Dog park + Ridgeback Puppy + Crazy Lady = Bad day!

[Sharkbait]

Well, had the worst experience EVER, by far, at the dog park yesterday. And I have to share because I haven't had an experience like this -- ever!

Ayrton was romping around when a lady came in with her dog (Male, neutered, mutt). Ayrton wanted to play and was jumping up and down and chasing the dog and trying to get him to wrestle. She was trying to play fetch and Ayrton would chase the dog and the ball, too. Well, she got upset and told me "I needed to take my aggressive dog out of the park." Mind you, Ayrton has gone to this park every day for the past 9 months and has never, ever had an issue.

I said "He's not aggressive, he's trying to play!" She said "I know what aggressive is and how dogs should behave at the park and you can call it playing or s*** on a stick, he shouldn't be here." I said "Clearly, you don't know anything about dog behaviour, he's just trying to play! He's NOT aggressive." She called him aggressive again. I lost it. I haven't been that angry in YEARS. Well, we ended up going toe-to-toe in a pretty angry war of words and she demanded to know Ayrton's name and tag # -- as this happened, Ayrton ran away from us and I said "Quick, run away, he's being aggressive!"  We took him out, but it was so upsetting.

Ironically, our dog park has a special area for people wanting to play fetch with their dog away from other dogs. The only thing my husband said to her was "If you don't want your dog to play with other dogs, there's a whole other section of the park just for fetch and there are no dogs there." She didn't want to hear that, though!

We have done so much work and spent so much time making sure we have a well-balanced, behaved dog that it was really frustrating to see someone just throw out that "Aggressive" word! That's a dangerous word in the "dog world" and it's just inaccurate. Ayrton is big. He's also a puppy. He wrestles, tackles, and plays rough, yes. But, has he ever growled, bit, attacked a person or other dog? Hell no -- Not even close.  He's never even barked at another person, unless they are holding treats!!! Trust me, lady, if Ayrton was aggressive, you would know it.

My heart was racing and I was upset all day yesterday. I'm not hurt that she called my dog names or whatever -- it's just that it's inaccurate! I don't know if she'll "call on him" but if she does, I'm not worried. He didn't do anything but chase the ball and bark at the other dog and try to get it to play.

**Sigh**  Just had to vent!

[machem]

Welcome to your bad dog park experience.  I think everyone has one (per dog).  Were there other people around?  One of the things that I do since our bad experiences is to make sure and only go when I know my dog park friends are there with their dogs.  This is for two reasons:  the dogs are vetted, and if any nut case confronts you about anything, you have backup.  Maybe not in the muscle sense (hopefully you won't ever need that), but in the peer-pressure sense:  if a bunch of people are glaring at you and insisting your dog is a bad seed, you will leave.  We have ejected many dogs from the dog park in this way before.

Sorry about your situation.... hopefully the wingnut won't be back.

Mike

[Sharkbait]

We go every day (like, seriously, every day) and are part of the "regulars" group.  So, they ALL know Ayrton.  In fact, as we were leaving a guy we know was arriving and asked what happened and I sarcastically replied "He's being aggressive, we have to go."  He laughed and said "He wasn't aggressive yesterday."  I said "I know" and we laughed.

Ayrton has his buddies at the dog park, but that day, the only dog he knew was a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog - and they ignored each other.

This nutjob, or her dog, I had never seen at the dog park before.

[Deniseeb]

SIGH...

Yep.  Welcome to the bad dog park experience.  All it takes is one nut job to make you dread going back.  I don't think a lot of people understand the way a RR plays.  All out.  I am lucky to have a regulars that are pretty laid back. 

The only advice I can give is if you ever see her again, steer clear - which I am sure you will do.  To me, when you are at the dog park, you are there to let your dog socialize and play with the other dogs.  You are not there to play with your dog and get angry when other dogs try and play with your dog. 

Hope you have a better experience the next time you go.

Denise

[la_vista_baby]

OH geez, I just had the worst dog park experience, too. In my case my dog was attacked from behind and totally did not even see it coming. The saddest part was that the owner did not even care to try to get the dog off mine, and I was far away, so it took me time to get to the dogs and to chase the attacker away... No stitches or gory scenes, thank god, but my dog and I were very shook up.

Sorry to hear about your crappy dog park walk... I guess we all get one of those one or the other time. And Mike, I hope it is not a "per dog" frequency......

[PinkShoesGal]

I TOTALLY feel for you!  I had an a bad experience about 2 months back. Capone and I use to hit up the dog park a minimum of 4-5 nights a week. There is a section for big dogs and dogs under 25 pounds. Obviously, Capone and I stay in the big dog section. A woman brought her small dog, 2 year old toddler, and its tricycle into the big dog section. She put the kid on the bike and proceeded to talk on her cell phone. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Capone was going to go running over to the kid. He is not aggressive either, but is a huge ball of energy and could easily knock a kid over. Plus, I encourage him to run and romp and play at the park.

The woman began talking loudly saying her kid is around pit bulls all the time and my dog is not well trained. I managed to distract Capone but he went back to investigate a few minutes later. The woman began mumbling under her breath and I had enough. (If there's one thing I've learned about living in South Florida, it's that sometimes you have to be a you-know-what). I told her I thought it was ignorant of her to bring her child into a dirty dog park with large dogs running off-leash. There was quite a scene with her screaming and picking the kid up and trying to hit Capone with the tricycle. I yelled at her not to dare touch my dog and I did not need to accommodate her child at a DOG park. Needless to say, I was extremely upset and do not take Capone there by myself anymore. I am sick and tired of people bringing their children in to pet and play with the dogs. There are few places to take dogs. I do not take Capone to a playground so why do I need to be stressed out when people bring their toddlers to dog parks.

Okay, I didn't mean to hijack the thread. Just wanted to get that off my chest and let you know that I've been there. Don't let it get to ya!

Morgan

[Sharkbait]

Morgan!  OMG, yes!

In the summer, a lady brought her 3 year old daughter, who proceeded to play make believe by building a "fairy house" made out of ..... sticks.  Uh, yeah, that's going to work out well.

So, sure enough, the kid is running around with sticks, singing and yelling and piling them up and when a dog approaches the kid, the stick or the PILE of sticks, the mother would yell "NO!" to the dogs and swat at them. 

Luckily, Ayrton doesn't care about sticks, but the retrievers in the park were all over that like white on rice, man.  Then, when she finally decided it was time to go, she whips out the bag of treats - in the middle of the freakin' park!!- and then gets upset when dogs jump on her. 

Man, I hate stupid people.

[WAARHEID]

You can educate ignorance, but you can't fix stupid.

[rrmom]

wow, I am proud of you for not smacking her.  I really hate it when these folk ruin it for everyone else.  I hope she is not there for future visits or if she is that your other dog friends will be there so she can see what actual dog play looks like.  I am sorry you had such a bad experience.

[scrbear11]

Ohhh goodness!!!

I'm a regular... or was... at my dog park too. I got less frequently now because more and more people have been finding out about it. It was brand new and there was only a small group of regulars who went every day, but people have been spreading the word and more and more trashy dogs have been showing up. And then Zuna got sick of course too...

But the last time we went this guy pulled up and waited for it to clear out some. I was there with a friend who has a Weim, so our three dogs were playing happily. So this guy gets out of the car, and brings out his HUGE unneutered male pitbull. Our dogs all go to greet him when he comes and and immediately the dog snaps at my Weim and Zehen goes off squeeling. No blood, just a hurt pride. We call our dogs close to us and kind of hover over them. After this dog finishes pissing on every stick, tree and bench it possibly can it comes over once again. It singles out Zehen and jumps on him and starts growling at him. I get a little closer, and Zehen is able to get up. The dog goes off again. The owner says "Don't worry girl, he's not mean at all." So our three dogs go back to playing- digging their hole- and then big Pitbull comes over again. Jumps on Zehen one more time, this time, he's growling, hair is standing on his back- he's going to kill my dog. So I kick him. Owner says "Honey, don't kick my dog." Dog is still ontop of Zehen, so I kick him a little harder just as he snapped at Zeh. He ran off with the second kick and his owner rounded him up and left. All this time Zuna and Winston are standing between my friend's legs shaking. They were using her as protection.

I'm one that if I think a dog is being too rough at the dog park, or getting too carried away and possibly being aggressive I'll get in the middle. Or throw the dog off. I'd rather get bitten myself than have that dog bite one of mine. Atleast I can do something about it if I get bitten. If my dog gets bitten I'm SOL.

[Belle Bodhi]

this is why I will never go to dog parks again and its on my puppy packets - find a friend with a dog to play with - dog parks not recommended.....

[kitoyogi]

this is why I will never go to dog parks again and its on my puppy packets - find a friend with a dog to play with - dog parks not recommended.....

Yeah, I am now a believer of that. 

I quit going to the smaller, stand-around dog parks over three years ago, after encountering too many idiots.  Pretty much all the same stories as above.  I did continue to go to a large off leash area that is basically a walking path in a 90 acre wooded area but I rarely go there anymore because it just ends up as more of the same bad experiences as the smaller dog parks.  It was a better place before we lobbied and succeeded in making it a permanent off leash area.  It was a two plus year fight with lots of publicity that brought in lots of people that had no clue about it before.  It has just been down hill since then.  Xhabbo was attacked by a pit bull bitch when she was just four months old.  I think the mental damage that these kind of incidents can have on a puppy's mental development can be devastating.  I had an outgoing puppy that wasn't afraid of other dogs, now after two separate attacks during her developmental stages, I have a dog that is insecure about dogs she does not know, and can become snappy on a leash.  Dog parks can be a risky place to socialize your dog.

I think that they can be even more problematic for Ridgebacks (and other breeds), just because of how they play.  We used to go to that 90 acre park with 6 to 8 other RR's and they would all play like RR's - lots of body slamming and loud vocaling.  There were a number of people down there that thought we were letting out dogs actually fight each other.  Most people and other breeds can't handle the intensity of the Ridgeback.   

[Deniseeb]

And that's just it.  I hate to generalize a breed, but most of my bad encounters have been with pit bulls and their owners who say they are there because their dog needs to be socialized.  To me, it's almost too late when the dog is full grown and has no interest in anything but dominating the other dogs.  That is why we go to the one park we have never had a problem at and my dogs know the other dogs and we know the people there, too.... but I am sure it's just a matter of time...

I agree with you Mary Anne.  When people see RRs play, they get a little put off by the intensity and think our dogs are aggressive.  Boxers seem to play that way, too.   

Denise

[kotchfam]

With Titus we socialized him at places like Petsmart. All dogs are on leashes, and on linoleum so its a little easier to prevent issues. At the time he was our only dog and it seemed to work pretty well.
For off leash play, we found friends with dogs and really really work on recall so we can "call off the hounds(yes Sean I know they're not really hounds )" when needed. Sometimes they slack on this a little.
Dog parks are a mixed bag. We've gone to a few once or twice, but normally I'll try to find something that's suitable for me, the kids, and the dogs to just go wander around with very little distraction.
I've been lucky there.
If you guys can find a school that has a fenced in field that isn't in use and doesn't say "no dogs" it can really turn out fun. Bring a soccer ball or something for them to give chase to. It's a great alternative to a dog park if it can be found.
The only difference is that I make sure I dont let them dig in it, and I clean up after the dogs so that there can be no complaint for them being there.
I hope you guys have better luck, god there are alot of crazies out there!

Kelley

[AliCap]

If you guys can find a school that has a fenced in field that isn't in use and doesn't say "no dogs" it can really turn out fun. Bring a soccer ball or something for them to give chase to. It's a great alternative to a dog park if it can be found.
Kelley

So true - fenced in school yards are the very best - I look for them all the time when I'm traveling.....

Alice