Luna's First Fight

Amen!

There's risk everywhere. People just need to weigh the risks and the benefits for their dog not just with regards to dog parks but to everything.

I had mia as a puppy in an apartment in a town where there was not many legal places to let her off leash. Mia is not a calm dog by anyone's definition. A walk for her is a warm up. I've seen that dog go for 6 hours and come home and want to play ball immediately. So I would take her a couple hours a day to the off leash park and let her run. It wouldn't have worked otherwise. Nothing happened in those two years either that was bad. For ME it was a risk I was willing to take. The park was huge and we often went without seeing other dogs and when we did see other dogs you could see them a LONG ways away and avoid them. She only really interacted with the same few dogs every time and I knew them and their owners well by the end of everything.

But I suppose I'm just lazy.

Now that I live out in the boonies we have acreage and a separate 30 acre property to let her run on. I don't have the need anymore to take her to an off leash park plus the one here isn't the same kind of 'dog park' (It's small and fenced in).

But see, that's where you're wrong. Maybe this isn't the case in the numerous dog parks you've been to in all these states you've traveled to... But in my experience, most of the people at the dog park are responsible and dog savvy. And if someone there isn't, then those around them can handle any situation that arises. People watch their dogs. If they see them starting to get snippy, they remove them from the situation. It's not rocket science. It's not luck. It's common sense. And people do, for the most part, have that. And on the rare occasion that you get some idiot in there that wants to ruin a good thing for everyone else, they are politely asked to leave.

If you want to use this train of thought then every time you get out of bed is basically a game of rollette. Every time you get in a car, every time you do anything there is a risk. God it must be exhausting constantly thinking in these terms. Every thing in life is a risk. If you don't take some risks in life then you haven't live a life, you've hiden from it instead. Police dogs are put at risk every day. It is their job. Yet they do it. I have encountered police dogs at the dog park. if you were to tell an officer that they are playing rollette with their dogs lives going there they would laugh at you.

And you are right it is true. It is YOUR truth. It is not OUR truth. I am a rape victim and a child abuse survivor. Everytime I leave the house I am terrified of being attacked. LITTERALLY. This is my world and my truth. To me there is a HUGE risk just leaving the house. Yet others would say I am being stupid for feeling like I do. That life is a risk and if you want to live it you have to take it. And I agree and some days I can and some days I can't.

What I am trying to show with the above example is what is YOUR truth is not someone elses.

lololololololololololol!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, not all... But I'll refrain from naming names.

:hail::hail::hail:

Like 95% of the people here. I'll take my leave now! Kthnxbye!

Oh my god this thread is HILARIOUS!

Why didn't I read this sooner? I'm late and this thread is largely done but I wanted to add my two cents regardless.

I'm not offended in the slightest but extremely entertained that using a dog park is lazy. Is it for some? Sure.

I go to the dog park every day. The dog park I use regularly is HUGE. There are the fair share of idiots (bully breeds abound, dogs with muzzles, dogs who clearly do not like other dogs) However to avoid that completely you come to the dog park in the morning, and not on weekends. Is there still risk? Yup. Maybe I'm jaded since I've worked in a dog daycare for 3 years and am used to dogs interacting with others and the potential dangers it has, but also aware of the extreme positives.

Sure, I could exercise my dog somewhere else. I could risk the $250 fine for a dog "at large" (off leash) in a secluded park somewhere. I bike with Boomer and Duke at the park, there is a bike path that runs through it but is fenced off from the dogs. They run along beside the fence, on grass. I could leash them up to my bike (illegal here..) and run them on asphalt. I could just hope that mental stimulation and fetch/flirt pole/soccer in my backyard is enough too. I could just walk them around my block, how boring though.

That being I would not socialize a young puppy under 6 months at a dog park. Mostly for the diseases.

but the dog park certainly is not for every dog and people do bring their dangerous dogs there. If you're not prepared to face that, don't go. Everything has it's risks. I don't blame people for hating them though, not every dog park is large enough where you can avoid problematic dogs, or have your dog stimulated with something else (swimming, biking, nature exploration)

The difference is that in Russian Roulette, someone is guaranteed to get screwed anytime you play it. At the dog park, there is no guaranteed at all, only a risk. I've been to the dog park one day of every week, sometimes more, for half a year and the worst I've seen was a pushy chow trying to start something. A lot of people dont give dogs enough credit, but socialize dogs do know how to defuse a sitaution amongst themselves. The dog that was being push up on, simply defuse the sitaution by ignoring the dog and walking away from the conflict.

Then living life is like playing Russian Roulette, too. I could walk out of my house every day being completely fine, but the next... a truck could hit me while walking out my door, or I could fall down the steps and hit my head and die.... so let's just always stay in our house and keep away from everything dangerous in the world.

I think it's just about our common sense. I love our dog parks, though I haven't been going as often due to hot weather. We always have a good time. I try to be smart about things... if Jackson does not seem in the mood, we leave. If I see a dog that is acting or looking like trouble, we leave. If there are stupid owners there, we leave. Sure, there's been a fair share of those types of people... the ones who say "oh, my dog is just showing dominance over your dog!" or whatever, and I immediately leave. There's been a few scuffles between dogs, but it's actually very rare I've seen one. There's been two fights that I've seen between humans, quite humorous.

I will admit, I am lucky with two great dog parks. One is fairly well-known and a state park and costs money to get into. Everyone there are usually regulars and I recognize most faces when I go there. Everyone knows everybody as "Jackson's mom" or "Lilly's mom" etc. I began bringing Jackson when he was 6 months old and I truly believe it helped his socialization with dogs. He wouldn't have been exposed to so many otherwise and I really need and want to have a dog friendly dog, it's a must for me.

I will say, I used to take a big dog I dogsat for to the park per the owners request and I did not like the big dog side as much. Made me nervous, a lot of stupid owners, etc. So maybe I've just had good experiences because I stay on the small dog side.

^ The parks I take my dog to are like this, as I mentioned earlier. Not all parks are that way, but many are, and this is a very situational thing where blanket statements really don't fly, IMO.

Sure, some parks will be worse and the parks I go to are certainly not perfect, but what in this world IS completely safe?

Am I the only one amused that the main arguer in this thread about dog safety has a photo of their dog peering over the edge of a cliff with a caption about living on the edge? Not questioning the dog's safety, I'm sure the dog was completely safe, but the hypocrisy is rather ridiculous.

Not to mention throwing out blanket opinions left and right and then taking their leave of a thread without reasoning. Classic troll maneuver, there.

Oh seriously? Want to start an e-collar debate too? I would MUCH rather have an e-collar as a "just in case" if my dogs were to decide to flip me the bird vs. having nothing and having them run off. They don't wear them when out at the field where I take them anymore, but I do put them on them if they go to the beach, for the "just in case" factor. I can post videos of my dogs recall if you'd like; they're all CGC's (even the 8 month old pup) and one is TDI certified. So yeah, I'm super lazy about their obedience and exercise, yup, that's me!

So other blanket statements that paint a very complicated, situational and highly debatable subject as black and white aren't ok unless you make them? Good to know.

Maybe she has 17 OTCHs. She is clearly a superior being

If your dog has an excellent recall then why the need for the e collar? Sheena has an excellent recall. She will come no matter what. In fact She can be full out sprinting to us at the dog park and I can give her the down command and down she will go. Right there and then. No e collar needed. Now I am not saying an e collar does not have its place. What I am saying is if your dog has an excellent recall as you say then there should be no worry of them "flipping you the bird" and running off.

Luna has a Good recall for her age. She will come to the command most of the time but can still be distracted on the way sometimes. We are still working on it.

Personally I would love to see video evidence of all these training claims

I have posted tons of videos over the years of Sheena doing what she is trained to do and so on. Pictures too. Also it is easy to set up a situation for a recall video but the hard part is setting up a sudden distraction that would prove the work as relable. Sheena will ignore everything when she is commanded to come. I remember one of the scariest events I went through with her was when she was about 10 months to a year old. We were out at my husbands dads horse field. He bred quarter horses. Sheena was running around the middle of the field sniffing all around while we were up close to the corral with the horses. Suddenly just about right in front of her nose a rabbit jumped up and took off for the barbed wire fence. Sheena took off right after it. My husband and I screamed at the same time SHEENA COME. She immediately turned with dust flying up and came racing back to us. THe idea of what could have happened if she had hit that barbed wire at that speed was terrifying. If it wasn't for her recall she could have been seriously hurt. Can I prove this nope. Only my husband and I were there. And the last thing I was thinking about was the camera when it was going on. So you can set up situations to prove the dog has a good recall. But the in the events where that recall is truely needed it is doubtful people will have a camera running at the time like discribed above.

Oh no need to set up a distraction. I love watching a well trained dog work, a drop on recall demo is fine by me

Next time we go to the Dog run, hopefully tonight but might not be able to till Monday then I will defiantely supply that for you. Sheena will be very happy to show off.