Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / June 2005

I'm not a vet, I'm a vet tech.  Hope I can still put my two cents in!  I
personally don't like the dog parks around where I live (South Western
Ontario).  I've seen too many dogs come in with Kennel Cough and it's always
the same story...s/he was just at the dog park a few days ago!  Also, seen
too many dogs with bites +/- abscesses from either vicious attack or just
play biting at loose skin.  I don't take my dog there.  Your dog could be
the best well behaved dog in the world, but it's not all well behaved dogs
that go to the dog park!  One incident I'll never forget was a little sweet
shih tzu that the owners took to the leash free park, and it was ganged up
on by two or three other dogs.  Of course they shook it and beat the crap
out of it...the little sweet dog didn't survive.  Most people at the park
are talking to each other and not necessarily watching the dogs either.
That's what happened here.

Sort of mixed feelings.  On the one hand, it's great for city dogs to get a
chance to charge around like a knucklehead every once in a while.  On the
other, lots of parasite concentration, bite wounds, and the occasional hit
by car ain't such a good thing.  Asking vets and animal care professionals
about this might not give you the best answer, as professionally we usually
only see the dogs who have problems at dog parks rather than the ones who go
three or four times a week and never do.  Our sample is a little skewed.