"Dog park People"

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#41
I guess....I guess I don't really get the point of this blog post thing?

I mean, basically it's about a dog park where a guy went and observed a bunch of owners (and their dogs) and she took this and wrote piece about how this proves everything she doesn't like about dog parks while standing on a soap box with the token "It, of course, also depends on all these other variables...." while diving right back into them being evil and over run with morons.

Don't like them? Don't go. But seriously, I feel like they all try and say that they get that not all dog parks are filled with festering, contaminated, idiotic, brain dead humping dogs (and humans), the size of a postage stamp but there is this under current of "In a magical dream land where people also never talk in the theater" with a healthy dose of "If you're too lazy to find a better, obviously safer way to exercise your dog...." in all of these types of posts.

It gets old.

I get it, I really do. There are so many dog parks I wouldn't go to, there are so many that are pretty much setting the owners and the dogs up to fail and create incredibly dangerous environments. And then there are all the others that are run great, have an awesome dedicated human base, are huge, are practically a hike, and so on

If you have a dog park appropriate dog and a dog park that you like then people shouldn't feel terrified or guilted out of going. Weigh the risks, weigh the benefits and keep your brain engaged.

Someone had a dog with a shock collar on at the dog park today....
We have a ton of people at my dog park with dogs with e collars on and I have no problem with that. Not only did our dog park originate as a place for people to train their gun dogs (they can also shoot blank ammo there) but we also have a lot of wildlife and no fences so some use it as a recall insurance.
 

Laurelin

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#42
There were a ton of people due to the great weather and it being Sunday. I try to go on less busy times.
Our regular park has been like that all weekend. It's been in the 60s so everyone is out with their terribly behaved dogs.

I am actually missing the 30s weather because we'd often have the whole place to ourselves.
 

Southpaw

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#43
Someone had a dog with a shock collar on at the dog park today....
I'm not sure what's wrong with that. Lots of people use them for recall. That's waaayyy better than the dogs running around in prong collars that are turned inside out. :doh:

If you have a dog park appropriate dog and a dog park that you like then people shouldn't feel terrified or guilted out of going. Weigh the risks, weigh the benefits and keep your brain engaged.
This.


Although, you guys would probably all hate me because I've done a lot of "no nos." My dog's not vaccinated, I bring toys in the park, I socialize with people, text on my phone, when I was in college I brought homework to study, yada yada yada. That was back when we were at the dog park daily, for an hour+ each time, because nothing else tired Juno out. Nowadays we're just there like once every couple weeks, spend 30-45 minutes walking around, and go home. Most of the time Juno hardly even gets near another dog.
 
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#44
Someone had a dog with a shock collar on at the dog park today....

There were a ton of people due to the great weather and it being Sunday. I try to go on less busy times.
Haven't tried any of the dog parks in LR yet but we took Chloe (child) and Annie (dog) to Pinnacle today. While we sat beside the edge of the playground, watching Chloe play, someone had a shitzu/shitzu mix and insisted on letting her MAYBE 3 year old hold the leash. He took the poor thing ONTO the super crowded playground, tied him up to some playground equipment and left him there and ran off to play. Mom just watched. Dog stayed tied there for like half an hour with large, strange, rambunctious kids running around and up to him. Insane!
 

Airn

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#45
This is a dog park that had about 20 dogs in less than an acre of fenced in park area. There are like four benches and a couple trees. You do not hike here. There are not private areas. It is not a large park.

I'm not sure what training he could be doing. And it seems a bit silly to train your dog (using this method)in the middle of a half acre dog park with 10-20 dogs running around. I guess I just think there are better options out there. If I want to train Gwen I go on less busy days or to a different area.

The dog came up to me many times and I just pet it, not realizing it was wearing a shock collar. I would hate to think the dog got shocked because it came up to me. Every time he came up he was whining. I'm not sure if he was excited or being shocked?

I'm not averse to shock collars but this did not seem like the right situation for it. Perhaps it cane be explained but, again, I doubt whatever he was trying to accomplish was well received.
 

ihartgonzo

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#46
Can I just say it's annoying when people act like ALL HUMPING IS DISGUSTING, INAPPROPRIATE, EVIL AND MALICIOUS? When some one raves about it in that manner, I feel instantly that they don't have much dog experience or they just don't know dogs. Play mimics real life; hunting, mating, fighting, all of it is practiced in play. There are some serious, persistent humpers who do it aggressively - that's not ok. But plenty of dogs hump while playing, put heads over each others backs, all of that and it's nothing but playful. If the other dog doesn't like it and the humper is persistent or doesn't heed warnings, of course he should be removed! But people have literally kicked my dog in the face for air humping near their dog (who loved my dog and were playing right along with him) and that seriously pisses me off!

I think all dog owners in general could use some education in dog behavior and management. Not just "dog park people"... if anything dog park people are some of the best of the average dog owners. At least they're making an effort to exercise and socialize their dogs.
 

smeagle

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#47
Many years ago I used to take my dogs to dog parks every day. I saw so many fights, attacks and other incidents that I stopped going. The dog parks we have in my area are all small fully fenced parks where dogs are on essentially top of each other. There is no time IMO that it is ever a good idea to have dozens of higly aroused (often unfamiliar) dogs running around together in a small fenced space. IME fully fenced parks also seem to attract owners with little to no control of their dogs.

Now fast forward many years later and I don't avoid dog parks because of my past experience with them, I just see no purpose for them for my dogs. I have no desire to run my dogs with lots of other dogs or allow them to build a strong reward history for playing with other dogs. It serves no purpose to me and doesn't interest me. I don't care if other people enjoy it, I just have no desire to do it.
 

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