Dog Park for People

We just got back from the dog park. Not many dogs were there at all and only one "trouble maker"...always the little dog with "little dog" complex...they are ornery! Opal played HARD! She wanted to play ball with a Golden Retriever who would ONLY retrieve one particular ball. Golden Retriever would chase any ball, but would only retrieve the one large, yellow, squeaky football. Opal decided it would be fun to try and play "take away". Opal quickly changed her mind when Golden Retriever snapped BIG TIME at Opal, the pesky dog trying to steal Golden Retriever's large, yellow, squeaky football--FUN-NEEEEE!

What's also funny and sometimes not so fun-neeeee (I really need to enhance my writing skills) is how people act at the dog park. In the old days when you took your dog to the park, your dog knew it was at a people park and it was to respect the rights of other people and it was going to do what you, its owner told it to--hopefully--plus 99% of the time it had a big shiny silver thick chain around it's neck reminding it of it's place in the people park. Well, at the dog park, the people are supposed to know and respect the rights of other dogs, right? At the people park, the people are supposed to look out for their dogs. At the dog park the dogs look out for their people. But there's always one dog, not so concerned with it's person's reputation.

Case in point...all dogs, like people are different and for the sake of argument, we, as a human and canine beings are to be respectful of those differences. So, if Spot and Blackie are playing and Lucky decides to play too, then Spot and Blackie sort of "decide" whether Lucky gets in the game or not. Now if they decide Lucky passes the sniff test and they are down with Lucky playing, then it's Lucky's lucky day. But let's say they aren't too keen on Lucky's demeanor--for whatever reason...they just don't want to include Lucky. Well in dog world, there is no need for a conference, a sit-down mediation, an intervention...in dog world Spot and Blackie simply don't play with Lucky. Now Lucky has a choice to make here: does Lucky; a. want to force Lucky's self into Spot & Blackie's romp-fest, or b. decide to move on to more inviting rear-end sniffing elsewhere. If Lucky picks "b", then all is well in dog world and at the dog park. But if Lucky picks "a", a multitude of things could happen. Herein lies the problem with "people" at the dog park.

Lucky's owner is usually some person who thinks their Lucky is the most precious animal on God's green earth. Who on earth would not want to play with my sweet little Lucky. Well, Spot and Blackie for one...um, two. I see this all the time in "people" world: at the park, the zoo, the mall, youth sports activities, oh yeah...and at school. I finally had to tell my daughter, "look, we love you. We will stand in front of a freight train to save you. But see those other people out there? They are not nearly as nuts about you as we are and some of them even think it's kind of creepy that you hug everybody. Regardless of your cuteness, you, my dear, are invading their personal space. But remember, you are always welcome to invade ours and we love you no matter what. This is what Lucky's owner needs to convey to Lucky.

But instead, Lucky's owner invariably either watches Lucky running around annoying all the other dogs (again--no acknowledgment of respect for the other dogs), or runs around with Lucky saying things like, "oh...Lucky thinks he's such a big dog", or "hahaha, that Lucky of mine sure never meets a stranger", "oh don't worry, Lucky here just wants to get in the game". About that time Spot or Blackie or some other dog have had just about enough of this annoying intruder, and decide to engage in a little pest control. That generally begins with a quick snap or snarl and perhaps a display of a nice mohawk down the spine. Depending on how obstinate, egotistical or simply dumb Lucky is, Lucky either picks up on it and moves on to more welcoming canine companionship, or, Lucky thinks that perhaps the fun romping game has been ramped up a notch and by golly he can hang "with the big dogs". Hopefully Lucky is not foolish enough to make that mistake, but from what I've observed that is the very thing that makes Lucky the sort of ostracised dog he is. He and his owner just refuse to get that it's just not always about Lucky.

So dogs like Spot, Blackie and others have to take matters into their own hands much the same as we people finally do at our people parks. Hair flies, snarling escallates, teeth gnashing begin and then, once Lucky has been shown his place, his owner generally scoops Lucky up and leaves the park. Owner continues to be clueless as to what all the hub-bub was about and Lucky is insulted at the lack of acceptance by the dog group and vows to never go back there again.

Much like our dogs who wouldn't have any other owner besides their one and only "us", much the same as they have complete and total loyalty to us regardless of our faults and distasteful characteristics, we seem to be the same way with our dogs; bragadocious ("well, you know the Grand Welch Corgi has a proven intellect the same as an above-average intellect of a 38 year old human"), apologetic ("she can hardly help letting people know just how much she is a people dog but you can tell her to get off you lap if you want to"), over-indulgent ("I just have to feed him prime rib when he looks at me with that cute little puppy face") and proud ("nice coat of fur your dog has...Lucky has won three regional competitions for shiniest dog").

I'm afraid we will see this scenario play out time and time again. So far, four dog park trips, four "Lucky's" and their owners there. I guess the dogs and the people really aren't so much different from each other. I just hope I can continue to respect all the Spots and Blackies our there, regardless of Opal's vast amount of charm, talent and outstanding demeanor!