Reason #873 why I hate dog parks.

Let me preface this on a totally unrelated note: Maddox rocks. Random? Not really. In the short month he's been with me he's learned sit, down, heel, sit in heel, loose leash, leave it, come, load up (get in the car), unload (get out of the car), hand target, look, crate up, and wait, among other things.

Now on to the ranty part, which I will also preface with a bit of a story. Not an interesting one, but a story nonetheless.

Since it's the beginning of the month, everyone has new money to go pet shopping with. This is a common occurrence with my roommates and myself. We will load up the dogs (yes, sometimes even all ten of them) and spend the day driving from pet store to pet store all over the state, usually until it gets dark. Crazy, no. Dog nuts, definitely. Today we had Maddox, Piper, Ayla and Juni with us. We traversed several counties in search of pet stores, and after visiting several and nearly emptying a Petsmart clearance bin (well how else do you expect us to get toys, food and treats for ten dogs? By paying full price for them, nooooo!) we decided to let the dogs burn out some energy at a local dog park before we took the long drive home. 

There was a nice dog park in Burlington, NC, so we headed that way. When we arrived there were a bunch of little dogs on the small dog side, and a lethargic elderly black lab in the big dog enclosure. We entered and our dogs took of running. Soon several other people and dogs arrived, and one of my roommates and I commented on how bad the body language of every single dog entering the park was. Head low, body stiff, tail stiff, hackles raised, etc.

This wasn't a problem, we kept our dogs from fence rushing as new dogs entered, but soon two "regulars" came in. Seven month old siblings Goldie and Max (we were told Great Pyr/Golden mixes)... more likely neither, but I digress, and they immediately rushed Juni, who is a fairly submissive Aussie/Border mix. Lisa, my roommate, shooed the dogs away. The owner crossed his arms and gave her a nasty look.

Then a man with a young, rescue Rottie came into the dog park, and Goldie and Max bounded over and started barking in the poor dog's face. The Rottie showed extreme restraint, and was cowering, and NOBODY WAS DOING ANYTHING. Literally, they're sitting on the benches schmoozing and it isn't until the Rottie growls and nips and Goldie snaps back that anybody sighs, gets up, and saunters over to break it up. By that time, the poor Rottie had run off and Goldie was now guarding a stick from an extremely large Ridgeback. Everyone just laughed about how Shaka (the Ridgie) should just go find his own stick. Nobody seemed to care that Goldie was showing every tooth in her head.

"Yeah, she's kind of possessive. She won't even let me in bed with my wife sometimes. It's a good thing we have a couch in our room."

*everyone laughs*

"I bring Holly (the Rot) here so she can toughen up. She'll learn how to take care of herself one of these days."

*nods of agreement*

We had had too much. Then of course there has to be the one guy who brings in an obscenely obese Chihuahua mix who growls and bites every single dog in the park. The other side was now empty. I can't think of any reason to bring a dog that small into the large dog size, especially one with aggression issues, when the small dog side was EMPTY.

The dog nipped Maddox and I stepped in between and she snapped at me too. I glared at the guy who laughed and turned to the guy next to him to say, "Yeah, she usually snaps at people who try to take her away from the dogs. She's kind of sassy that way. But nobody ever minds, because they're used to being bitten by bigger dogs."

I'm not used to being bitten by dogs of any size. 

There are a million reasons why dog parks suck, and the biggest ten are below.

1. People with no dog knowledge bring their dogs there.

2. People with dogs that don't get along with other dogs bring their dogs there.

3. People bring little dogs that start things they can't finish.

4. People bring dog aggressive dogs that they swear "are just temperamental with certain dogs."

5. People bring people aggressive dogs that shouldn't be allowed anywhere near anyone.

6. People bring resource aggressive dogs... and their favorite toy.

7. People bring their unsocialized dog and expect the dog park will magically make them social.

8. People bring impressionable puppies who are shaped by the experiences they have at the dog park.

9. People expect the dogs to sort everything out on their own while they sit on their fat asses and laugh.

10. People are idiots.

I hate people. Not dogs. Not even dog parks. But the people who frequent them. I have yet to see a group of dog educated people using the dog park as an active training experience as opposed to sitting down and keeping half an eye on their dog running amok.

*sigh* Some day.