A hound-loving FBvian tells of her own bad-dog experience. Let me just say, these sorts of stories make me insane, and they’re why I don’t take my dog to a dog park.
Let me start off by saying I am a dog lover. I do not, on principal, like discriminating against certain breeds across the board. However, as a protective dog-mom, an incident at Bark Park Central on Wednesday has altered my view point.
As I have done many times in the past, I took my Scottie and my boyfriend’s basset hound to the park after work, when the traffic there seems to be the highest. It is of note that the basset hound (an already docile breed) is an AKC-registered retired show dog — meaning he is extraordinarily well-behaved and well-socialized.
When I entered the park, I took note of the other dogs that were there, as I normally do. I noticed a Chow Chow hanging out with an overly large black lab-ish dog in one corner, but didn’t think much of it at the time. It was maybe 10 minutes into our visit when the incident occurred. I was over talking to another dog owner when I heard the unmistakable baying sound of a basset hound in trouble. I ran over to find the basset on the bottom of a pile of dogs, including both the chow and the large black dog. I managed to pull him away from the fray, and he limped over toward me. Another woman restrained her Chow and large black dog 10 or so feet away. What appalled me was that after half-heartedly asking if my dog was OK (he was, thankfully), the woman began to whine that her dogs had blood in their mouths. Then, the most appalling act of all came. Instead of asking someone to retrieve her leashes for her, the woman left her dogs to go get them herself…all while I am still checking my dog to make sure he’s OK. Sure as day, the Chow hadn’t gotten enough the first time and stalked over to where my dog was laying. Right in front of my eyes, the Chow lunged at the middle of my dog’s back, making a horrible aggressive noise in the process. I believe it was my Banshee-like screams that kept the dog from doing more damage.
The moral of this story, I suppose, is that if you are going to bring your dogs to an off-leash dog park, please follow the rules. Bark Park Central has clearly delineated rules prohibiting the presence of any dog known to have aggressive tendencies. I’m not saying all Chows are bad, but this one definitely was, and he should not have been allowed off-leash or even inside this park. I’m lucky the outcome wasn’t worse, but all it takes is one time.
