Was just wondering how you all felt about the dog parks. I take my dog there every chance I get. Unfortunately there are only a few where I am located.
Tom

no idea...never heard of it before!

Sam We don't realise how lucky we are being able to excersise our dogs in most public parks. The person with the query is most likely based in USA, where many have to trravel quite a distance to these Dog Parks, and there is often a fee for using them!

Here in UK we are allowed to take our dogs in most country Parks, Common Land, and recreation Grounds, with the proviso that we clean up after our dogs. On lead restrictions only seem to apply in ornmamental flower gardens etc. :D

Where I live (Bristol) I have the choice of 3 recreation Grounds, the Bristol to Bath old Railway line (which is now a footpath/cycle Path, which I no longer find practical with four dogs, as few cyclists use bells, not giving a chance to round the dogs up), a Big Country Park, and a large City Park that you can get to just by crossing a main road from the country park. If I want it means I can take my dogs for a 3 -4 hour walk without retracing my steps more than the once pn the return journey.

A lot of people in the country have very few places to excersise dogs unless they have their own land, as after all all that lovely green an pleasant land is someones workplace and living, and not recreational land.

Yes i am in the USA, and it really is hard finding parks for your dog to play in, especially in NY.

I can safely say I have NEVER excercised my dogs in a public park!!!
I had to go to Kingston, in London, last week for a course & was horrified to see all these dogs running about in the tiny green patches (parks i suppose) alongside the river/mainroad by Hampton Court. It would have terrified me to have let a dog off there!
The idea of a dog park sounds ghastly but I guess if thats all you have access to then its better than nothing....infact i guess the dogs would love it...its just me that would hate it! :)

Dog parks aren't ghastly, they are great. They are fenced so all dogs can be let off lead. Dog get a chance to socialise with each other and run around. Dog owners get to meet other dog owners to talk about -- dogs. And the owners even clean up after their dogs.

Stacey

Stacey...like I said...my dogs would probably love it...its just me that would hate it!!! :)

Sam
What is wrong with public parks or dog parks?
How much land do you personally have to exercise your dogs then & do you allow other dog owners to use your land?
Some people might not have access to anywhere else other than public parks!
By all means state your view that you have not used public parks and don't think that they are safe for exercising your dogs but please don't put your message across as if these people are doing anything wrong.
Steph

stephanie,
in answer to your questions:
Dog Parks...well I have never seen one & I certainly didn't say there was anything wrong with them, just that they sound ghastly. Personally I like to walk where I don't have to meet anyone else! Thats just me & I realise other people would prefer to be in company :) Thats their choice...I was just stating my personal choice.
My only experience of a public park was the one I drove past recently, and I didn't like the fact that it was crowded ( I could see about 15 different dogs being walked) and it ran alongside a main road with no fencing. :( That was why I said i didn't much like the look of it. Like you said...i stated my view...HOWEVER I did NOT say that people who walk in parks are doing anything wrong, so do not put words into my mouth.
As you ask, I have 600 acres of land for daily excercise on the farm where I live, plus my boy friend farms another 600 acres.There are also some good forestry commission and NP land if I feel inclined, about 5 minutes drive away. In answer to your other question, no. There are no public ROW over any of our land (apart from some of the bits of common my boy friend has grazing rights on) and no one else walks dogs on our land. Its prime dairy grass, nurtured for a commercial dairy herd....not a public dog walking facility thankyou!!!

Sam
600 acres eh! All right for some then - you lucky so & so :D
Steph

Dog parks sound a great idea, we have several parks, forest land, common land etc nearby but there are always dog lovers and dog haters there!!
I have been to a dog beach that was superb as dogs could run without causing offence to anyone and socialise with other dogs.
Just yesterday as I stood with my 5 mth old pup a man with 2 girls walked by and made a REAL fuss about having to steer them 3 feet + around where I was stood and put himself between his girls and me ! tutting as though I should not have been in this public place with puppy on a leash ! dog parks would not get this type of person! I accept everyone has their point of view on dogs but all he was doing was teaching 2 happy little girls who were oohing & ahhing at my pup to be extremely wary of them!
Earlier in the day I had been out with my 8 yr old daughter and no pup and we saw a Min schnauzer ! she oohed and ahhed and rushed to greet him and the owner seemed really pleased at her response instead of the chaps type of response I had later that day!

I get furious when I see (supposedly) sensible adults teaching children to be fearful! It's like deliberately handicapping a child - it can limit their lives if they are always nervous.

If it happens near me I now ask the adult if the children bite?!!

I love my Chiswick House park which is a small stately [English Heritage?] home but is basically a de facto dog park - there are acres of green space and Lascaux loves it as dogs appear from behind hedges, copses and marble statues and they all run around together quite safely while you can stand around pointlessly practising recall or whatever. People rarely bring mean or badly socialised dogs as they know what the score is there. You can then go into the cafe with the dogs for a cappucino or tea and listen in to the competitive dog talk - all in the middle of Chiswick. Even non dog people like my Mum don't mind it. I'm also lucky to have variety here - Richmond Park, the Thames etc.
cissy

I wish we had somewhere like a dog park in my area it sounds great both for the dog and the owners to socialise, around my area there is nothing at all, dogs are not allowed anywhere near the parks not even on a lead so we have to travel to find somewhere to take them where they can get a good run.

hi sandie
where abouts are you? Sometimes you'd be surprised where dogs are allowed and I always ask if in doubt - e.g. I would never have thought that English Heritage would allow dogs on their land...I think they [and National Trust] are ok as long as there are no deer about.
cissy

National Trust allow dogs on a lot of their properties - but they must be on lead.

Daisy

Forestry Commission land is okay I think...

I cant wait to take my Sydney to the beach park at Morecambe and the one at Heysham. So lucky the area I live in

As far as I know Forrestry commission is OK as there is a forest near me with several marked walks through them, a small kids adventure playground near the car park and picnic benches and lots of dogs!!!
As a new dog owner I was a little apprehensive when I first went there with my puppy but it is great, everyone is friendly even the non dog owners who are walking accept the dogs who do a lot of play & socialising!
My PS2/PC and DVD freak kids moaned the first time I suggested we spent a sunny saturday walking the dog but after going there they ask every weekend can we go ! the picnic after the walk and play int he playground may influence them but they and our dog have great fun running in the woods!

PS. I love the line Do the kids bite!!! cant wait for the next paranoid non dog owner ! Most parents ask if it is OK to stroke the dog and we have no problem but this chap really got up my nose!!!!! like you say what are his actions doing to his kids!!!

I'm in the US, and there are very few dog parks around. Luckily, we live 15 minutes from one, and we take our Labrador there at least 3 times a week. I don't know what we would do without it! It's around 4 or 5 acres of flat land, surrounded by woods and trails, and I've almost never seen a dog run into the woods. (The one time I did, the owner said that the dog was always doing that!! Seemed it might not be a good idea to take him there! :)). Our lab loves it more than anything -- there's usually at least 6 dogs there, and on the weekends it can get up to 40! Mayhem! :P

I must admit I love going to the Parks and being able to socialise with other canines and dogs. It is the school holidays when the kids and their parents who rarely go to the park, and then look down their nosed at the dog walkers, or act soilly around the dogs, parents pulling children aside as if our very presense will contaminate them that takes some of this pleasure away.

On many occasions I have walked with other owners with around 15 dogs getting on happily, they all work out who is playful, who likes their personal space, and take their cue from their relaxed owners. Thoise of a quarellsome nature are usiually put on lead or avoid contact by walking very late or eearly,or moving up the slopes or into woodland until other dogs and owners pass.

The onlyproblems among the odgs is the weekend fair weather dog walker who brings the kids out on a Sunday, and has no idea about a dogs body language, and insists that the little dog who is challenging all and sundry is just being playful, and when other dogs tell it politely to sling its hook, they think the other dog mean! I avoid Sundays, LOL!!!

Brainless...I think your post sums up exactly why I said I would hate walking in a park!!!
When I take my lot out I do not want to have to try & find 5 leads (not sure I even have 5 leads!) I want to walk in total quiet, no adults or kids running past, no cyclists or peoples dogs rushing about. I want to look & see how our pheasants are doing in the hedges, are the hens breeding yet? I want my hounds to run freely without neurotic people with tiny dogs panicking because 8 stone is flat out towards them! I want to have a sneaky look in the badger sett to see if cubs are out yet, and to stamp down a few mole hills without some animal rights lunatic attacking me! I want to do all this without listening to traffic or other peoples noise. So, lucky me I guess!

I'm really lucky, because I can do both!! :D For the morning walk we go a few miles through the village, through the wood and round the fields which is circled by E-grade roads (ie not even the Council is aware they are actually roads and not farm-tracks!) and footpaths, where the dogs meet and socialise with many others and have a great time. (And get lead-training and roadwork for their feet and nails at the same time)

In the afternoon we walk in farming-friends' fields on our own, where the dogs are encouraged to go rabbitting by the landowners.

Paradise!