Play or fray?

There were just a handful of us at the park with our pooches when along came two women with three large dogs. They opened the gate, released the hounds and sauntered back to their car to get water, etc. As it happens, the dogs were well-mannered and well-adjusted but none of us knew that and the two women didn’t know our dogs. I’ve seen too many incidents where dogs I’ve known as docile and friendly can suddenly become aggressive if they feel threatened.

In this instance the smart thing would have been for one of the women to stay with the dogs and the other to fetch their “stuff”. If you’re on your own and juggling dogs with all their accoutrements, then bring the things in to the park first. Just leave them inside the gate and you’ll be able to give all your attention to your pups. But NEVER leave them alone, not even for a few moments.

Here are some other things to watch out for at the dog park.

“Dogs are great. Bad dogs, if you can really call them that, are perhaps the greatest of them all.” ~ John Grogan (Marley & Me: Love and Life with the World’s Worst Dog)