Dog park stupid-long

[violiavampyr]

So I took my doggie to the dog park today as I do most weekends. I use this opportunity to socialize him with dogs big and small. I consider him to be a medium sized dog, about 30 odd pounds.
I also brought two of the kids today, and they ran around, and eventually put their feet in the little pond in the section for "small dogs".
Now, based purely on the signage I freely take him to both sides. According to the signage dogs no smaller than 12in in height and no taller than 18in in height, with a marker where the maximum height is. Since I don't walk around with measuring tape I go by the marker, and my guy bumps right up to it.
The sign also says dogs younger than 4 months old are not allowed, neither are overly aggressive dogs, and dogs in heat.
Where the marker is allows for a large range of dogs, and plenty of people take dogs less than 12in height, and aggressive dogs.
My dog was winding down on the "general population"side, so I brought him with me to collect the kids. They asked me for 5 more min, so I said ok and meandered to the exit with my guy, who was just sniffing around. Note, my dog is not dog aggressive. He plays rough, when the signals are there, but when another dog says "back off", he does. He's only about 8months old, so he's still learning, but he's been really good. He knows how to communicate.
As I'm casually walking through with my guy, this woman with a wiener dog starts yelling at me.
"You need to get your dog on a leash or out of here, or I'm calling the city!"
Me: "What?" at this point I had eyes on my dog (always do), and he was sniffing a plant.
"He's too big!"
Me: "He's shorter than the marker on the sign."
Whore huffs: "He's not less than 18in!"
Me:"He is, according to the sign!"
Another random wiener dog woman: "MY dog's 12in long!"
Me: "WTF? It's HEIGHT, not LENGTH!" I'm getting pretty angry at this point, and have lost the ability to argue logically. Otherwise I would have pointed out that, according to the sign, all their dogs were too short!
At this point my dog starts sniffing at one of the little wiener dogs, and the lady who's been yelling at me freaks out.
Me: "Lady! He's not going to attack your dog!"
Whore: "MY dog will attack yours, and then yours will attack mine! MY dog takes offense at bigger dogs!!! He's too big to be here! Don't you see how everyone's holding their dogs! If you don't leave RIGHT NOW I'm calling the police!!!!"
I was too pissed at this point to bother, so I called for the kids. On my way out I push him up to the sign, yep, still just under the marker. Now, if the marker that says 18in is higher than 18in actually is, why is that my problem? Again, I don't walk around with measuring tape just to make sure cities are placing markers at the correct height. For the record, I have no idea what height he is, I don't even know my own height.
If I'd had my wits about me, then I would have asked her why the hell is she bringing a dog aggressive dog that's poorly socialized to the dog park? Honestly, if her dog has an issue with being sniffed by another dog, whatever the size, then it shouldn't BE at the dog park.

Note: I'm just venting about the stupid women, not intending to start a dog debate. Even IF my dog is over the height limit, then she should have approached me in a non aggro manner.
ETA: If my dog were misbehaving or being bad, I could see her getting pissy, but he wasn't. He was just sniffing and being chill. She went from zero to aggro in no time.

[Zapper]

Tell the bitch that if her dog bites, you'll call the animal control to report a vicious dog. That empty threat alone would probably yank all the bluster right out of her.

Hell, let her call the police. You've got a park full of witnesses that knows your dog was fine. Good dog owners tend to rally around people attacking their pets. Crazy Lady might even get cited by the cops for wasting their time.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I agree, if she calls the police when you've done nothing wrong, she's the one they're going to be annoyed with.

The dog runs at the park near where I work goes by weight. Under 25 pounds on one side, over 25 on the other, and they have to be over 12 weeks and have had their shots; there's some other rules but I don't think there's anything about height on the signs. (I don't have a dog but I pass it when I'm walking and sometimes I'll detour and watch the dogs run around from outside the fence.)

[Andara Bledin]

Considering that none of their dogs were tall enough to even be there, and yours squeaks by under the posted sign, I'd tell her to go ahead and call them, and you could tell them how she admitted that her dog was aggressive and poorly socialized.

^-.-^

[violiavampyr]

About the weight, on the city website they have weight limits listed, but at the park it's just the sign with the marker that may, or may not be at 18in. And the tidbit about not bringing aggro dogs. Course, I've seen plenty of dog owners with a multitude of sizes of dogs in the side designated for smaller dogs. Just the other week a lady was in there with a Great Dane and a mess of Boston Terriers. The Dane just chilled while other dogs darted around its legs. She told me she brought him there because he was older and just liked to chill in the water.
There's been an odd influx of people with aggro dogs.

[cashierbex]

I have noticed wiener dogs are aggressive towards bigger dogs (mine snaps at em, so we avoid the big dog area).

The lady, I have a few words for her, but I would get banned from here for saying them .

[BookstoreEscapee]

I have noticed wiener dogs are aggressive towards bigger dogs (mine snaps at em, so we avoid the big dog area).

A lot of little dogs are aggressive but people don't think of them that way because they aren't as likely to really hurt someone (especially an adult), so often people are more likely to ignore or even laugh off a small-breed dog's aggressive behaviors when they're young instead of working on training them better. When a Chihuahua growls people think it's cute and funny; when a Doberman growls at you, you head the other way.

I used to work with a girl who had two Boxers and a Chihuahua. I'll give you one guess as to which of those three dogs was in charge.

[cashierbex]

Luckily mine turn loving with humans. With the exception of 2 of my coworkers. Just growls. I think my dogs are mostly being protective. We try to calm them. What I usually do is take them in my arms and bring them to people so they know I am safe. Tends to work.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I only ever saw Pablo seriously growl once (not including when the cats would try to steal from his bowl when he was eating, or my dad playing with him), and my ex told me of one other person he growled at once (his friend's daughter's boyfriend). The one time I saw it it was because my cousin's kids had come over to see the kittens and they were all excited and loud, and while I was holding him, my cousin's daughter got too close and he got scared. I took him out of the room then and he was fine. One thing my ex did right with him, though, was take him out with him whenever he could and let his friends all hold him so he would get used to people. He still had his favorite person (me! ) but he was fine with being handed off to whoever.

[Sapphire Silk]

Honestly, I don't see what violia did wrong here. The other lady is the one with the suck.

What she did manage to do was put violia on the defensive, and from there it's an automatic loss.

Never lose your cool when confronted by a bitch. That's what they want.

[violiavampyr]

Yeah, she put me on the defensive big time. It was just so unexpected that it totally floored me, most people at that park are pretty chill.

[PepperElf]

i feel your pain.

some cunts just want to be the queen of the dog park and nitpick at everyone else and dictate how everyone else should be in the park. and some people like inventing their own rules or laws and trying to enforce them, as it sounds like she was doing.

and yeah, with medium sized dogs it's a tossup which side they should be on anyway, in which case most people expect owners to pick the side based off of the dog's temperament as well as the exact weight/height etc. Ours for example is a bit too much for puppies & small dogs (except Dictator) to handle. But one of the other adorable medium sized dogs at the park can easily play with tiny dogs without any issues.


but yeah, nothing like someone who decides to dictate how everyone else is suppose to handle their dogs.

[LewisLegion]

We have an offleash dogpark here that is huge, and is part of an even LARGER park for people. It's hard to miss the signs that delineate the dog park from the 'people' park. There are gates, huge signs, and stands with doggy scoop bags. You have to walk AROUND the signs to get in the gates and the bag stands are every ten feet...really really hard to miss.

Even so, one day while there with my girls, I walked past a pair of women sitting on one of the many benches talking. One of my girls runs up and sniffs one of the lady's feet, then runs back to me. Next thing I hear is the ladies calling out to me.

SL: "Keep those mutts away from me!"

Me: What? Sorry...

SL: They're dirty and disgusting! There are laws you know! Put them on a leash right now!

Me: Uh, no? It's-

SL: **interrupting** Put them on a leash or I'll call security and have you thrown out!

Me: Good luck with that, lady. You're sitting in the middle of an off-leash dog park. This is THEIR park. You don't want dogs around, go to the regular portion of the park.

I walked off with her still calling nastily after me.

At another time, I had a gentlemen walk by giving all the dogs nasty looks (there were about twenty congregated in one location, with half a dozen owners standing about. As he passed by us he yelled out, "What, are you people running a kennel? Ever heard of leashes?"

He quickly got a reply from four different mouths that he was in a dog park, which he should have realized when he stepped AROUND the huge ass signs and walked THROUGH the huge ass gate.

[LillFilly]

Sounds like a person who just thinks that her 4-legged kids are so much more special than everyone elses!

[AmbrosiaWriter]

It's always so nice when people try to control your dog or berate you for your dog, especially when they're in the wrong.
You know, my boyfriend has a brindle pit bull, she's very sweet except when she gets a bit excited. Then she's not vicious or anything, just... very energetic and a bit naughty.

One day, we were walking Nikki (pittie princess) along and this little girl wanders up, her mother was near by watching, and goes "Is she a tiger?" It was adorable. "Look mommy she has stripes like a tiger! Can I pet her?" Which we said yes to. Nikki prefers to be introduced before someone pets her though, so we tell the girl to stand still and let Nikki sniff her all over and then the little girl pets her. We knew it would be okay because Nikki has gone up to infants in their mother's arms and sniffed them gently before giving a little lick and wandering away again. She takes her ques from us in terms of how energetic she can be while not in the house.

Nikki is sooooo happy, she loooveesss meeting new people and getting pats. So what does she do? Proceeds to lick this little girl all over her arms and face, and she is giggling up a storm while the mother is furiously digging through her purse, looking for a camera.

Guess what happens next? Some busybody comes storming over and tries to push Nikki to the ground. Now, the issue with stubborn breeds that are still puppies is that they don't take kindly to complete strangers touching them in an aggressive manner. Nikki yelps then growls at the jerk who shoved her. Doesn't go into attack mode, just starts with "Get away from me" body posture and soft, short growls.

The jerk proceeds to go on a soapbox about how she just proved that pit bulls are vicious, dangerous dogs and that we should be ashamed of ourselves for putting a little girl in danger and bla-blah how we're probably drug addicts to have such a violent dog etc. etc. My boyfriend was about to blow up at her when the little girl, with a big pout on her face, screams.

"YOU'RE A BIG POOPY HEAD FOR PICKING ON TIGER PUPPY. SHE WAS HAPPY UNTIL YOU WERE A BIG STUPID FACE AND TRIED TO PUSH HER DOWN. GO AWAY MEAN LADY, THE PARK IS FOR NICE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PLAY."

She would not stop screaming until the lady was a good distance away, sprinting. Her mother looked very proud.