Should You Bring Your Kids To The Dog Park?
March 26, 2018
It seems like it would be the perfect outing for the kids and a great way to satisfy their yearning for a dog to take them to the dog park. But for young children the dog park can be a hair-raising experience.
Dogs can easily bowl over young children
When the dogs in the park get chasing and running after each other, they don’t much care who gets in the way. You’ll never hear a dog say, “Mind out the way! Coming through!” They just charge right into you and I’ve seen many bone-cracking moments when they’ve wiped out even grown adults. One women who was clotheslined by a pair of dashing retrievers was hobbling around on crutches for six weeks after that episode and is still in physio to rehabilitate her knee joints. So you can imagine what kind of damage a pack of charging dogs could do to a small child.
Kids can incite a dog’s instinctive prey drive
Dogs aren’t the only ones that love to run around, kids are also known for their outbursts of energy. Their squeals of laughter and quick, excited gestures are enough to incite your dog’s prey drive. Dogs love to chase kids and the faster they run, the quicker they’ll charge after them.
Dogs are naturally drawn to kids
Dogs instantly hone in on little kids, probably because of the sweet, bubblegum scent they give off and their sticky, little hands that never seem to stop moving. Whatever it is, your dog will waste no time in jumping up and taking a lick. Mmm, yummy!
Dogs love quick movements
Kids tend to use their hands a lot and they love waving them in the air. These quick movements (plus the sticky little fingers!) can drive a dog crazy. The closer the dog moves in, the more likely your child will withdraw by raising their hands above their head, causing the dog to jump up and knocking your child to the ground. In a dog park, when someone hits the ground, every dog in the park will swarm around them. Depending on the situation, it could escalate to something nasty.
Dogs love treats as much as kids
Believe it or not, I once saw a woman bring her two toddlers into the dog park and they each had an ice cream cone. That’s right. Two beings under two feet tall, precariously eating ice cream and walking around the dog park. It took about a nano-second for the dogs to rush the kids. The ice cream? It was devoured in a flurry of licks and growls. Everyone in the park was in so much shock at the sight, it took them a moment to call off their dogs. The woman, realizing her mistake, hurriedly left at that moment, while we all shook our heads in disbelief.
Dog parks are full of dog dirt
While we like to romanticize the idea of a dog park, they are dirty places, (which is one of the reasons I avoid them now). Hundreds of dogs a day are taken to the dog park to urinate and defecate. On top of that, there is a species of dog park attendees that think they’re too good to pick up after their dogs. So sadly, these dog parks are full of dog dirt and some of them are so bad, your chances of not stepping in it are few to none.
So the dog park is probably not the best place to introduce your children to dogs. Instead, ask a dog-owner friend if you can introduce your child to their dog. It’s a great way to teach your child proper dog etiquette before you commit to getting one yourself.
by Natalie Secretan
Puppy Dog Capers