The Doggie Diaries: At the Dog Park, Part 1 -- The Brawl
TheGiantVermin, Flickr
The park we visited was just off one of New Jersey's godforsaken stretches of highways and Pippi had a great time. She was a little shy around the other dogs at first, but eventually got into the swing of things. I'll talk more about her behavior in a future post about dog parks, but for now I want to focus on a particularly fraught incident.
It began when a youngish guy came into the park with his muscular black pit bull. The pit bull played friendly at first, with dogs including a German shorthaired pointer mix who looked something like Pippi. But after a few minutes the pit bull got snarly and nippy (with the pointer mix in particular) and the dogs had to be broken up. A few minutes later the same thing happened again -- except the pit bull was even more aggressive this time. I couldn't tell if he was just playing or if he was out for blood, but the pointer's owner freaked out.
She split the dogs and began punching the pit bull in the chest and gut. This incensed the pit bull's owner, who began swearing at the other owner and warning her to keep her hands off of his dog. The gathering onlookers insisted that it was time for the pit bull to leave, and so his master angrily put on the leash and took him out of there.
Certainly everyone is responsible for the behavior of his or her dog, and it seems likely that the pit needed a break from the dog-park "fun." But to my mind the pointer's owner ceded the moral high ground when she attacked. The safety of everyone's dogs should be of primary concern, even that of those behaving inappropriately, right? Then again, perhaps the woman's maternal instincts simply took over and she was doing what any protective dog owner would do in that situation. What are your thoughts?
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Honestly Im not a fan of dog parks ..being a owner of two pitbulls who are very friendly and have played at dog parks in the past without an incident . But the truth of the matter is when there is a bunch of strange dogs running around and someone throws a ball into the mix they all will go after it and regardless who growls or snaps at who first the pitbull will always have the finger pointed at them so for that reason I no longer put my dogs in danger of falling victim to peoples false judgement and discrimination not to mention you dont know if these other dogs have been vaccinated or if they have any medical problems you need to worry about. So now i have scheduled play dates with people and dogs that I know and as far as the Lady putting her hands on my dog ! That would be a problem ,I dont put my hands on my dogs. There was no reason to over react dogs growl show teeth and even jump at each thats how they set boundaries & it sounds like thats all it was because believe me if the pitbull was out for blood
March 25 2012 at 1:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIt would of been easily recognized you wouldn't wonder if it was serious or not.