Watching your pups frolic off leash at the dog park is a truly joyful experience. Most indoor dogs don’t have many opportunities to let their hair down, run wild in nature and act like dogs.
High quality, safe dog parks provide dogs with a much-needed space to decompress and play in a natural environment. Here are 6 things to look for when choosing a safe park for your pup to play.
Paid Memberships.
Look for dog parks that are owned by the local county parks system or another private organization, such as a local kennel club. These parks are typically equipped with surveillance cameras and require membership fees as well as registration information
This information typically includes the member’s vehicle details as well as details about their dog, including vaccination status.
If a fight were to break out and a dog were seriously injured, these paid parks will be able to offer some assistance and hopefully be able to identity the liable party. Some parks even have a specific help line to call and report serious dog injuries or fights.
The requirement of membership increases owner accountability in the event of an injury and serves as a deterrent for negligent dog owners.
However, it’s important to know that the park itself is not liable for any harm and you enter the park at your own risk. Serious dog injuries and even deaths do occur at dog parks, so it’s very important to consider the risks and decide if the dog park is the right choice for you.
In addition to increasing owner accountability, membership fees also provide funds for public restrooms and parking lots for a more pleasant human experience.
2. Separate Areas for Large and Small Breed Dogs
Dog parks are inherently a high-risk environment, but the risk of serious injury is greatly decreased when dogs are separated by size. A light correction bite from an 80lb lab pit bull mix could mean death for a small breed dog.
Whereas a scuffle between two 20 lb dogs is unlikely to result in maiming or death because the dogs are similarly matched. Additionally, some dogs can have a high or intact prey drive and confuse a little fluffy white dog with a prey animal.
Prey drive refers to the natural dog instinct to eye, stalk, chase, catch, and kill a prey animal. Some dogs will only engage in the eye, stalk, and chase stages, while others with an intact prey drive, will catch and kill other animals.
If a dog has not been exposed to different types of dogs at a young age, they may not recognize extremely small dogs as dogs, but rather a prey animal like a rabbit or hamster.
A tiny dog running and making high pitch noises can trigger prey drive in other dogs. This can create a very dangerous situation for small dogs penned in an area with large dogs who may confuse them as prey.
Finally, dogs tend to feel more comfortable with dogs their own size, so dogs are more likely to play and socialize when they are separated into similarly sized groups.
Many small dogs are fearful around larger dogs because they tend to get roughed up during big dog interactions, simply because of the size difference.
Even being in the presence of large dogs can trigger reactive defensive behavior from a small dog such as barking and lunging. This type of behavior can instigate fights and become dangerous.
Avoid these potentially dangerous encounters by choosing a safe park that separates large and small dogs.
If you are an owner of a large dog, please be respectful of small dogs that may be fearful of large dogs and stay on your side of the park. Just because your dog is ok with small dogs, doesn’t mean that the small dogs are ok with yours.
If you are the owner of a small dog, don’t place your dog in harm’s way by tempting fate in the large breed area. Your small dog may accidentally trigger the prey drive of a large dog and that’s a bad situation for everyone involved.
Prey drive is natural dog instinct because dogs are a predator species. Dogs with high prey drive are not “bad” or “aggressive”, they are just dogs.
All dogs deserve to go a safe park, so be respectful and stay on your side.
3. Large space and walking paths.
Many people believe the main benefit of dog parks is the social aspect of dogs getting a chance to play with other dogs. While some dogs enjoy playing with strange dogs, many do not and simply enjoy the off-leash time out in nature.
Free time in nature is essential for dogs who spend most of their time indoors, so we need to choose a space that makes room for both social and loner type dogs to coexist peacefully.
A safe dog park is designed with room for social dogs to play, and enough room for loner dogs to embark on solo adventures.
Because of the large and spacious layout, all dogs feel they have room to retreat and disengage from tense situations. Large spaces allow dogs to engage in polite dog behavior, which often means staying out of each other’s way.
Small dog parks do not provide enough room for multiple dogs to have enough personal space. This creates a tense environment and can cause fights to break out because of overcrowding.
Parks with large spaces often include natural walking paths for humans to stroll about alongside their off leash canine companions. Walking paths provide a perfect exit strategy for you and your dog when a play session gets a little too intense or another dog is behaving inappropriately.
Walking paths keep dogs moving and prevent conflicts that can arise when dogs feel trapped in an unwanted social interaction.
4. Safe Play Equipment.
Depending on the material and design, play equipment can be a beneficial dog park feature. Safe play equipment can provide dogs an opportunity to take a time out from play in a safe spot, either under or over the equipment.
During a play session, a dog that is overstimulated can safely communicate to the other dogs that they are done playing, by climbing onto a wooden play structure. Safe play equipment examples include wooden or plastic ramps, platforms, bridges and tunnels.
Avoid dog parks that feature metal play structures such a jumping hoops, weave poles, or ladders. Metal becomes dangerously hot in the sun and can burn your dog’s skin. When metal play equipment is not regularly maintained, it can rust and break leaving exposed rough edges.
Metal equipment can also be dangerous if dogs accidentally jump on or run into any sharp edges.
Dogs have been horribly injured on metal play equipment, so avoid these parks or avoid using any metal play equipment. Stick to parks with well maintained, safe play equipment.
5. Well maintained property and secure fencing.
Before paying for a park membership, it’s a good idea to go check out the property beforehand. Some parks may not be well maintained and have damaged or low-quality fencing. Damaged or inadequate fencing could allow your dog to accidentally escape or cause an injury.
Having a secure fence is essential for a safe dog park, so be sure to check out the fence before letting your pup off leash. If you have a small dog, check to make sure they can’t squeeze through the gaps in the fence.
A well-maintained dog park should have the grass mowed regularly as well as any other landscaping tasks. All ground surfaces whether its mulch, sand, gravel, or grass should provide enough traction and stability to be safe for dogs to play on.
If there are trees on the property, they should be healthy and stable with no rotting or falling limbs. Any bodies of water should be regularly monitored for quality and signs should be posted to alert members of any safety concerns.
A quality dog park will also provide dog waste clean-up stations to promote a sanitary play environment. Waste receptacles should be regularly emptied and restocked.
6. Access to shade and fresh water.
A safe dog park will provide both dogs and humans with shaded areas for cooling off during the warmer months. Heat exhaustion in dogs can be triggered by intense play as well as high temperatures, so providing a shady spot for dogs to cool off is an essential feature of a safe dog park.
Shaded areas can include pavilions, sunshades, canopies or natural shaded areas beneath trees.
Though it’s always wise to bring your own water just in case, high quality dog parks will provide fresh water to their members. Some parks only feature a water spicket for you to fill your own container, while other parks feature stainless steel human and doggy water fountains.
Now that you know the qualities of a safe dog park, you’ll know what types of parks to visit and what types of parks to avoid. Keep your pup safe at the dog park this summer by choosing large, membership only, well maintained dog parks. Check back next week for more dog park safety tips and tricks!
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