Happy 2013
everyone!! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and got to spend
lots of time with your pooches!
Now that I have
my own dog, I am no longer 100% sure how I feel about dog parks anymore. I am
not going to sit here today and tell you that they are dangerous and you should
not take your dogs to them. Rather, I thought I should tell you guys a bit
about our experiences of taking Cooper to dog parks and then try to get a
response from you guys to see you what you think about them.
Before Cooper came along, my family had a Spoodle, called Ruffi. I loved him to death. Ruffi was not the most social dog so I never got to take him to dog parks. As an absolute dog lover, I always got quite upset about this as I always loved the idea of so many dogs and dog lovers getting together in the one place having so much fun. When I was at university, I had my own little dog walking business. For me this was a great opportunity to start seeing the behaviours of many different breeds of dogs – plus it meant I could start going to dog parks – which I loved!! As they were not my dogs, I was always extra careful and more often then not, kept the dogs on lead during our walks.
When we first
took Cooper to the vet – Jase and I had heaps of puppy questions for him. Our
vet also has a Golden Retriever so we bonded very quickly. We started chatting
about dog parks with the vet. He told us that he never ever takes his dog to dog
parks because as a vet, he sees way too many of the negative outcomes. He told
us that most of the injured dogs that come in to see him have been injured from
a dog fight in a dog park.
Since that
conversation, I have been way more cautious and less as excited about dog parks.
I love the idea of a dog park for the socialisation and also I think it’s a
great way to let your dogs release a lot of their energy. However, not all dogs
are as well behaved, trained or friendly as yours. And not all owners care like
you do. We learnt this the hard way...
Cooper is only
5 months old now and he has been attacked in a dog park three times (twice by
the same dog)!!
When Cooper got
attacked the first time, he was very submissive. He didn’t deserve it - he didn't charge at this dog or get over excited like he sometimes does.
He actually lay down straight away for the dog to sniff him. The dogs body got stiff and he very
quickly started to maul my puppy!!
The community of people in the park yelled and we got the dog off Cooper
before he could get hurt. I took Cooper away from the pack of dogs to get some
water and for some time out. I put him on the lead and started to walk out of
the park. As I was walking – this dog approached us again and went straight for
Cooper. The owner of this dog was deep in conversation with another gentlemen
at the other end of the park, not even watching his dog. Why didn’t the owner of
this dog put him straight back on the lead after the first attack!? I found out
later on that this dog is known in our park as a bit of a bully and has
actually done this in the past to other puppies. The thing that angered me the
most was that the owner didn’t give a shit. How on earth can you allow a dog
off lead in a park if it has attacked a dog in the past?? That is called
irresponsible dog ownership if you ask me!! And it ruins the fun for everyone
else.
The second dog that
attacked Cooper was friendly at first – Coop was actually on the lead with this
one too and he went to sniff the dogs bottom and the dog bit him! This time
Cooper was actually bleeding. The owners apologised and told us that their dog
does not like getting it’s bottom sniffed. It is a dog!!! How can you let a dog
off lead that doesn’t like getting it’s back side sniffed?? That’s what dogs do
to each other!!
I am now very
cautious with Cooper. We go to dog parks far less often than I originally would
have liked too. And we never let him off the lead right away. I like to sus out
the environment and the dogs and people around. I also have started using the
extendable lead in the park as this gives Cooper space to run but still gives
us the control over him.
In our few
months of owning Cooper, we have come across many passionate and responsible
dog owners, however, it is those few irresponsible dog owners that spoil it for
the rest of us. I am so passionate about this... All dog owners who let their dogs off
lead in dog parks should take responsibility of their dogs so that all of
us can actually feel safe taking our dogs off lead.
Do you guys
take your dogs to dog parks?
How do you feel about them?
