I feel dog parks are great places. Its a lot like kindergarden... you have parents that realize all kids are different and allow them to figure out play on their own. You have parents who think their kids are angels when they're devils who provoke... then when they're in fights, they claim "its your kid that's the bad one."

Keep going, as this other dog owner is probably new like you are and hasn't quite figured out that if her dog gets into a fight every day, then the park is not meant for her dog. These doggy owners typically go away after a few tries... usually saying how terrible the dogs and their owenr were!

As for the risks of worms, you run that risk walking the dog in your neighborhood. Yes, not everyone's going to have their pet up to date on immunization... but neither are the squirrels and rabbits, etc. that live in the park (and your neighborhood.) We run risks everywhere we go and its up to you to measure whether or not its worth it to you. I personally love the dog park. Yes, people are idiots at times. Yes, there's flees and ticks and just about anything one animal can pass onto another. But as I said, you can get that in your own neighborhood. Nicki used to meet at least two dozen dogs along our walks on a daily basis - can I account for their health? Their whereabouts? No.