Dog Parks: the Pros and Cons

Dogs Parks: the Pros and Cons

Dog parks can be great, don’t get me wrong, but the more and more I visit them and the more and more stories I hear, the less I want to go.  With any decision that you make related to your dog, (and hey maybe you can try using this method to aide in making a decision related to your own life--crazy idea, right?!), I think it’s good to weigh the pros against the cons and see whether or not the benefits outweigh the risks.  Listed below in the following post you will find the remarks on my analysis of the pros and cons of taking your dog to the dog park.   If you agree with my opinions, that’s awesome and I’m glad!  If you don’t, that’s totally fine too and I respect that we share different thoughts on this topic, but from this point on you have been officially warned, so I encourage you to proceed with caution!

Before we begin, I would like to write a small disclaimer.  For those of you who are reading this and do not know me, I am a very opinionated, passionate, strong-willed and first and foremost, SARACSTIC person.  I think very logically and feel strongly that it is important to articulate your opinions appropriately, which is why I am posting this on my own personal blog.  On the flip side of things, I am also a very caring person, which leads to why I have decided to write this post.  Yes, I care very much about dogs, but in order for me to most effectively better the lives of dogs, I believe that it is important to influence the owners (aka the humans) behind them because as we all know, dogs can’t talk and voice their own opinions.  With that said, the purpose of this post is to educate and to express my own personal views and beliefs.  I am not posting on behalf of anyone else or any other organization.

Alright, so let’s get started!

PROS of the dog park:

1.     Socialization:  This is a great place to expose your dog to other dogkind and humankind.  There are both dogs and people of a variety of different shapes and colors at dog parks.  I think what people (myself included) often miss in working to understand their pets is that dogs not only need exercise, but also mental stimulation.  In most cases, dogs need an outlet where they can just be a dog and romp around with other dogs.  If this is the case (which it probably is), the dog park is a excellent place for you; however, please, please, please keep in mind that not all dogs should visit the dog park.  Unfortunately, not all people seemed to have wrapped their heads around this concept. Examples of dogs that should NOT visit the dog park (but still do on occasion unfortunately) are dogs that exhibit aggressive behavior, have contracted an illness that can be transmitted to other animals or humans, or have sustained an injury.

2.     Exercise:  I can’t remember the exact statistic, but it’s something along the lines of letting your dog run loose for a half hour will result in a more tired dog in comparison to a dog that has been on an hour-long walk with its owner. The moral of this story (in my opinion) is not to let your dog off the leash wherever you want so that you have a tired dog everyday.  The moral of the story instead is to consider finding an appropriate place to exercise your dog off-leash (ie. a fenced-in backyard, open field away from cars, gymnasium in a doggie daycare or hotel, etc).  Have an idea in your head of where you can go?  Great!  I don’t want to burst your bubble, but before you take your dog there, ask yourself this question: if I call my dog, loud and clear, will it come back to me at this location the first time I ask it to?  If the answer is “yes”, then you are good to go!  If the answer is anything along the lines of “yes, but…” or “well, sometimes, but…” or just plain “no”, then that’s okay and we can definitely work on changing that response, but I suggest you make certain that the place that you select for your dog to exercise off leash is a place where you will be able to get your dog back.  I would hate to have you take your dog to a big open field and then hear that your dog ran away from you and never came back when you called it.

3.     Training:  The dog park can be a good place to proof behaviors simply because it is highly distracting for most dogs.  Is it my first choice in a place to proof behaviors? No.  Why, you ask? I believe in setting your dog up to succeed, and I think for the average person who is just wanting a relatively well-behaved dog as a pet, this is not the appropriate place to practice simply because it is asking way too much of your dog.  Dog training is supposed to be fun for you and fun for your dog.  If your dog does not enjoy doing 30-minute down stays at the dog park with his best friends racing by and taunting him, then my advice is not to practice this here unless for some reason you feel that you absolutely have to.  Chances are, if your dog didn’t have fun the last time you did something at the dog park, he/she is not going to enjoy going there next time either.  I just think that the dog park is supposed to be a fun place for your dog, not a place that it dreads going to because mom or dad makes me do drills on drills on drills of dog training.  Now, with that said, all rules don’t go out the door when you go to the dog park.  I absolutely use the dog park to practice things such as don’t jump on people, don’t body slam into people, sit before I throw the ball instead of jumping twenty feet in the air and trying to bite my hand with the ball off, etc. etc.

CONS of the dog park:

1. Disease transmission:  Listed below are some bulleted points that illustrate some common activities that occur at the dog park.

·      Water sharing- In a dog park, it is very common for there to be a community water bowl where dogs all over the park can share water.  As many of you know (or maybe don’t know, which is okay too!), some diseases can spread through water.

·      Saliva swapping- No, I’m not exactly talking about French kissing, but dogs, unlike humans, cannot sweat to release heat from their bodies.  Instead, what they can do is pant.  This is a dog’s most effective way of cooling its body.  Some dogs happen to slop more drool than others when panting, while others might just inhale and exhale more times than you can count in one minute, but regardless of how much your dog drools, every dog has saliva.  What this means is that every dog with a mouth has the potential to transmit diseases and pathogens to another dog and/or another human.  Have you ever seen two or more dogs playing together?  I’d be willing to bet a heaping portion of my bank account (which by the way looks so spectacular after just graduating from college…hah!) that if you’ve seen this, you’ve seen that when dogs play, they almost always open their mouths and play bite each other’s necks.

·      Butt sniffing- What dog doesn’t like a good butt sniffing?  As humans, when we meet another dog or catch up with a long lost friend, we have the ability to use our words to introduce ourselves or say words like “hello” and “how are you?”  Well, unless you somehow have a talking dog, animals cannot do this.  Now I’m not saying that other animals don’t have their own vocalizations and cannot communicate through sound, but in general, most animals rely a lot more heavily on their body language and actions to communicate with each other.  One such example is sniffing.  When dogs sniff each other, they are exchanging information about themselves.  Questions that get answered in a short butt sweet (no pun intended) sniffing session include things like: are you a male or a female, are you neutered or spayed, are you sick, are you pregnant, where have you been today, what other animals have you interacted with, and the list goes on and on.  Imagine if we could obtain that much information about other people if we could just sniff them!  The world would be a totally different place.

·      Fecal and urine sniffing- Again, this sort of thing happens for the same reasons as listed above in the butt-sniffing section, but the problem with butt sniffing and fecal and urine sniffing is that urine and feces, in particular, are a cesspool for disease-carrying pathogens.

Yes, I too believe that the majority of people that enter a dog park do

vaccinate their animals and keep them up to date on shots, medications, flea

and tick preventatives, etc., etc., etc. I do not believe that this is the problem. 

The problem, in my opinion, lies with the latter half of the population who

does not prioritize this necessity and ruins it for the rest of us who are

responsible pet owners that actually care about our animals and their health. 

So, with that said, what happens when you bring in your very friendly, well-

groomed, well-fed, friendly, happy, social, healthy, vaccinated dog into a dog

park and all of a sudden comes along Mr. Unvaccinated Animal?  Well, the

first thing I’d like to point out is Mr. Unvaccinated Animal doesn’t just waltz

into the dog park with a big red danger sign around his neck.  What this

means is that chances are pretty high (unless the dog is sick with thick, yellow mucous dripping out of its snout) that you won’t even be able to recognize him (or her if its Mrs. Unvaccinated Animal).  My point in addressing this fact is that to be on the safe side, I would just be cautious of everyone’s dogs.

      Okay, so back to the question of what happens when you bring your

vaccinated dog  into a dog park and another dog comes in that isn’t vaccinated?  Welllll……..I mean I would like to think that most of the time, nothing happens!  I don’t have any credible statistics to show you on percentages of vaccinated dogs that contract illnesses from unvaccinated dogs at dog parks, but I’m sure we can all come to the general consensus that vaccinated dogs are better protected against common diseases than unvaccinated dogs.  With that said, it’s likely that an unvaccinated dog might be carrying a pathogen that could make it sick, so exposing your dog to that dog means that your dog could also get sick. 

Unfortunately, not all people believe in vaccinations for their animals and in a hypothetical situation where said person were to announce that he/she

does not vaccinate his/her dog that is prancing around the dog park with

fifteen other animals and my own dog, it is at this precise point that I would grab the person by both arms and very kindly, but firmly scream the following words into that person’s face:  “THE VACCINES THAT VETERINARIANS RECOMMEND FOR YOUR PETS DO NOT EXIST SO THAT THE VETERINARY INDUSTRY CAN MAKE MONEY! THESE VACCINES AND PROFESSIONALS ARE HERE BECAUSE THERE IS A NEED TO PROTECT NOT ONLY YOUR DOG AND MY DOG, BUT YOUR IRRESPONSIBLE, IGNORANT HUMAN BODY AND THE REST OF US HUMANS THAT WALK THE FACE OF THIS EARTH.”

After that informative comment, I would probably take a deep breath and exit the premises.  It is also possible that I would find the nearest Kroger and consult my best friends: Skittles, Starburst, and the Sour Patch Kids.

2.  Behavioral Issues 

The risk of behavioral issues arising in a dog that has had a poor

interaction with another dog is high.  For example, it is quite rare for a dog

that has been attacked by another dog to remain friendly and confident

around other dogs if caution is not taken to retrain the dog and help it learn

that not all dogs are bad.

Unfortunately, the dog park is a prime example of a place where poor interactions between dogs have the potential to occur.   These parks are often open to the public, which means that anyone with their dog can walk in, including dogs that have attacked other dogs and people.  It does not matter how closely you are watching the dog or how much time has passed since its last attack, if your dog 1.) has a history of biting other people unprovoked or pinning other dogs down on the ground in an aggressive manner unprovoked, and 2.) is still alive, you absolutely should NOT bring that dog to a place where it can repeat this type of behavior and pose a threat to the safety of everyone else there.  That is a mega liability on your end, and I would strongly appreciate you staying at home.

The potential for behavioral issues to arise in result of poor interactions with another dog is the main reason why I believe that most reputable service dog organizations do not allow their service dogs and service dogs in training to step foot in a dog park.  After investing so much time, money, and effort into the breeding, care, socialization, and training of these animals that are upwards of $20,000 by the time their training is finished, why risk the 1.) injury 2.) sickness or 3.) temperament of any of them?  The lives of the people who obtain these dogs often depend on the health and temperament of their service animals. 

To give you an example, let’s picture this scenario:  You are a trainer for a service dog organization, and there is a 82-lb. Yellow Labrador named Buddy in your program.  Buddy is a very friendly dog who enjoys going to the dog park.  One day at the dog park, another dog attacked Buddy.  Buddy had to go to the vet and get several stiches in his leg.  His stiches healed fine after a couple weeks, but every time Buddy saw another dog that looked like his attacker, he pulled hard on the leash in fear to try and get away from the other dog.  You didn’t think this was much of a problem since Buddy’s attacker was a purple dog and there aren’t many purple dogs around, so you go ahead and graduate Buddy  from the service dog program and place him with a disabled partner named Mr. Wilson.  Mr. Wilson has a prosthetic leg and is confined to a wheelchair.  Mr. Wilson enjoys going to baseball games, so he decides to take Buddy to one.  Things are going fine, the weather is not too hot, the skies are clear, and Buddy and Mr. Wilson are dressed in their favorite team’s colors.  Mr. Wilson and Buddy walk up to the entrance, and out of no where comes a purple dog.  Buddy pulls Mr. Wilson completely out of his wheelchair in an effort to get away from the purple dog.  Mr. Wilson is severely injured.

Who’s fault was it in that scenario?  Buddy’s fault because he pulled Mr. Wilson out of the chair or your fault because you placed Buddy?  Would you even place Buddy even if you had taken the time to try and re-acclimate him to purple dogs?  I do not know the answers to many of these questions because it’s a difficult scenario, but one thing I do know for sure.  The next time someone in my service dog program asked me if the puppies are allowed to go to the dog park, I would say no.  Maybe you don’t agree with me, and that’s okay, I just personally don’t think that the benefits of going to the dog park outweigh the risks of going to the dog park for service dogs and service dogs in training.

Think about it, most service dog organizations are not-for-profit organizations.  I had a very hard time wrapping my head around this concept because to me, no matter how you say it (non-profit or not-for-profit), it’s sounds like you don’t make any money!  After one of the ten gazillion business questions I asked my dad, he kindly and thoroughly explained to me that just because you are a non-profit doesn’t mean you that you can’t make money.  It just means that you cannot exist for the sole or primary purpose of making profit.   Non-profits should theoretically exist to meet goals and not just distribute profits. 

So how does this relate to assistance dogs, you ask?  Well, let’s take service dog non-profit X for example.  Service dog non-profit X cannot sell its service dogs for money, but in order to make money and sustain itself and pay its employees, what it can do is require each of its recipients to raise $30,000 for its dog.  Multiply $30,000 by the number of dogs you are able to place each year, subtract out your expenses, add profit from fundraising, and you pretty much (this is very oversimplified) have the financial statement of a service dog organization that requires its recipients to fundraise for its dogs.  Got it?  Now take service dog non-profit Y.  Service dog non-profit Y also cannot sell its service dogs for money, nor does it want to require its recipients to raise $30,000 for a dog.  Instead, it places its dogs with people for free and survives off donations, grants, and fundraisers.   I personally don’t know what is better, service dog non-profit X or service dog non-profit Y.  I’m sure there is a whole another 5-page document I can write on that topic.

So with all of this in mind, will you NEVER see Katie Skarvan at a dog park with her dog?  If it’s a service dog or service dog in training, no, you probably won’t.  If it’s someone’s pet or my own pet, chances are you might see me there occasionally.  Again, I think that the dog park can be an excellent place to socialize and exercise your dog both mentally and physically, but only if the right environment is present and friendly dogs that also get along with your dog are there.

At the end of the day, what I really want is to be able to roll in piles of money and buy a huge, fenced in backyard just for responsible people like you that have taken the time to read this extremely lengthy article!  Oh, and I guess I would also like to be happy too!