Dog fights at the dog park and with owners too?

[crazybeats]

Hello:

We have a two dogs a 3 yr old pug and 7 yr old chow/german shepherd mix. They are always together. Our groomer has to bath them together or they get anxiety...lol  

Anyhow, we went to our city park where there is a new dog park. Our little pug was at playing with the little dogs and our big dog was playing at the larger dog area. My husband was with the one and I was with the other. We never left them alone. We were there for over an hours or so and all this time they were doing great. I noticed that there were smaller dogs with the bigger dogs mixed playing together, so I decided to take pugs to the bigger doggie area. All was fine for a while until another dog (who looked just like our chow german shepherd dog) came in the area and was playing with his owner catching the ball. I did not see what happened but only heard the fight between my dog and the other. The owner and her friends became extremely hostile and started to yell and make a scene. The dogs were not really dog fighting but only growling and smelling each other. It was when the owner and her friends started to yell (i guess they got scared something was gonna happen) when both dogs got a little rough but still NO FIGHTING.

What do you do in this case when this happens with dogs? We are very familiar that this sort of thing happens but then they end up playing but when the owners get offended and start causing blame and telling us to get out of the park and bullies draws the line.

We would like to take our doggies back again but don't wish to comfort the same problem. The city has a sign up "enter at your own risk". It's too bad this happened. We have been meeting real nice dog owners and our dogs really enjoy themselves until this happened we have not gone back for a week. :(

[katew888]

Ah, it happens all the time.  My dog, who is submissive to a butterfly, likes to wrestle when he plays (i.e., roll around and tussle on the ground, not just run and chase).  He always manages to find a few other dogs who like to play this way too, however, the owners are generally the bigger problem.  One man came over and peeled his dog (who was having a blast) away and said "this is kill mode!"  Seriously.  

While my own dog has never been the victim or the aggressor in this kind of situation, I see it *all* the time, and the bottom line is that many dog owners just plain don't know a whole lot about dogs and their behavior:  some dogs growl and bark when they play, some dogs are mouthy with other dogs necks, some dogs wrestle, some dogs chase, some dogs have to sniff each other first, some dogs don't....it's pretty darn obvious if there is an actual "dog fight."  

My advice: simply pull your dog away from anyone who seems to be freaking out and ignore any comments or irrational behavior from the owners.  My bet is that they just have no idea what they are yelling about ;)

[ginger899]

Please forgive me, but we don't have dog parks in the UK, and I think the whole concept of dog parks is dubious. Of course I can understand that in a city there aren't many options for places to run and play with your dog, but I know that I would rather get on a bus or take my car out of the city and find a real field.
Maybe dogs in dog parks are kind of 'thrown together' and sometimes they don't get along. Dogs can sometimes simply not like another dog, and there's not much, except discipline, you can do about it. I imagine that if I went to a Human Social Meeting Park to play with 50 or so other Humans I wouldn't get along with all of them. It seems like a bit of a hotch-potch of assorted dogs(some I'm sure with serious behaviour problems), owners (some I'm sure highly neurotic) a lot of high-pitched action (some of it competitive, and dogs sometimes don't necessarily like the idea that another dog might snap up their precious Frisbee!) or whatever. It sounds to me a bit like a recipe for an occasional growling match.
It does sound like that particular dog's owners were a bit on the neurotic side? And it is possible that if they hadn't thrown hysterics, their dog would have been a lot calmer.  Is there anywhere else you could exercise your dog?
There's another option, of course. Go back there. If you see those people, apologise about 'what happened the other day' (okay, so it wasn't your fault. Never mind) See if you can introduce the 2 dogs in a friendly way. They might even get along fine. They might even end up having fun...?

[GSDgirl]

Hi, I honestly don't like dog parks.  I have 5 German Shepherds and I do not trust the other dogs and the owners that don't pay attention.  It only takes one bad dog to start something.  My dogs would not start a fight but would not back down.  They are trained and titled in Schutzhund and I have total control and obedience, instant recall, instand platz / down but I still don't want to take the chance.  A friend is a mounted patrol officer in the local county park which has a dog park and he has told me some stories of what he has seen.  We also trailer our horses there and I hate the trail that goes past the dog section.  The people have no control when the dogs are on lead let alone loose in the fence.  

Why not meet some of thenice people in a fenced in ball park, less confusion.

Denise