How to behave at dog playgrounds

It's no longer a strange thing when a municipality sets up a dog park or a dog playground. Due to frequent regulation of off-leash movement of dogs, this should, however, often be obligatory. Do you know how to behave in such places so that you wouldn’t bother other visitors and you’d avoid unnecessary conflicts?

On fences or gates of dog parks and playgrounds, rules of visit might be usually listed, but there are certain principles of good conduct - dog owner's etiquette - that should always be followed:

  1. You are responsible for your dog for the whole time of a visit to the            park or to the playground. The dog must be socialised and it mustn’t be aggressive towards people or other dogs. If you’ve come here to socialise, don’t let the dog run free.
  2. The dog visiting a dog park or a playground must have all the vaccinations             valid and it should also be regularly de-wormed.
  3. Clean up after your dog. As well as anywhere in the public space, even here,       always clean up after your fluffy friend.
  4. Definitely don’t take a bitch in heat into these areas. Her presence could     distract other dogs and she could even be a reason for a dog fight.
  5. Don’t carry your snack along. That could again distract other dogs and make them behave undesirably. They could steal it from you in an unguarded moment, which could set off their health issues (e.g. in allergic dogs, diabetic dogs).        
  6. Don’t take any small children with you. Other dogs in the park may not be used to children, they can manifest fear or aggression towards them. In the heat of the game, the dogs could easily knock the child over or otherwise injure it.
  7. Always have a leash            at hand. You never know when two dogs won’t get along and you will have to quickly take control of your dog and take it out of the park. Not mentioning possible situations when a non-socialised or an uncontrollable dog comes to the park.
  8. If you can see that someone is practising obedience with their dog or doing           some other sport, don’t let your dog bother them.
  9. The same applies if you’re at the playground and somebody is practising on an obstacle. Wait until they finish the track or the obstacle before you start using it yourself. And don’t let your dog disturb them during the training.

Dog parks and playgrounds are a great place to let off steam and let go of excessive energy. Unfortunately, this will only work, if we’ll be tolerant towards each other and if we behave well.

Do you visit dog parks or playgrounds? And do you meet ill-behaved dogs or dog owners there?

Related articles

How rescue dogs are trained

In the previous article, we wrote about what rescuing people entails and which dog breeds are suitable for searching for people in collapsed buildings. This topic is so interesting that we decided to focus even more on dog training itself, i.e. on the...

Cats are not vegetarians! What belongs to a cat bowl?

Let’s be clear, cats are carnivores by nature.  They love meat. It is completely natural for them. Meat must be the basis of their daily nutrition. A cat cannot live without meat! Cats instinctively prefer foods high in meat. Feeds with meat aroma and...

Dogs to the rescue - How are rescue dogs trained?

There are questions that run through a person’s mind upon seeing dogs searching for people lost in the woods, stuck under the rubble of a collapsed building or drowning in a reservoir. How difficult is it for a dog to find such people? Can I train my...

How to proceed when a dog runs astray?

It is an unenviable situation no four-legged companion´s owner would like to get into. When your dog runs astray during a walk, for example because it discovers a hole in the fence or senses another animal that catches its attention, many of us panic...

Physiotherapy-based defense training fundamentals

We, humans, do take care of our bodies and our health. If our knee hurts, we go to the orthopaedist, if our back hurts for a long time, we probably start considering physiotherapy. The need to go to inspections regularly increases with the level of...

Dogs at shows: What Does It Take?

At dog shows, many dog lovers meet to show off with their beloved pets of pure breed. However, such events are not only beauty pageants as they could seem. They are also important for breeding and for pure-bred dog to mate. What happens on such shows...

Christmas Dinner for Your Pets

One of the most important parts of Christmas is Christmas Eve’s dinner. For example in the Czech Republic, it usually includes fish soup, fried carp or schnitzel and potato salad. However, the most important thing is that all loved ones should be at...

Original Christmas Gifts for Cats

At Christmas, we want to make our loved ones, those who are our loyal companions throughout the whole year, happy. It also applies to our furry friends. If you have a cat at home and you are thinking about what to give it at Christmas, we have a...