If you ever raise a topic of dog parks in dog-savvy communities, the number of negative opinions on this matter will be overwhelming. Most dog trainers absolutely hate dog parks, and there are several valid reasons for it. First and foremost, dogs pick up bad behavioral habits at dog parks. What does it mean?
Have you ever seen that fella yelling “Fido, come over here!” and chasing their dog, who pays zero attention to those words, with a leash in their hand?
Have you ever seen that dog who grabs other dogs’ toys and then resource-guards them until another dogs decides to fight?
Do you remember seeing that dog who runs around like it is possessed by demons, who also consistently gets into other dogs’ faces, and whose owners are only laughing because they find this extremely amusing?
Or, perhaps, you might have seen a dog at the vet clinic with its ear shredded to pieces at the dog park? All because it did not like other dogs, and kind owners took it to dog park to “socialize.”
All above issues are created by the environment in dog parks, and all lead to long-lasting behavioural issues. A dog who was allowed to not come at your first recall command, positively reinforced itself for doing so, where his/her reward was running around and playing with other dogs. This means that this dog will keep not coming when called and will do so more and more often.
A dog who is allowed to possess other dogs’ toys, positively reinforces itself by having those toys between his/her feet or in its mouth. This dog will keep grabbing other dogs’ toys until it gets into a serious fight and develops a strong dislike for all dogs whatsoever.
A dog who is too rambunctious and does not understand what personal space means, will get snapped at, injured, and, again, develop either fear or aggression towards other dogs.
Does this mean that dog parks are so bad? The answer is: not always, BUT only if you know what you are doing AND if you have a dog who will benefit from it.
There are very few things you can control when you bring your dog to a dog park. This means that if your dog is already fearful or aggressive towards other dogs, you should avoid dog parks whatsoever, unless you are looking to exacerbate your issues.
With dogs who are not fearful or aggressive, you need to be on constant lookout and never relax so that you can prevent any issues from arising. However, if you are able to constantly scan your surroundings and predict possible issues, you can USE dog parks’ environment to work on certain things, such as recall. Grab your long line, hook it up to your dog’s collar, and let them drag this line while they are exploring. Practice recall several times while you are there by first securing the line and then helping your dog to make a correct choice. In a similar manner, you can work on your positions, duration, heeling, and just playing with your dog.
As with most things, there is no clear-cut, one-size-fits-all answer to whether dog parks are good or not. It really depends on multiple factors, among which one huge factor is your luck, which, to me, makes visiting dog parks not worth the risk. Even if your dog is super nice and dog-savvy, there is no guarantee that all other dogs will be just as nice. However, there are some dogs who generally do very well in dog parks. Those include sporting and hunting breeds, such as Labs, Goldens, Setters, and Spaniels. With some exclusions, dogs who absolutely should not be taken to dog parks include working breeds, such as Giant Schnauzers, Dobermanns, Rottweilers, and pretty much all Livestock Guardians (Maremma Shepherds, Central Asian shepherds, Anatolian shepherds). Some herding breeds do well in dog parks (Rough Collies, for instance), but most will feel anxious (think, Border Collie or Aussie or German Shepherd), and therefore they are also not great candidates for this type of adventure. Terriers are usually hit or win, with some being extremely nice and others behaving like terrorists.
But as much as me or any other trainer dislikes dog parks, I get it, the appeal is huge. It is very satisfying to see how your dog plays with its own species representatives. It feels good and is convenient that they exercise themselves and burn this energy, and you don’t need to take them for long walks and work them a lot. And for some people, it truly is the only way to let their dog meet other dogs.
However, instead of just letting your dog run, it is much more beneficial to use dog parks as a way to introduce distractions in your training, and therefore strengthen your bond with your dog. After all, at the end of the day, you still want your dog to prefer YOU over other dogs. But it will not happen, unless you, with or without the help of dog parks, will work on it.