Speaking of dog parks....

[FoxyWench]

i absolutly see the dilema, but those mothers need to literally leash (or stroller) their kids at the dog park...
if its that much of an issue, drop the dog off for an hour at doggy day care once a week...

i think a child properly secured and supervsed by its parent can be ok...but by secured and supervised i mean the child is not runnign round with the dogs, stays close to mommy (within arms reach) ect. if that means putting your child on a leash...I was a leash child (baby harness) and loved having that bit of independance.

[sillysally]

Originally Posted by Doberluv

Well, I agree with you 100%. (as you could probably tell from my previous posts) I'm just saying.....For a mom whose dog needs to be able to run and can't run anywhere else, who feels compelled to take it to the dog park...is trying to be a good dog Mom, but has a kid....she has a dilema. I don't condone misbehavior or preventing other dogs and their owners from enjoying the park due to rotten kids spoiling it....not at all. Those kids that run around, screaming and bothering all the dogs should instead be leashed to a fixture at the park...the drinking fountain, the park bench, the chain link fence, the car bumper or trailer hitch....I don't care. Rfffff. I'm just saying I understand that there must be a dilema in some peoples' minds. See what I'm sayin'? LOL.

I do see what you are saying. But see having a small child in the park regardless of that child's behavior is unacceptable to me. The child does not have to be doing anything inappropriate to be injured in an environment filled with large high energy, amped up dogs--they just have to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Jack ADORES kids and will let them get away with murder without a hard word to them, but he could injure a small child with a well placed tail thwap--heck, he can injure ME with a well placed tail thwap--lol.

Again, I do get what you are saying but to me it's just not an inconvenience to users of the DP, but a potential liability.

[Linds]

Originally Posted by FoxyWench

i absolutly see the dilema, but those mothers need to literally leash (or stroller) their kids at the dog park...

Honestly, I've seen worse results with strollers at my dog park than most anything else

[Doberluv]

Again, I do get what you are saying but to me it's just not an inconvenience to users of the DP, but a potential liability.

I see your point....if the mother can't protect her child...which I'm sure, from reading all these posts, they often don't. It is indeed not a good place for children.

[Bailey08]

Dober, I totally see your point.

I posted earlier about finding an "unofficial" local DP last week. When I was there, the only other dog there for a while was a 2 yr old boxer. Her "mom" was there with a 10 wk old baby (in a Bjorn). Thankfully, it was no big deal because there weren't more than 4 dogs at any one time, and all were very, very easy going dogs. Anyway, I'm sure she really enjoys having the DP for her wild and crazy young dog! It must be hard to deal with an infant and an adolescent boxer.

I kept Bailey away from the woman, and I honestly don't think he noticed the baby -- there were holes to dig and balls to chase. The woman did say that her dog was protective of the baby (just snarky -- this was a super submissive dog), so I can see the potential for an issue if it were a different situation (or if her dog got in a fight, for example, because she couldn't intervene with the baby attached to her). Fortunately, as I said, it wasn't that kind of environment.

I agree, too, that at the end of the day, kiddos should be kept safe and dogs should be allowed to be dogs in dog parks.

[Psyfalcon]

Originally Posted by Scooter

Gosh, will all due respect, if only dogs with 100% perfect recall went to the dog park it would be empty All of the time!

Fixed.

[smkie]

Nah..they would be filled with dogs like Mary, Vic, Pepper, Sawyer, and Higgs. THere are more dogs like that at our park then exuberant out of control youngsters. In general the people that come there have the kind of dogs that should be there. I have seen a problem bully dog shove each dog down the path trying to get a rise out of them. Every single owner and dog he encountered shrugged and walked around him. It was pretty dang amazing.
Maybe I just have the magic dog park. If so, lucky me.