Dog Parks

[Guest Judynyc]

Being in a city, a dog park is the only place I can allow Leyla off leash...so we do go every evening.

She is quite the social butterfly in that she flits from person to person for petting and admiration. I swear she's thinking "aren't I so pretty?" as she stands there.

 

If she feels like it, she'll engage in some chasing...but she doesn't like the hard surface for running, my princess and her senstive feet!!

 

Leyla has excellent dog skills so I don't worry about her with other dogs....she knows just the right thing to do and so I trust her.

 

But mostly, she forages like a goat!!

[Guest kydie]

No dog park here, and if there were I wouln't go, I have a thing about other people's dogs, never know if they have fleas, upto date on vaccines, and worms, NO NO NO, not for me!

[Guest Morgaynn]

Sometimes when I take Nike, we end up having the park all to ourselves... On these occasions she sniffs and pees, sniffs and poos, sniffs and if the pool is out takes a dip and is ready to go home..

 

 

The rest of the time I take Nike, I'm usually meeting Darlene and her pack out there and they'll romp a bit, and Nike will steal some scritchens, or she'll run off with the pack and flirt with Spy

 

I generally like going to the park with Darlene and her pack more than I like going by myself. It feels like Nike is bored with no other hounds there... She's not real sure what to do with other dogs.. Unless its Alice the Viszula.. she loves Alice

[Guest WhiteWave]

Other than the dog beach, we really don't go to dog parks except for special occasions like a walk-a-thon or MnG that happens to be near a dog park. I will let the dogs go in and run around.

 

Ronon is fine with other dogs. He is horrified of new people. He will go to great extremes to keep away from people. He usually sticks to me like superglue.

 

One reason I don't like dog parks is they tend to be dominanted by unruly dogs. German Shepherds IME tend to be the worst. Ronon was attacked by one at a park b/c he walked in between him and his ball. Thankfully Casper was right beside him and Ronon hid behind him. Not too many dogs stupid enough to take on a 125lb Dogo Argentino.

 

Some parks are better than others. There is 2 in Tampa that I've been too, one is horrible, but about 5 minutes away is a really nice one. So my suggestion if you are going to go, google dog parks in your area and check them all out!

[tra708]

we used to take Abby to the dog park several times a month. she was a very intense player and would try to race every dog. she didn't come from the track, but boy was she fast..... Jackie, our new grey, has been to the same dog park twice so far. both times, it was fairly empty (it's so darn hot). she was nice to the other dogs, and spent most of her time sniffing and exploring. she raced until she was 5, and did very well, but now she doesn't like to run much. or get up off the couch.

[Guest Meirowitz]

I started taking my grey to a local dog park several weeks ago. She was the only grey in the park and she started to single out the runners, run them down, and then go on to the next, repeating the encounter. Harmless enough, no contact, and she was getting plenty of exercise. Then, I met a friend at the park who had four greys. Within no time at all, the five greys got along just fine. My grey bonded with one of the four others and they started working as a team, running down other dogs in a non-aggressive fashion, without contact. I then got a second grey, at which point we had six greys at the park. The six bonded really nicely and they play well together. It is a pleasure to watch them. However, I've now observed a pack mentality forming with the six greys. The other day, the entire pack overtook another decent sized dog who was causing a commotion at the park. The six greys, working as a team, ran down, corralled, and exhausted this dog, at which point my friend and I intervened and leashed all the greys. No harm was done to the other dog, except the owner decided to take his dog and leave the park. Probably a good thing for all concerned.

 

In my view, there is too much that can go wrong at a park with relatively unsupervised larger dogs. So many of the owners are clueless. Their dogs often behave poorly and they find it amusing or don't understand what is happening. My grey, acting alone, can fend for herself, but I admit feeling uncomfortable when some other dogs are too aggressive. However, greys in a pack is another story. A pack of greys, doing, instinctually, what they were bred to do, which is to run down and corral other animals, is an awesome sight. Needless to say, the conduct concerns me when it is practised in a park, and although I have yet to witness truly aggressive acts from the pack, I cannot help but feel that the possibility for more aggressive conduct exists.

 

It's frustrating, because it's great to see a pack of greys exercising themselves at high speeds, doing what they were trained to do. But I am concerned when that same pack does what they were originally bred to do.

 

There are too many things that can go wrong, and yet, I would love nothing better than to let that pack run like the wind, the way they were trained!

 

I think I'm going to curtail my access to a dog park unless I can be there at times when the greys have the place pretty much to themselves. Otherwise, a dog park can be a recipe for disaster! JMHO.

Edited July 19, 2009 by Meirowitz

[Guest luvingreys]

I have heard so many horrible things happening at dog parks

Our group is totally against them

Anytime we get together ALL dogs are muzzled

 

[Guest CarolN]

The dog park by me is hard to find, so more often than not we are the only ones there. I like to let Jack have some off leash time there, but he never runs. If I run he kind of jogs along with me, but it's definitely not running to him.

[KF_in_Georgia]

I've tried clicking "never" and choosing nothing in the bottom set of questions, but it's not taking my answer.

 

Sam is high-prey, Jacey is high-prey and an alpha-wannabe. Sam is a ditz who runs into things when he's not looking where he's going--which is much of the time. I've seen Sam deliberately head-butt another dog (my Oreo) at an all-greyhound romp in a field (four dogs romping at a time). My two would be menaces to other dogs, to each other, and to themselves if they had room to get up any speed.

[Sambuca]

Bu gets to the dog park and sniffs around, pees and poops around, then sluts around (goes from person to person expecting love). I said he sniffs and doesn't run. Although he usually doesn't run, he will run occasionally. Honestly though, Bu takes a nap almost every time we go to the dog park. It's gotten to the point that people are surprised when they see him moving.

[Fruitycake]

Monty wanders around, plays "dog in jail" at the fences around the picnic tables by peering out between the bars, and interviews potential new owners. He's only run once, and it was a riot to see the other dogs trying to chase him and falling way behind (but Monty looked so happy).

 

We go to the dog park to try to get Allie (non-grey) some exercise and socialization time in because she needs it. We really want her to be able to play, but she does not understand how to play with other dogs. Play bows get a stiff head turn away (even from dogs that weigh less than a quarter of her weight). She usually just sticks by Monty's side.

[Guest mcsheltie]

Most of ours head immediately for the lake. Who said Greyhounds don't swim!

 

We have one social butterfly (Ariel) The rest stick with us and don't interact a lot.

[Guest SusanP]

I would never take mine to a dog park, so I chose "never", but I couldn't post it unless I picked a description of what the dogs do at the dogpark, so I chose the last option--but it's not true.

[Guest mcsheltie]

Here we are at the dog park today. We sniffed around and chased squirrels It was a greyt afternoon!

 

 

 

[Guest Mom2Shiloh]

I also tried to vote "Never". I have a big enough back yard that if they want to run, they can run. I don't mind playdates with other dogs they know, but my Staghound's reaction to strange dogs is Fear since he was attacked and injured at 4 months and has attempted attacks by loose dogs in my neighborhood. To me, fear over-rides any possible pleasure he might have. We're trying to work on both our 'nerves' by going to positive classes -- but from what I've seen and heard of dog parks, none of my dogs will ever go to one. I know plenty of very happy greyhounds whose exercise consists of leash walks with an occasional ball-field run or organized greyhound playdate. It's just not worth risking tragedy because *I* want them to have fun.

[Guest Bang_o_rama]

There's a small fenced in, double gated dog park a few blocks from us. Usually there's only 3 or 4 other dogs there. Our girl likes to sniff and pee and poop and say hi to all the owners and the dogs. She's very social. She'll also chase a tennis ball and bring it back to us. She'll spend more time with us than the other dogs, but she definitely seems to enjoy herself.

[Guest Bailey5]

Bailey tolerates the fact that I love the Dog Park. Today as with most days, she greets all humans and cannot be bothered with the other dogs who are sniffing her. The people are all waiting in anticipation for Bailey to run.. But NEVER! She wont even trot unless we hold her at one end of the dog park, either DH or I go to the very end near the gate to get out of the park and let her go.. than she cant wait to jog over to the "exit"!! Really funny..

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

I used to go every day that I could. I WILL NEVER set foot in one again, with any of my dogs. My Greyhounds are a danger if someone stupidly brings a small and fluffy into the large dog area, and they are in danger if they are jumped because they are defenseless when muzzled.

[Guest Shermanator]

We go to the bark park on the weekends, super early in the morning. Usually the other people we also see at the bark are other owners who truely love their dogs, and are responsible owners who are willing to get up obnoxiously early as well.

Both boys will go in, and lope @ the perimeter of the fence to pee and poo. Patton is amazing and will pee on the fence almost 20 times. (I counted, once. )

Then, they will run with some other dogs and play, but then they decide they are more happy leaning against people, and bumping their heads under people's hands for pets. Of course, everyone obliges them.

[Guest Ross_a_Roo]

Whenever I take Ross to the park, she doesn't want to run, she just greets ppl at the gate or wants out. Most of the time tho she goes around with her nose to the ground and marks EVERY place any other dog has pottied. She doesn't want to socialize with the other dogs, and i've yet to see another greyhound out there when we are there.

[Guest BrianRke]

I checked occasionally but I wish there had been a box for rarely. I am lucky to have a dog park in my neighborhood and we walk past it almost every day. The only time we stop is when there are no other dogs there, which is rare, but is becoming more frequent as the weather is now colder.

 

As soon as I take the leashes off, its like someone just opened the gate on their box at a race. They are off like a flash! Diamond is always the fastest, followed by Frank and Daytona. I love watching them run but usually we have to leave because I see someone coming.

[Guest DragonflyDM]

Every weekend is the dog park. Boomah loves them. The only way I will get him to run though (everyone asks) is to have someone hold him and let me walk to the other end of the part. He will then go full speed sprint. Otherwise, he sniffs some dogs and some people and just walks around on his own. Even on the rare occasion there is another grey-- he just watches mostly.

 

He is a dog nerd.

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

That's funny- my two older Whippets and my Borzoi will only run if someone holds them and I hide or go way to the other side! LOL If there's not many people walking around to block his view and compete with my commands, I can make the really old one stay on command, then whistle for him from across the park. Always a crowd pleaser- but I haven't tried that in a few years.

[Guest Celestrina]

At first I would occasionally go to a dog park, but not anymore. Too many irresponsible owners. She goes one day a week to a nearby doggie daycare. On Saturdays you can drop your dog off from 10 am to 12 pm for only $10. They have an excellent staff, she has two hours to run and have fun, and it keeps her socialized.

[Guest amethyst]

My girl loves all dogs and people and says hello to everyone. She chases all balls that are thrown then stands nearby waiting for the dog it was meant for to catch up. She likes to swim or just lay in the water sphinx style with only her head sticking out, looking like the loch ness monster.