Let me just preface my comments to say this is a sweet little park and, depending when you go, can be very good (as with any dog park). I've been maybe 20 times and overall enjoyed it, but have had 5 or 6 instances that, when taken as a "whole" are enough for me not to go back to this particular park again - two of those I experienced just today and were significant enough that I no longer trust this park.
My dog is about 9mos old, she's still learning how to play etc, so usually we go to the little dog side and mostly, it's fine. There is a group of 'regulars' who meet in the mornings fairly frequently, and honestly, with COVID and everything right now I get that is super important and that alone is not an issue (everyone social distancing, very respectful etc). The issue I think is, they meet so regularly that their little dogs have or are becomming incredibly territorial of the park, and, acting as a pack, are actually quite aggressive toward unfamiliar dogs. I don't think this is intentional, but I also think the owners are there to socialize with one another and not necessarily paying close attention to their dogs (who all know each other and are basically a pack). I will say after about 15 minutes of my dog having 6 small dogs literally snapping and nipping and knocking her down so she couldn't even get away, I began to honestly just shove dogs off her and it wasn't until I started doing that, that anyone from the group even noticed or tried to control their dogs. So just watch for that, first of all.
On the other occassions where this has happened (3 or 4 other times, but to a lesser degree / not quite as intense as today - so the behavior has definitely seemed to escalate....) usually I just take her over to the big dog side because more or less, those dogs are just running / playing and, if there is a dog or two I want to stay away from, it's large enough that it's pretty easy to do that. Today however, there was a large Husky dog that, as dogs do and as can happen with a younger dog in the bigger dog side, totally get that, but for whatever reason it decided my dog was the one it was going to latch on to and let me tell you, in a space of 5 seconds I watched as it bit my dog in the back leg, and then again around the neck, causing my dog to howl and try to run both times, so when it circled around to bite her a third time, I slapped it in the nose to get it away - which, honestly I wish I had not done, but it was happening so quickly I just reacted because I was trying to protect my dog (and we had just had a whole pack of dogs on the small side essentially attacking her for 15 minutes lol).
The owner, probably reacting to what was happening on his own, turned to confront me very aggressively saying his dog "Doesn't bite hard" - which was a big flag for me because if that's your first response then clearly that wasn't the first time something like that had happened. But here's the thing - if your dog has already bitten mine twice, and is coming to do it again, I'm going to fucking hit it, and if you don't want that to happen, control your dog. AND, when your dog does bite someone else's dog, maybe just ask if that dog is ok and get yours under control first - if that had happened, I gladly would have gotten mine the f*ck out of there!
So, the fact that the 'self-policing' nature of dog parks in general typcially works well, I have to say the last several times I have gone here, there seems to be a level of permissive and problematic behavior amongst the 'regulars' at this park, to such a degree that I definitely will not be going back. I know this is long, and dogs are dogs - there wasn't blood, nobody was hurt, what's the big deal you say?
Owners need to be accountable and responsible for their dogs, and at the end of the day, I have had enough (minor and more serious) instances at this particular park to no longer feel safe taking my dog there. So, just keep that in mind - at any park you go to, but this one in particular, for sure. read more