A new series about Dogs in Public... Dog Parks

I’m a certified professional dog trainer. I am not a Dr. or a certified behaviorist. Below is my opinion and ideas I’ve “borrowed” from dog professionals smarter than me and through 10,000+ hours of working with dogs and my thousands of mistakes. Those professionals and you may completely disagree with me and that’s OK. Below is just things I’ve said a thousand times in conversations about dogs beginning with my last conversation about… dog parks.

                                           I… don’t like dog parks.

I mean, I really, really don’t like dog parks. I know, I know. I own a freaking “dog park”. It’s called BrightDogs DOG PARK. There’s a lit sign on the building that says, “DOG PARK”. I bought a street sign from the city of New York that says DOG PARK and stuck it in the window. ” Dog Park” is just a generic term now, like Kleenex, Coke and ESPN. We began as an indoor play place for you and your dog to come play before transitioning to Day Care. It was difficult to find a balance. Which is why I don’t like public dog parks. It’s too complicated: a mix of dogs, adults and children. Yes, children can be very different beings entirely in the eyes of a dog.

                                           The complicated mix is that of energy, of vibration. A lot of dog parks separate dogs into

Large and Small groups. That’s good when it comes to avoiding trampling people or smaller dogs and may be comforting to dogs who may be timid of larger dogs but in the general dog universe, separating by size makes as much sense as separating by color. And dogs generally aren’t rude or go plowing through other dogs or bully one another because. Some might do that because they’re not cool and they’re not being taught to NOT be a jerk, but being a jerk is more a human trait than canine trait. For dogs it's about energy. Vibe man! Here’s where I can drop my “Dogs are Jazz” lecture but that seems like a good title for a future blog so I’ll save that.