Dog Park and Toddlers

[Tabby Uprising]

Seriously,  Seriously?  Parents are going to Dog Parks and whining about all the dogs there? SERIOUSLY???!!!

I am going to have a glass of wine and look at pictures of kittens until I calm down.

I'll join you.  I need the brain hurt to go away.

[mstigerlily]

I'm wondering how many of those people (the toddler-in-the-dog-park people), when asked why they brought pwecious to the dog park, would reply 'because pwecious loves doggies!'

 

[Jones]

There has got to be a punchline to this situation....

....Where is this becoming a trend? The Dalek world?

[BarensMom]

Dog piling on here to agree - loose toddlers should not be at the dog park.  It's a incident waiting to happen.

Baren is a curious creature, as all dogs are, and if he sees a small human wandering around, smelling of milk and cheesy goldfish, he wants to go sniff and maybe get food/petses from him/her.  Fortunately, I am at the end of the leash to control this urge.  The dog park is the one place that he can indulge most of his other "urges" off-leash. 

I hate having to curtail his privileges because some moronic parent decides to plop their unrestrained kid in the middle of the park.  It's worse when the kid is scared and starts screaming their head off, then the parent gets angry at dog owners for not controlling the dogs.  I have actually said, "It's a flippin' dog park - take your kid to a tot lot."

[MrsJWine]

There are all kinds of parks for kids where dogs have to be leashed. There aren't near as many dog parks. People go to dog parks so their dogs can run free. I understand people often have kids AND dogs, but in that case, the should keep the kids close while their dog plays. They shouldn't make everyone else worry about their dogs hurting or terrifying kids.

Plus, a lot of dogs who are great with people in general are more nervous about small children. In a space like that with so many dogs running around, it's just a disaster waiting to happen.

[lowspark]

Seriously,  Seriously?  Parents are going to Dog Parks and whining about all the dogs there? SERIOUSLY???!!!

I am going to have a glass of wine and look at pictures of kittens until I calm down.

Pour one for me, too, please. That is ridiculous.

Me too. These are the same people who take their toddlers to adult movies, nice restaurants and other completely inappropriate places. There are some places where little kids do not belong. Period.

I am pretty curious as to what brought this question up. I hope the OP is going to come back and give us the whole story.

[MasterofSquirrels]

lowspark,
I can wager a guess,  the "whole story" was that Dalek saw a toddler at a dog park, wondered about it, and decided to post here.   

[floridamom]

Seriously,  Seriously?  Parents are going to Dog Parks and whining about all the dogs there? SERIOUSLY???!!!

I am going to have a glass of wine and look at pictures of kittens until I calm down.

Pour me a glass as well LOL!

I'm with everyone else!  It's a dog park not a children's park. Shaking head at the lack of common sense with some of these parents.  As my father used to say and I like to say "Common sense is not so common".

[Need to Change]

Most of the dog parks I know are right smack in, or adjacent to, a "people park," some of which have tot-lots.  Plenty of dog goodness for a dog-loving tot to see -- from the other side of the fence.

On a bit of a tangent ... some folks take picnic lunch to a dog park.  Now, even though many dog parks discourage dog snacks, my hound highly recommends people picnics!  Since I'm the one who had to apologize when he vacuumed up somebody's sandwich, I beg to disagree.

ETA:  Just remembered.  Years ago, a now departed old dog of ours once knocked over a toddler in the dog park.  (I didn't even see the kid until after the fact, but I still felt awful about it.)  The parent apologized.  Unfortunately, they did not leave the park, but they did keep hold of their toddler after that, and they stuck to the perimeter of the park.

[MrTango]

It's a dog park.  It's specific purpose is to provide a safe environment for the dog to run around off-leash.

I completely agree.

[bah12]

I think it's presumptious of parents to think that owners will restrain their dogs in the dog park, simply because a toddler is there.  The purpose of dog parks is to provide a safe environment where the dogs can run around off leash.  Introducing a hazard, IMO, is on the one who brought in the hazard, not the dog owners.

Now, is a toddler necessarily a hazard?  I think it would depend on the toddler and the parent is the one who should own the risk of the toddler being knocked down or otherwise injured if they allow them to run around with other dogs...dogs they don't know.  If the dog park doesn't already have a restriction on the age of the person who can enter, then I think that toddlers can be allowed, provided they are properly supervised and don't interfere with the dogs.  For me, personally, I would not take my toddler to a dog park.  There are plenty of other environments structured for her.  A dog park is not one of them. 

[Winterlight]

The whole point of a dog park is that the dogs will be unleashed and running around. Toddlers shouldn't be in there, and older kids should understand that this is dogspace, not playground space.

[Docslady21]

Is it ever okay for toddlers to run around a dog park? Yay or nay?

I'm seeing a trend of parents letting their young children run around dog parks. Occasionally, a kid will get knocked down by an overly excited and curious dog. Parents feel dog owners should keep their dogs restrained within the dog park. Owners feel dogs should have a place to run and play without worrying about being stressed by kids.

Does this even happen? Where, so I don't go there. Why would someone even bring the toddler into the dog park when there is nothing for them to do? Why would they get mad about unleashed dogs in a no-leash zone? Although I could see the occasional special snowflake doing this, I have a really hard time wrapping my mind around this becoming a trend with tons of toddlers and dogs creating community mayhem. Even the crummier parents in the world usually try to avoid having their knee-high children in areas full of unleashed, unpredictable dogs. And most dog parks have an age restriction to prevent the parents with no common sense. Bummer for places where this happens.

[Dalek]

The dog park we go to is a large fenced in area. There are tunnels and hydrants, and things for them to play on and in.
 
My dog does not love toddlers. It’s something we have been working with him on and training. He’s not necessarily aggressive towards them, but I think because they are his size, he is more curious with them. He’s generally a very sweet dog, and great with people.
The last two times we have taken him, we have had an issue with toddlers being there. He has jumped on them, in an attempt to play, and knocked them over.
He usually stays pretty close to us as we walk around the park, but on Saturday, for some reason, he was running around like a crazy man. We were on the complete opposite end of the entrance, and he ran over there. We saw a couple come in with a baby and a toddler. As soon as we saw them, we started to run over there, and yelled out to our dog, but it was too late. Our dog jumped on the kid and knocked him down. The parents were not happy. We were very apologetic, but honestly, I was ticked. They are running around and yelling in a place with 30 dogs.

[Betelnut]

It is definitely fun to take a kid to the dog park OUTSIDE the fence and look at the dogs together.  My daughter and I used to do that all the time.  But no way would I take her inside.