Here’s a topic from blog reader and dog owner Lillie Ruby – she has some issues with people who bring children to the dog park. Below are her exact words – she gave me permission to post them here.
“Well, my first remark might make me seem overly fastidious, but I don’t think any baby or toddler should be within the fences simply because it’s not a very clean place. I’m no cleanoholic; in fact, I have pictures of my toddlers playing in the mud in our b
ackyard, earthworms draped over their arms. But let’s face it, not everyone cleans up after their dog. Dog Park mud is downright primordial.
Remark number two would be Dog Parks are for DOGS to unwind, not kids. One of my dogs is not good with very little kids. He’s always on a leash outside of the park. So I’m of the population that resents that I have to leave when someone shows up with a small child. Children have many, many places to play; my dog has a limited number of places he can run. Plus, I watch my dog like a hawk when I’m at the park. As a parent, I couldn’t imagine watching a small child (or children) AND a dog. In one instance, a man came through the fence with a dog, and 2 very small kids. He was having trouble handling the smallest child and the dog. So he allowed the second child who was about kindergarten age to walk into the park ahead of him. As dogs always crowd the fence when someone arrives, I was dumbfounded by the man’s allowing his child to enter alone ahead of him. I’m sure he was too distracted to even consider it a potential problem. It’s simply a lot to attend to. Even if one has a calm, cool, collected dog, the packs can get really rowdy and dog misunderstandings occur even among the best behaved dogs.
And even cool, calm, collected dogs love to run, jump and play. So, as much as one works to prevent one’s dog from jumping on people, dogs get very frisky at the dog park – leading me to another instance. This was again, a man with two children. The children were well behaved and the gentleman was rather responsible about watching both kids and his dog. The children were around 10 years of age. One of the girls wandered away from her dad a bit, following along the fence. A group of dogs came running toward her at the typical dog-park-crazed-speed. They weren’t running after her, they were simply running in circles and headed her way. She looked up suddenly and saw a pile of dogs heading toward her. She RAN – right toward the far corner of the fence. The dogs of course, thought she was playing, ran toward here and cornered her. They didn’t get aggressive (fortunately!) They did however, muddy up her lovely white coat and scare her considerably. Both the dogs and the girl ended up at the far end of the park, so it was a number of seconds before the Dad and owners could swoop in. Basically dogs don’t always understand children and vice-versa.
We’ve been discussing the whole situation at the dog park a lot lately. Perhaps we are seeing it as more of a problem than it is in general. After 3 years of visiting the dog park, my dogs and I have gravitated to the rowdy dog crowd. They love to run hard and wrestle hard. However, I have noticed that dog parks in other states have rules on the matter. The rules vary – many say no kids under 10 or 12. Beyond that, the range is anywhere from no kids under the age of 5 to no one under 18 years of age. — Not sure if other cities in New York State have limits of the age of children attending dog parks.
I especially appreciated the advice given on the Boone County Kentucky Dog Park site:
No children under the age of 16 will be allowed unless closely supervised at all times. While it is not recommended, children are welcome – however, child’s play is not. This is a playground for dogs, not children. Be sure you teach your child how to behave properly in a dog park environment. Playful, unsupervised children and playful, unleashed dogs mixed together could result in injury. Please understand that this area is provided for dogs to interact with other dogs and that your child could be considered an interruption in dog play. If you choose to bring your child within the park, you should SUPERVISE VERY CLOSELY!!! Teach your child proper dog park behavior. Children should not run around, scream, pick up and wave sticks, or approach animals that they do not know.”
Readers, feel free to weigh in.
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