what do you think of dog parks

[Jaegergirl]

There's a dog park close to my house. I haven't taken my 5 month old rottie there yet. So much is said about how important it is to socialize your dog, yet when I go to training, the dogs are not allowed to sniff, play, etc. with eachother. No socializing allowed! I asked the trainers what they thought and they discouraged visits to dog parks. So how are they supposed to socialize?

Also, what do you do when you take them for a walk or to the store and there are other dogs? Do you let them "socialize" or are they supposed to ignore the others? The whole thing is very confusing to me so if anyone could shed some light, i'd appreciate it.

[lblax]

probably the worse possible exposer you could have for your pup dog parks in general are a bad idea

[lblax]

Originally posted by Jaegergirl
There's a dog park close to my house. I haven't taken my 5 month old rottie there yet. So much is said about how important it is to socialize your dog, yet when I go to training, the dogs are not allowed to sniff, play, etc. with eachother. No socializing allowed! I asked the trainers what they thought and they discouraged visits to dog parks. So how are they supposed to socialize?

Also, what do you do when you take them for a walk or to the store and there are other dogs? Do you let them "socialize" or are they supposed to ignore the others? The whole thing is very confusing to me so if anyone could shed some light, i'd appreciate it.

once dogs are brought into the human or you home pack they do not need to be socialized with strange animals the should be tolerant and non agressive you obtain this through training but they do not ( unless you chose to have other animals in your home) need playpals the have you your dog needs to look to you as the alpha and everything comes from you. socialize in all other ways with humans kids traffic situations crowds. when you pass other contrlled dogs they should ignore them and continue with there buisness

[JD102175]

We take Brodie to the dog park all the time, our trainer takes her dog to the dog park also. I posted in Chit Chat about the experience I had with Brodie just a few days ago that was very positive for Brodie and the dog that was being socialized. I don't know why your trainer or lblax have such an opposition to dog parks. We have never had a problem and Brodie has made many "friends" both human and canine. He has been able to show many people who were anti-rottweiler what the breed is really like when trained(well, we're working on that at puppy class), SOCIALIZED with both people and other animals, and loved to the extend that Brodie is.


Jaime

[lblax]

research dog parks on this forum it has been gone over and over then make up your own mind but trust me once your dog is attacked you will have many months of training and retraining ahead of you. and even if the other dog attacks first and your dog is just defending itself. oops your the one with the rottweiler no one will see it as defending himself

[RottiMomCT]

....two words: hate 'em. ;)

[Birdie'sMom]

I don't have a big fenced in back yard, like other people do, or acres and acres of land, so I need dog parks to get Birdie some excercise! I think they are great! The dogs that go to my dog park are friendly and I've never had a bad experience there. I think that it's important to socialize your dog with other dogs, especially if you plan on bringing another one into the house someday - like I do!:) My puppy class trainer gave us 10 minutes before each class for puppy play! It was great for socializing and it also got the raminess out of them so that they could then focus on the training.

[NJrottielover]

I used to think they were great and would bring my 2 rotties there, until we had a couple of bad experiences. There are only supposed to be spayed and neutered dogs there, but of course no one is there checking, and one time this unneutered pit was being very aggressive to every other male in the park. People nicely asked his owner to leave and why his dog wasn't neutered (to which he responded he hasn't gotten around to it yet ). There have been a couple of other times when there were dogs there that just shouldn't have been there b/c they were trying to attack other dogs or instigating fights. So I decided to stop going all together. It's a shame, really. My dogs had a great time and would get nice and tired out ;) , but it's not worth the risk. My Apollo is fearful and anxious to begin with and does not need to become worse by getting attacked at a dog park. I feel that with the right mix of (not too many) dogs there, it can be great. The problem is that you can't control which dogs and how many dogs are there.

[babydungeon]

i've never been but i think it would be great if dungeon was the only one there, because of the huge fenced in area that i don't have here. other than that i would worry about him getting attacked.

[Jaegergirl]

At this park, I don't know what the "rule" is about intact animals but i do know they are allowed to run around without leashes on. We have a back yard with a 6 foot privacy fence so I wouldn't need to take Maverick to the park for exercise.

I guess I would worry about the dogs wanting to fight...who'd be able to break up a fight b/w a rottie and another dog?? Not exactly what I call fun.

Like with a lot of other subjects, there's no right or wrong here and you have to do what's best for you. I appreciate everyone's comments and will do some digging to see what other comments have been made thru-out this forum before I make up my mind completely. For now, I think I will stay away from the park (kind of hard to take a 5 mon. rottie and 15 mon. old toddler there anyway)!

[MrsBoats]

I don't have one by our house....but I wouldn't go if we did. There's too much that can happen with off lead, barely supervised dogs. I wouldn't chance what might happen.

[whitney greenway]

I used to take mine to a dog park, but after seeing things that were going on, NO GO!

I take him out for good walks, and let him exercise in my backyard.

[fbkeays]

My town has what they call a dog park. It is less then a 1/4 acre, may even be 1/8. It has crushed rock(ouch) for footing. I have only used it when no one else was there, using it for a fenced in area so I could safely do off leash obedience work in a strange place. I leave whenever anyone comes in. I have watched the dogs and owners and I don't like what I see. I do know that groups of people make "play dates". In that case all of the dogs know each other- same with the owners, but even then there are problems. The reason I know this is that I go tracking in the fields adjacent to the dog park.
I used to take my two older dogs to a very large(100 acre) dog park. The first two times we had a very good experience. The third time, my young intact male wanted and tried to hump a neutered male. I had to keep dragging Duncan off of this poor dog. I never did see the owners(you would think they would come running if a rottweiler was mounting their dog- at least screaming- I would:D ) The 4th time, we were leaving and had the dogs leashed up. A guy with his very ugly rottweiler was coming towards us. Before I could warn my husband, the ugly rott attacked Duncan. Duncan needed vet care. After I got the other dog off, the owner took him and instead of leaving or even appologizing, he kept on going into the park. I now wonder if he was using his dog for fighting.
My dogs only play with dogs that I know. I expect my dogs to behave around other dogs, to ignore other dogs when under my control. I strongly feel that dogs do not need to meet other dogs on the street or parking lots. My dogs have been attacked, and it is ALWAYS the rottweiler's fault, forget the fact the rottweiler is the one leashed and the only wounds are on the rottweiler.
If you are always with the same people/dogs and they all get along, then fine. But if a strange dog(s) enter the park- the pack dynamics change and there could be problems. I am just tired of taking my dog to the vet. I also had to stop showing Duncan for more then 6 months because of that attack- he was afraid of other dogs, it took professional trainers to get his confidence back- to the tune of $600.

[RSQRottweiler]

I've never taken mine to a dog park. There really isn't one close to where I live, but even if there were I don't think I'd take him. Sad to say, but I just don't trust other dog owners enough to let my dog run loose with theirs.

Audrey

[Hudson's Alpha]

Dog runs in NYC are a way of life. Almost anyone who has a dog in New York uses a dog run, of which there are MANY! However, New Yorkers, being accustomed to this way of "dog life" know what the deal is with canine thinking and behavior, and generally 99% are knowledgeable and responsible.

A very different situation here in Raleigh, NC. Generally you have many people bringing their dogs in knowing nothing about canine hierarchy, dominance, and pack mentality. Thus, I have seen problems here in the dog run that NEVER would have occurred back home in NY!