Horrible 1st dog park experience (Long)

[tessa-leader]

Well today i finally caved in drove the 70 miles to the dog park. What an experience that was. At first it was the most wonderful thing. Tessa was burning all over. She actually engaged another boxer girl for run and play (so unlike her), we are still coming out of our shell. She allowed total strangers to walk up and pet her. I was so happy I was yelling "good girl" across the park. I was also shedding happy tears. That is when it all went south. A male "intact" boxer decided to mount her. With Tessa being so small I couldn't even see her after this boxer mounted her (she is only 36lbs). God forgive me for saying this, but this boxer was ugly. His head was huge and rounded and he was grossly overweight. Again forgive me for calling another boxer ugly. After male boxer mounted 3 other males males tried to get in on the action. Poor Tessa was scared out of her mind. It has just been the past few weeks that she has been doing so well. I thought we were going to be back at ground zero again. The woman standing next to me picked up Tessa and was holding her trying to get away from the other boxer. She happens to be a boxer owner herself. As she is holding Tessa I am pulling this male off her and Tessa and screaming for his owner. Finally after 3 min the owner comes strolling over and has the nerve to yell at me for the problem. We (the other women and I) argue with him that it was his intact male that started the issue. I told him that he should not bring an intact male to a dog park. He then told me that there is no rule saying you can't. The actual rules states "spayed/neutered are recommended" but notice it doesn't say manditory. The other woman that helped me said she had seen this dog here before and he created the same problem. I am sorry this is so long, but I needed to vent to someone. My MIL just laughed and said "that's funny" when my daughter told her the story. The whole 90 min drive home i was shaking with fear and anger. Thanks for letting me vent.

[daisykaye]

That's so sad that you drove so far for a bad experience. Hopefully she will recovery quickly. Don't give up on the new experiences, they in the long run are good for her.

[matrok]

I have heard so many negative stories about dog parks, including our own experiences that we don't go to them anymore. It isn't worth it. We have found a local doggy day care and friends that have dogs that Leila can play with. I know the owners, I know the dogs and I know the environment. You just don't know if the dog is current on shots, has good temperament and you certainly don't know the owners. As you can see, I am very passionate about this issue. Our girl was picked up by the skin of her back and thrown 8 ft by another owner because he didn't like it that his dog was submissive to ours.

Good luck with this, but don't surprised if you experience some odd behavior at other dog parks.

[K_J's Dad]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, dog parks can go either way. I woud suggest that you find a group of Boxer owners to set up play dates at different parks maybe. Please don't let the A-hole stop you from going.

[EAO76]

I've had good & bad experiences. I noticed if we’re there too long something negative usually happens so that means we normally only stay 30-45mins. If we keep the trips short it's usually all positive.

[Alex C.]

I'm sorry to hear this went bad for you and Tessa. I hope you don't give up on the dog parks, because the socializtion can be really good. I just wish more owners were aware of their dogs. I took Brandi to our favorite dog park and she was pinned as soon as she came in, by a huge, overweight Boxer. I wasn't sure whether to pull him off, more so to not cause problems with the owner. Luckily she came right away and pulled him off, but it was still pretty scary. We've gone 3-4 times since and things have been fun. We stay at the most 1 hr though.

[presley101]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I had one similar so now when I go I carry a spray bottle of water to blast the dogs in the face if needed. It's come in handy a couple of times.

Our dog park has a hose hooked up and ready to use to separate dogs if needed. It also demands that no unspayed/unneutered dogs are permitted inside the fenced area.

[catcrazy56]

I know from my experience that the dog mounting thing is the pack order thing and thats how they do it in the dog park your dog is supposed to snap at it to show them thats what happened to us and when Harley did that to a unaltered male the owner said leave him they will be ok and they were.

[My Boxer]

Oh poor Tessa. This is why I don't go to dog parks anymore. When I did, I tried to go early in the morning when there are less people/dogs there. Never in the evening or weekends. Some owners just don't pay attention, and I've seen some ugly things. I also carried a piece of "Noodle". It's those styrofoam things used in pools. I used it to break up fights. It doesn't really hurt them, mostly startled them, and kept me safe. But I do have to say that there is nothing better for the heart and soul than to see a group of dogs playing and running. Especially when your Boxer baby is in the front of the pack!

[DantesDad]

thats too bad you drove so far and had such a crappy experience!!