People who have a Dog Park to go to

I'm lucky because I live in a very isolated area full of woods and fields so I dont' use dog parks except for socialize brina twice a week. She loves meeting other dogs of course, but she prefers when her friends come and play in the area where we live: they have hills and lakes, wild rabbits and  roe deers to "hunt". When I take her to the near dog parks she is quite confused for all those dog-smells concentrated in a relatevely small area, so even when other dogs invites her for playing she is a bit scared and does not partecipate as much as she does when she is in country side. It might be because she comes from the pound and there the environment was not so different to a dog park: enclosure garden and many dogs. I guess she is afraid that in case of aggression she cannot run away...Don't know: I don't force her but I would like her to relax and live happily also the experience of dog park.

ORIGINAL: belgmal_girl

[] thanks...I think I'll work on Joy's recall and bring her in the sping when it opens..

You might want to teach her to return on a whistle.  Just blow the whistle and give her a treat (roast beef, something good) - and repeat the exercise for about three weeks.  Do not whistle, except if she is right there in front of you.  Next, start blowing the whistle from different rooms in the house & treat when she arrives at your feet.  No talking, just whistle-treat.  Then go outdoors in the yard.  Same exercise, right up close, then hide behind trees, etc.  Before too long, she should come any time you blow the whistle - ALWAYS have a treat for her.  Remember, this is just an emergency recall.  She doesn't have to come without food, she just has to come.  Hopefully, when you get her to the dog park, if the stimulation gets her confused (lots of human voices, and even if you call her you may not sound the same if any emotion is attached) she may well respond to the familiar & unchanging whistle. []

Thanks for the replys. I enjoyed reading about the different parks.
 
The town I live in has a population of about 250 people. So getting a dog park here may be just a dream of mine. We do have alot of dogs here thou. I think almost every family has at least one dog. As I said before we have a people park which is hardly ever used. Also the town can get a grant if it can prove it will be put to good use. Our park is good sized. All that would have to be done is put a fence around it and it could be a people - dog park combo. As the people population is so low I would think it would not be a problem dog verses children. Remember these kids have dogs too. The fence also would help contain the kids at the park - no running into the street with a fence in place. There is a town meeting coming up to discuss this money so I may get some other dog lovers to go also and see what we can do. Maybe this is not even feasible and just a dream. I want Molly to be able to socialise with other dogs and have fun with her own kind. Right now I have to take her to some of the neighbors that have dogs. Their dogs are on chains and Molly on her leash so its hard for either dog to really have fun. A few families just let their dogs run around town to get exercise. We do have a leash law here too. Molly and I never see any dogs out for a walk when we go on our walks. I don`t know how all these dogs in town get any exercise except for the ones running loose. I checked and there is no other place in town to have a dog park on its own.
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Don't be too envious of those with dog parks... IMO they're not all they're cracked up to be. I was on here not long ago raving about the new great dog park in town. But I went again last week and got in a nasty argument with an aggressive you-know-what - and I'm not talking about a dog - but I won't even go into it... the basic problem with dog parks is that one day you can go and everything's great, and the next day can be a total nightmare, and you never know which day it's going to be. I personally just don't think I can deal with it anymore... there are way too many stupid people out there and way too many unruly, untrained, unsupervised dogs. It's like playing Russian Roulette just walking in there.
 
I think if you've noticed that where you live eople "exercise" their dogs by flouting the leash law and letting them run loose, the chances of your having a GOOD dog park are not that great. Sort of like church... a dog park is not the place, it's the people and animals who go there.

Jones -- I LOVE this comment!!!
 

ORIGINAL: jones

Sort of like church... a dog park is not the place, it's the people and animals who go there.

 
I live in DuPage County in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. We are fortunate to have quite a few dog parks within a 10 mile radius of our house. There are ones with a "large dog" and a "small dog" park separated by a fence, one that has water access where owners can work on retrieval, one that has access to river thru a parking lot -- all of them are completely fenced.
 
What I think helps our Forest Preserves who run the parks is that every dog must have a permit to utilize the parks. It is $35 for the first dog and $5 for the second. The permit is for January-December and you must file your rabies tag #s as well as provide home and work phone numbers. If you are caught using the park without a permit, you can be fined $75. The "rangers" do make their presence known and for the most part the parks are well kept. The park we go to has wood chips in the main area, a HUGE meadow type area with longer grasses and trees, and a wood chip path that runs the perimeter of the park. They also have a couple garbage cans with poop bags.
 
For the most part, we haven't had too many issues with agressive dogs or clueless owners. Our dogs have made many acquaintences and normally start howling about 1/4 mile before we get to the park because they are so excited.
 
This summer we look forward to utilizing the park with the water access -- we have a part Newf (see my avatar) who just LOVES the water!