play can turn into a fight if one dog is pushed too far. You know which dog will do the pushing too.

[Ninabeana26]

@Barklessdog:

Oh, the basenji is happy, it's just the looks of the owners faces, like "what's wrong with that dog?"

Or the basenji goes to far with an unknown dog that can do some damage to the basenji or the basenji does damage to a little flopsy mopsy dog. What looks like play can turn into a fight if one dog is pushed too far. You know which dog will do the pushing too.

Ah, that makes sense. I suppose we'll see how Dallas does when he's old enough. I'm not going to rule them out entirely. I'm going to give them a chance but I think once going to a dog park you can get a feel for the people who bring their dogs & if I see any suspicious dogs I would probably bail out for mine & Dallas' safety & sanity! I certainly will be cautious because he means far too much to me (already after 5 days) to risk him being hurt because of someone else's canine!

[sharronhurlbut]

My friend Lisa Saban, who has a show basenji girl, goes to this park every weekend.
She says there is lots of places to walk the dogs, all fenced that you can be
away from the "group" if your dog is acting up.
I am going to take my 2 beloved, but sort-of-bad b's over, once the weather is better.
I will be happy to send a report.

[JazzysMom]

@sharronhurlbut:

My friend Lisa Saban, who has a show basenji girl, goes to this park every weekend.
She says there is lots of places to walk the dogs, all fenced that you can be
away from the "group" if your dog is acting up.
I am going to take my 2 beloved, but sort-of-bad b's over, once the weather is better.
I will be happy to send a report.

Maybe that's her dog in the photo?

I wish there were some way to be sure that one day there'd be only B-people there. At least then when mine act like wild animals who've never had a day of instruction in their lives people may understand a little!

[JazzysMom]

@JazzysMom:

I wish there were some way to be sure that one day there'd be only B-people there. At least then when mine act like wild animals who've never had a day of instruction in their lives people may understand a little!

Geez, what a whiner…... :rolleyes:

[sharronhurlbut]

Nope that isn't hers.
She has a small brindle girl.
But she can be as "bitchy" as a large girl.
Mostly, I think if we all want to set up a time and go, and we keep walking, not just standing around waiting for the dogs to do "stuff" we can have a fun day.
I will watch the weather and let you know when I plan to head over.
My hope is its a place we can one day get the EBC club to have a basenji fun day this summer.

[wizard]

I took my previous beastie to a park a few miles away (not nearly as big as in the youtube video) but I started first by going early on a saturday morning before anyone else got there. That way my beastie got to see the lay of the land before others came and at first there would only be one or two other dogs. Then I started on weekday afternoons (it was summer so I could sneak out of work early) so there would still only be a few dogs. My beastie would mostly ignore the others until one day when a bunch of labs and dalmations showed up. They would gang up on mine to get him to play but he didn't like that. Ganging up was a big no no with him.
I haven't taken EL D to that park yet, he's a little dog-aggressive. I'm hoping the obedience class will help some with that.

[Barklessdog]

I went to a dog park near me once when our dog was a year old. When I let him off his leash he seemed confused and just walked by my side unleashed the whole time (before he became same sex aggressive). Later some lady got knocked over by a large dog and broke her arm or something and they closed the dog park

[MacPack]

I guess we are just very lucky to have dog parks with pretty nice dogs that go there, and many people that are willing to step up if a dog is really getting aggressive. We go every day to our local park, and meet up every Sunday with the other basenji folks that we know, so our experience is very good. I do know, that all parks are not equal. Especially when they first open, people go that really aren't 'dog park savvy' and take dogs that aren't 'dog park material'. Here in Tampa, there are a couple of parks that we won't go to, but there are 3 or 4 really good ones too. A good one is wonderful, a bad one is just too stressful!

Anne and the MacPack

[sharronhurlbut]

We just had some dogs getting sick in some parks in Seattle.
Some sick person was putting bad things out for them.
Please make sure you dogs don't eat anything from these open park areas.
Lots of crazies out there.
Sigh.