What's your opinion on dog parks?

[JMCsGirl]

I love our little dog park. It has restrooms on site, several water spigots, a spigot at the front with a little slow draining bowl so the doggies can get a drink, and a separate little doggy space. It is also less than a year old so still in good shape. In a few years down the road we will see how well it is maintained. It is on our local park grounds so I am hoping that makes a difference in maintenance. There is one group of dogs that if I see them we will turn around and go home, or go in the little dog area if there is no one else in there. Other than that group everyone else has been awesome. I do have to keep a close eye on them because if Foxy is greeted by a dog who is too "friendly" she gets rather snippy. She likes the slow sniff your butt type of greeting not an in your face HI WANNA PLAY! greeting. If Autumn gets nervous she still comes over and hides behind me, but those have become less and less as she gets older. We don't have a lot of friends around here who have dogs so this has been a very big tool to Autumns socialization. She was starting to have issues with strangers and this has helped us a lot! I even think it has helped with Foxy as she has always been shy to strangers but opens up a little bit at the park. It has been a great tool for us but of course use your best judgment.

[Bonny]

I have been to a dog park just to observe & if I was to take my dog to one I would do that first of all. I sat & watched the owners as well as the dogs. I found the whole experience entertaining. There was every breed of dog you could think of & every size dog running around having a great time.

I also notice the manners of the owners. If someones dogs cut another off the owner would apologize to the other owner. There must of been 30 some dogs on a 5 acre fenced in area with side paddocks fenced in with one gate, maybe used to get your dog started in & used to the situation? I didn't see anyone use them while I was there.

[Taz_Zoee]

I only take Taggart to the dog park when Zoee is not around. So we've been a couple times in the past month. Since Taggart doesn't have Zoee at home to play with and get his energy out, the dog park is the best place for him.
I've seen owners not pay attention to their dogs. But there hasn't been any HUGE issues with this. Back before I got Taggart Zoee got into it with a Husky one time. The owner seemed to think it was Zoee's fault. Zoee's never been in a fight with another dog in her life!

Our dog park has separate areas for big and small dogs. Sometimes someone will bring a small dog on the big dog side. I just shake my head. That's their decision. Poor dog.

We went to the park Sunday morning before we got lazy and watched the Super Bowl. I expected to stay for about an hour. After 30 minutes Taggart came over to me and just stayed there. I asked if he was ready to go and he ran to the gate. LOL

Anyway, dog parks aren't for every person or dog. Just use your best judgement and if you don't feel comfortable..............leave.

[Roxyluvsme13]

I have taken Brennan to the dog park near my house; however, I will only do so if there are absolutely no other dogs there. No chance in risking a fight, but it helps him burn off energy since we don't have a fenced in yard.

If there are other dogs there on the large dog half of the park, absolutely not. That's too much risk for Brennan.

Lily has never been to one, but we used to take her to a baseball field and let her run when she was younger. Now, she just doesn't care. She's happy with a small walk around the neighborhood.

[IRescue452]

I've gone to both area dog parks for over 13 years, sometimes with 3 dogs in tow. I've rarely seen or had any problems. One park is 12 acres with a pond and 3seperate sections and is usually pretty slow. The other is almost 20 acres and has 4 fenced sections including a wooded section, two fields, and a small dog section. The second park can have over 200 dogs at one time. I love the dog parks and so do my dogs. The thing is, I live in an area where people who don't take great care of their animals is the minority. People here do everything with their dogs. In fact, until this bad economy started hitting, we had less adoptable dogs in shelters than there was demand for. You used to have to drive within a few hour radious to find a dog to adopt. All of our area dog shelters and rescues are still no-kill (except for health) because they are not the least bit full.

[Alysser]

I didn't know there were people against it, I think dog parks are great concepts when used properly by sane people.

They're a great tool for socialization, exercise and down-time. Of course the dogs need to be watched, and of course if your dog isn't good with others you have no business being there.

As for the risk of fights at Dog parks, well yeah you run the risk of that. But you run the risk of that in a multiple dog home, a doggy day care, playdates with friends & families dogs, even walking down the street.

I've been working at a Doggy Daycare for about 2 months now and if you want a much more controlled environment I'd suggest that. Not everyday, just a couple of times a week or so. It burns PLENTY of energy, trust me. It also helps a great great deal with socialization, both with strangers and dogs alike. We foster plenty of rescues there who originally were listed as "not good with dogs," when that has changed them dramatically. Two of them are now MUCH better behaved when around other dogs and they play fight rather then actually start a fight. Of course there are little spats here and there but nothing major. The dogs are supervised very well and you can even find one that has cameras so you can watch your dog online. If your dog doesn't like it, the workers will be very honest with you. They want your dog to be extremely happy to be there.

As for "reading" dogs, well that's a difficult one. You can't always tell what the other dogs are doing and if it's good or bad. At work, if we don't like what's going on we spray them with water bottles and if it escalates we use a hose, etc. If you don't like what's going on YOU have to judge it for yourself. They might just be playing but even then they could hurt themselves or another dog. You have the authority to stop something your dog is involved in.
It's only a suggestion though, good luck in whatever you decide.

[Sowa]

I live in a pretty small town. I'm not sure that we have doggy day care or places for dogs to have play times. We have kennels that board but I've never heard of doggy day care around here to set up play times. We're just about to open our first petsmart. Do they usually have stuff like that?

[Asiel]

We don't have any dog parks around here but I don't think I would take my dogs. I guess it would depend on how well it was run or monitored. We have no doggie day cares that are set up for socializing either. The only hting we do have is Petsmart and I do take mine there sometimes but I'm not keen on that because of how dirty the floors are. I do like to meet other people and their dogs and so does my dog so once in a while I give in. What really bothers me is that they have cleaning stations every few feet but some people pretend they don't notice if their dog has an accident on the floor and just walk away and leave it. And these are not pups, really never understood how grwon dogs could just soil on the floor like that. The employees then have to wipe it up and they do spray the floor with disinfectant but I still worry about my dog picking up something. Our dogs are generally exercised in trails, living in the country we are never short of those. They love to run free and sniff everything in the bush.

[IRescue452]

I don't know any doggie daycares who let the owners just take their dogs there to play and the owners stay the whole time. Don't you just drop your dogs off with strangers? I would NEVER let my dogs go to a doggie daycare and play under the supervision of strangers, especially if the ratio is like one or two workers to a roomful of dogs.