Dog Park Etiquette

As most of you know we take M&M to the dog park every Sunday after doggie school. Although there are several rules that apply, here are the 3 that I think should be followed the most:

1. Children under 10 years are not allowed inside the fenced area
2. There should be no toys inside
3. Big dogs go in the big dog area and little dogs go in the little dog area

I'll explain my opinions of each...

1. Children under 10 years are not allowed inside the fenced area

I know, I know I'll get a bit of critisism from the parents, I've already heard it from my best friend. However there is a reason they have this rule and I've seen it first hand. Here's an example of it going okay. A few weeks ago I actually witnessed two mothers bring in there strollers with their babies into the big dog section. Yes I said babies! Now I know that mothers like to get out of the house as well and they can come to the park, I just don't feel that they should come inside the fenced area. Now if they kept the babies inside the carriage where it might be a little safer I might have been okay. But no, they took them out and sat on the ground with the babies in their laps in front of them. Now why might this be bad? Well dogs get hyper and they like to jump on you sometimes. Sometimes these dogs jump on me and I'm adult and sometimes I feel like I'm going to fall over. And this past weekend there was a boy in there no higher than your waist and a dog got hyper and kept jumping on him. The dad had to get in between the both of them and shield his son with his own body. And of course the boy is frightened and crying. Now what if one of these hyper dogs went to one of those mothers with their babies in their lap? How would they protect them? Roll over to use their own body as a shield?

2. There should be no toys inside

And they mean anything that can qualify as a toy in the dogs eye. There are plenty of old tennis balls out there and they get used. Most dogs are pretty decent with each other when they are used. But then there are people who bring in soccer balls and actually play soccer in the corner while their dog is playing. And dogs want to get into the middle of that. And this next one also ties into #1... there are some kids who use the leash of their dog to jump rope. To a dog... this is a toy. And of course the dog wanted to play. So what does the dog do? Jump up on the kid.. and what happened? The kid got scratched or slightly bitten to were there was a small amount of blood that was drawn. Oh and the mom went ballistic as if it was the dog's owners fault. And those people, it was their first time to the park. I had chatted with them. I'm sure I'll never see them again.

3. Big dogs go in the big dog area and little dogs go in the little dog area

There's a reason why they have separate areas for different sized dogs. This past weekend I was in the big dog area and a couple came in with their small dog. Well M&M, as a husky, is known for being a dominate dog. And well what an easier dog to dominate than a small dog. So of course she went to "greet" her and of course I had to go grab her. Mine wasn't the only dog that went to greet their dog. They finally got wise and went to the other area.

Then there was this other dog, very cute looked like a stuffed animal I couldn't even tell you it's breed. Anyway it was playing with another smaller dog (both in the big dog section) and they were cute. And if they had just stayed playing with each other they could have been fine. However they're dogs and they wanted to explore the rest of the area. Now I didn't see exactly what happened I just remember hearing a big commotion... owners grabbing their dogs.... dogs yelping... dogs barking... one guy on the ground cuddling his cute little dog that used to look like a stuffed animal yelling "get your dogs off my dog, there's blood!".

Now M&M was not part of any of this, we'd been there about an hour and half and she was tired and we were getting ready to go home anyway. But I did grab her by the collar and walked her way so she wouldn't get interested in all the commotion. But it is interesting how it's "our" fault when your tiny dog gets a bit of rough playing from our bigger dogs. If you want to play in the big dog park - buy a big dog! Otherwise your lap dog goes in the small section.

Those are my 3 cents.
~ Wolf Lover Girl