Another dog park incident

[VLC]

I saw someone else asked about something that happened to them, and I wanted to get opinions on this:

My roomie and I took her dogs to the park where a part is for dogs off leash. The map posted at the entrance says it is the section to the left. The off leash part is NOT fenced in. Our intention was not to let my roomie's dogs off the leash, but go sit under the trees and rest, since it was hot out and we had walked there. In addition, one of her dogs is occasionally aggressive to dogs he doesn't know - not to the point that a fight breaks out, but he has been known to snarl and sometimes that sets the OTHER dog off. Therefore, this dog is kept away from strange dogs just in case.

There were people with dogs off leash at the entrance and to the right - NOT where they were supposed to be. We stopped 30 feet away and my roomie called over to ask them to grab their dogs for a second until we got by. A medium size dog immediately came running out into the street and right up in our dogs' faces. We just held onto them and it was fine. But then, a HUGE dog came running up, barking furiously. Due to the size of the dog, my roomie was worried because if a fight DID break out, she wouldn't be able to stop it. We tried to pull our dogs back but the big dog kept coming at us.

Keep in mind we were on the public street, with dogs on leashes, and the huge dog was off leash and in the street, therefore breaking laws. The people started yelling at us - "Why are you bringing dogs to the park on the leash?" We yelled back that we weren't going to play in the off leash part, just visit the rest of the park. Didn't matter, they kept berating us and in the end we just left without entering the park at all.

I think it's pretty clear that we were in the right, since we didn't break the park rules and the other people did, putting us and their own dogs in danger, since the park is on a very busy street and their dogs ran out into it. But I would like opinions on other ways of handling the situation. We intend to use the park as is our right, so it would be good to find a way to get by other dogs and people. (And if anyone's thinking we should use a different park entrance, the only other choice means going about a mile out of our way, which is too far for these dogs to walk.)

[StarryNite]

1. Pepper spray works well.

I have never taken my dog to a dog park but have had aggressive dogs run up to her when I was walking her down the street. I have used the spray and felt that had I not used it, my dog would have been bitten. I won't leave home on a walk without it. Of course in the instance you are describing, I have a feeling all hell would have broken loose with the aggressive people. It just seems like aggressive people have aggressive dogs.

[VLC]

2. Hmmm

My roomie used to carry some when she lived in another neighborhood, to keep aggressive strays away. I imagine using it with the people there would lead to more incidents...

[haele]

3. Vinegar and water mix, squirt gun.

My mom used to ride her bike 3 miles to work at UW through the student residental row and some park areas, she had a holster setup on her handlebars for her squirt gun. Aim for the face.
She used it several times over the years. And it worked well against still-drunk frat boys early in the morning, too.

Haele

[qanda]

4. What did your dogs being on a leash have to do with the unruly dog?

Those people had a lot of nerve yelling at you. Perhaps you can contact someone in authority and ask them what your rights are concerning the park and how to deal with people who are not following the rules. Next time you'll be able to stand your ground if you have the proper information to back you up.

[VLC]

5. I did email the park department

But besides fencing in the off leash area, I don't really know what they can do about it.