dog park

[seriously people]

okay seriously people.. when you have a pit bull or a pit bull mix (whatever you want to argue the beast to be) and you take it to the dog park.... BE RESPONSIBLE

I took my dog to the dog park as i have been off and on for the last year.. I admit i am not a regular but he is a medium small dog who is very high strung and loves other dogs... male, female, old, young, big, small he don't care.. he just loves other dogs.

So i go to the dog park today and i unleash my dog to play as we have before and within minutes a pit bull emerges from a group and begins snarling and growling and pins my dog down. i manage to reach into the mess and pull my dog out and had to hold him shoulder high to get away from the pit bull beast.

now... up until this point i don't see much wrong with this situation.. dogs will be dogs and when things like this happen, we just deal with it.. no one was hurt, i pulled my little guy out in time.

but here is where people need to GET RESPONSIBLE!

the pit bull then began to jump on me trying to get to my dog. I backed up and turned around and was unable to get away from the dog. I yelled "get your dog so i can get out of here and no one came. I lady motioned to a couple sitting on a bench quite a few yards away who were just watching their big muddy growling dog who was as tall as me jump on me. Finally a lady jumped in a grabbed this dog by the harness so i could get out of the park.

I have recently had surgery and this beast jumped right into my incision.

SERIOUSLY PEOPLE... Pit bull or labradoodle... CONTROL YOUR ANIMALS when it comes to group settings like this.. everyone just wants to play and let their dogs exert energy.

[tom]

Agreed for the most part, but when you unleash your dog at the dog park, you are giving up control. Pit bull, or cocker spaniel, anything can happen when strange dogs are brought together. It is natural, dogs will try to establish who is the leader. To assume a large group of strange off leash dogs will get allong is asinine.
When you take your dog to the dog park (I wouldn't in the first place) you need to be prepared to deal with agressive and out of control(i.e. off leash) dogs. A large walking stick to separate the attacker from your dog, or pepper spray would be a good idea.

[Ichthus]

True tom, i just wish people would use some common sense and get up off the bench, walk over and control their animals to give people time to remove their dogs. It was the people i was perturbed with more than the animals.. always a little bit of dominance exerted by the dogs.. this was more of a vicious attack against me.. his paws were up on my chest and he was pushing me trying to get to my dog that i was holding. The owners just watched.
It went on for 2-3 minutes until i yelled at them to get their dog so i could get out.. I have been going there for abotu a year.. never had a situation quite like this.

[Jason]

The dog park in Fort Thomas is big enough to house about ten dogs safely. Any more and you get a crowded dog park and not many places to go off on your own. There is a lot of space in that park as a whole but unfortunately only a fraction is used for the dog park. Otto Armletter park in Anderson is the best around. There is room to run and socialize and also room to go off on your own. Judging from the crowds at Otto Armletter, if Fort Thomas had a better (FLAT ground) dog park, I guarantee it would be used more than any other park in this city.

Was the pit bull in your story fixed? I notice some dogs are not, which is a major violation of dog park rules and maybe even a county violation.

[curious]

seems to me that if a dog is being aggressive THAT dog should be the one to be lead out. Not the victim dog. I have witnessed similar incidents where one dog for whatever reason doesn't like another, but the owner of the aggressive dog will not leave. Instead the owner of the dog that won't be left alone leaves to prevent their dog from being mauled. A little common sense would go a long way at that park.