Dog Park Safety – 7 Tips for Keeping Your Dog Safe at the Dog Park

1. Make sure your dog is up to date on vaccinations.
With all those dogs running and playing in the same small area diseases are likely to be present. The best way to ensure your dog stays healthy is to check their paperwork to ensure they are up to date on vaccinations.

2. DO NOT bring a puppy under 16 weeks of age to the Dog Park.
Your puppies immune system is not fully developed and they have not received all of their vaccinations yet. Living in the Suburbs most people don’t realize their puppies should not be out and about before their final rabies booster because well it isn’t a huge issue for your dog to play with your neighbors dog that you know is vaccinated or to begin to leash train your puppy. Those in the city know taking a puppy outside even to potty before 16 weeks of age could spell disaster for your puppy.

3. Leave the treats and toys at home.
Let your dog enjoy the outdoors, interaction with other dogs, laying in the grass, swimming in the pond, running through the water features. By adding toys that belong to your dog they can get overly protective and some dogs will even get aggressive especially when it comes to food. Leave the food in the car for a treat after playtime. Water is fine to bring with you but most dog parks have water fountains or bowls with a hose to fill up.

4. Avoid the Dog Park during it busiest hours.
They are the busiest hours for a reason people want their dog to get exercise just like you do. Times to avoid are right before work and right after work as well as the weekends. Lunch time can also be busy at the dog park. Take your dog at a quieter time and you will enjoy a happier more well behaved crowd. Your dog will have more room to run and the chances of meeting up with poorly behaved dogs and their even worse behaved owners are cut way down.

5. Know your dog
Know what your dog needs. If they are going to be unhappy in the small dog area and there are only a few dogs in the big area and they are all friendly switch to the other side so your dog can run and play in a larger contained area. If your dog is getting picked on by a pack of larger or smaller dogs it might be time to go home or at least leave the dog park for a while until those dogs are gone.

6. Leave small children out of the dog park
Your dog might be great with small children, my dogs might be great with small children but not ever dog interacts with small children on a regular basis. A crying baby in the dog park could sound like an injured or sick animal don’t take the chance. On the other hand your dog might love to play chase with your child and know to be gentle there can be very big dogs in the park that don’t know how to be as gentle during a game of chase especially when they are all rowdy from interacting with the other dogs and could accidentally push your child or jump on them and scratch them.

7. Make sure that the fencing along the dog park is intact
Yes there is probably someone there once a week or so to ensure the dog park is in good shape but that lab that just left might have been a digger and tried to dig out (the grass is always greener on the other side). Or there might have been a heavy rain storm the night before and a branch could have landed on the fencing. Once you are in the dog park keep and eye on the entrance gates first to know who and what is coming inside but also to ensure everyone is as obsessive about making sure the gate is properly secured as you are.