i'd only recently discovered this dog park and began going around one to two times a week for the…read morepast few weeks, as i work in the area and it's a nice reprieve for my puppy after she's spent long hours in my office. it's clean and expansive, split into an area for small dogs, an area for large dogs, and a grassy hill that overlooks a pond--it's very lovely. the people have always been great too. they're very friendly and kind, and the park is always clean. i've really enjoyed it.
however, ever since day one, i've noticed an older guy bringing his dog in who is not well-socialized with other dogs. (chances are, if you're there and you're hearing a dog snap or snarl at another dog, and its a medium-sized shorthair, tan coat, it's his). at first i looked the other way because my puppy's interactions were few and far between, and what little snips and snarls this dog did at her were at the very least good learning experiences: some dogs aren't your friends, some can be dangerous, learn to read the signs.
but this guy kept showing up. every time i was there, with this dog. and he never intervened, never showed any interest in demonstrating a single correction. the time before this, when he showed up, i left as soon as i saw him because i didn't want to deal with.
this time however he was already there, and i figured i'd just hang out for a bit and try to keep my puppy away from his dog. things were fine for the most part until the end. my puppy walked by this dog, where it was chewing on a green soccer ball, and this dog snarled and lunged after her with its teeth bared, the left side of its muzzle too close to her flank. this wasn't okay. this wasn't a playful action. a bystander made a joke, but my dog looked scared.
i was enraged. i looked at the guy but he just smirked at me, no acknowledgment of how f'ed up that was. as i was leaving i told him that wasn't cool. he told me that i better watch out because he lived there, and his dog was just playing, and he didn't even know who i was, he'd never even seen me before, etc. (we'd literally had a handful of face-to-face conversations before this incident, he'd asked me my dogs name a couple weeks before, i was very confused by this), and he took no ownership over the fact that his dog's posture and vocalizations were demonstrably not playful or friendly.
just a warning to visitors to this park: if you see a heavy, ruddy-faced white guy in shorts, wearing a hoodie with a punisher logo patch on the right sleeve (because of course there's a punisher logo somewhere), a baseball cap, carrying a Chuckit!, and driving a sedan, and he has a tan short-hair medium sized dog with him (google "american dingo"), i recommend that you either leave or check to see if your insurance covers aggressive dog bites.