Dana Fischer
Sartell
After losing our long-time furry friends, my husband and I got two puppies last winter and thought that bringing them to our local dog park for exercise and socialization would be a great idea.
But I have to say I am shocked at the human behavior at the park. There are two sides to the park – one for smaller dogs and the other for larger dogs. Our dogs would be considered “medium dogs.” They are around 25 pounds and are mini labradoodles. So we guess they would fit in on both sides of the park. Actually, we prefer the smaller side as some people bring pretty aggressive large dogs to the park.
One day I was jumped on aggressively with scratches and mud and was yelled at by the dog’s owner that while I was sitting at a picnic table I had something to do with that dog’s behavior. Another day, owners of two huskies allowed their dogs to bully the other dogs in the park so I feared for my young loving dogs and brought them to the smaller side of the dog park. Others had to leave altogether.
Today as I am bringing my dogs to the “small dog” side, I was berated by a woman who yelled at me that my dogs were too big and to get to the other side. Interestingly, her dog was the same size as my dogs. She was also very upset at a young couple in the park with their dogs. I came to understand that person is there quite often and makes judgments on all but her own behaviors.
This is my ask – if you have an aggressive dog, find alternative ways to exercise your dog(s). If you don’t like to have your dogs around other dogs, get a fenced-in yard. This park was created as a great way to exercise and socialize our furry friends. The dogs overall tend to behave better than the humans. Can’t we all just get along?