First off I'm not really a kids person, but if I did have kids I wouldn't bring them to the dog park... This couple just came w a 3 and 5 yr old to the dog park w their puppy. I even started to feel uncomfortable, kiara is fine w kids but just because other dogs like other dogs and adults doesnt mean they like kids. At one point the parents were on the other side of the park and the older kid chased kiara and grabbed her and hugged her which is fine but I'm like if that was the wrong dog... Kiara then ran into the part that is all trees, weeds and swap which I hate it's not fenced off cause kiara of corse likes to go exploring and get disgusting and the kid chased her in there and it was a few min before they even realized she was out there. I'm just like ugh. So I'm curious if any of u bring your small kids to the park or how you feel about others doing it. They have been running and screaming and I know kiara likes to takle running kids, I'm always like "no" half heartedly cause.. Well it's a dog park not a play ground... So... I just get uncomfortable cause I know lots of dogs dont like small children, especially when the kids are running free.

Those parents would be the first ones to try to sue if a dog bit their kid! PLEASE teach your kids not to just run up to a strange dog!!! Not every dog endures that, and it is a DOG park not a KID park, jeez!

I bring my niece with me who is 3. She sits with me though. I told her I don't want to see her get knocked over. Well she listens, I think if you don't have your kid running around crazy then it is fine. Im not going to not go to the dog park because I have her.

Ya the only way I would do it is if my kids were RIGHT by me and its good to teach your kids not to be scared but very bad to teach your kids to run up to any dog and hug them.. I have a mini anxiety attack every time a crazy kid is running around... Im like "ugh bad idea"

It's annoying I'll admit. The times that kids are at the park when I take Kale, one of them ALWAYS gets knocked over, hurt, jumped on, scared by a bigger dog, and end up crying hysterically, which makes the dogs freak out as well. Whenever I see someone coming with a kid under the age of 11 I always just leave; Kale has been the culprit of jumping because of excitement and sacred a little boy (9 years old) so bad he stared crying. The kid was running and a few dogs started to play chase and Kale did a mini jump (I saw it happening in my head before it happened and tried to stop it but it was too late) Don't bring kids who aren't dog savvy and don't know boundaries.

The dog parks here have rules and one of them is not kids under the age of 12.. I guy brought he 3 or 4 year old kid the other day My husband mention the rules and told him we did not want his kid to get hurt.

norbreedslove wrote:

I bring my niece with me who is 3. She sits with me though. I told her I don't want to see her get knocked over. Well she listens, I think if you don't have your kid running around crazy then it is fine. Im not going to not go to the dog park because I have her.

sounds like your niece is well behaved and listens, that is different then some of the children I have seen or heard about that run around like crazies and get the dogs all wound up, then their parents get upset one a dog knocks one down.

Yes she also has a lab at home, I asked her if it is fun to play with roxy she goes well only if she is calm and good mommy says. She rather sit by me then go run around. our dog park has a park next to it. I take her to it if she is good.


We also have some really trashy people who do bring babies in, no stroller just holding them in the dog park and get pissed when a dog comes up to the baby.

Not saying all people do this are trashy, just these girls kinda are. They bring the baby out in hot sun no hat and probably no sunscreen. It breaks my heart. Their dogs are not really trained either.

Bringing kids to the dog park is not a good idea...however, I will admit I have taken my two year old once or twice if it's really early in the morning and no one else is there. He never leaves my side though and we leave when other people come. I wouldn't personally recommend it because 1. It is a dog park, and not all dogs are kid friendly. And 2. What happens if your dog is attacked or attacks another dog. It doesn't matter if you have the nicest dog in the world...you cant control other people's dogs bad habits...therefore you are stuck with the decision to leave your child unattended to get your dog to safety...or you stay with your child and let your dog get hurt..or you risk them hurting your child while you are breaking them up...
It's just not worth it to me.

At one of the dog parks I went to in AZ, there was a guy who let his maybe nearing 3 years old son run around and carried his baby on one of those front backpack sort of things. He kicked a dog who was about to jump on his kid. Ended very badly- for him, as the owner freaked, which I would too. This guy would walk around the park the entire time with his kid running ahead of him.

Mermaidista wrote:

That emoticon is disturbing lol

It really annoys me when irresponsible parents bring their kids to the park. The kids will be screaming, in dog's faces, grabbing on them, playing in the dirt where I just saw someone pick up a pile of poop, and the parents sit there as if it's their own personal playground. I've had to leave a few times, because Hayden isn't a real fan of kids anyway and it just scares me to think he could possibly bite one of the kids and they could either get hurt or I would get sued.

Our park has strict rules that say no kid's under age 6 and there was a woman he brought in her 2 week old baby there just the other day. It's kinda crazy! Also, one kid left the gate open at our park and all the dog's were trying to escape and his mother didn't even say a word to him. I'm sitting there thinking "wtf lady get you're kid"! It's not the kid's that annoy me so much, it's the stupid parents that don't know how to control their kid's.

I say bad idea really. If your child is well behaved that's wonderful. Personally, I wouldn't take mine (2 and 5) because my 2 yo gets scared when Snow, who is just a puppy) nips his ankles and wants to play. You never know if there will be a dog there that just gets approached by a child the wrong way and its owner may not be paying attention or watching the dog very well. I think it's a scary idea to bring a child to a dog park but that's just my opinion :-)

We rarely go to the dog park, mainly because Toccoa is still so timid. But I will chime in on the unsupervised children. We've been attending puppy class with Toccoa as well as a manners class. Both were just designed for us to socialize her with other puppies and dogs to build her confidence. It is/was amazing to me how many small children were at these classes with their parents and chasing and grabbing other peoples dogs. We spend a good portion of each class steering kids away from Toccoa, stopping them from grabbing her tail, hugging her and just making her uncomfortable. Not one parent said anything to them.

Hayden_69 wrote:

Also, one kid left the gate open at our park and all the dog's were trying to escape and his mother didn't even say a word to him.

Some may remember this, but 2 kids- maybe 8 years old- left both gates open at the dog park in AZ one day when we went at night and Koda got out and the park was down a hill and I couldn't even see where he went. That was the worst night of my life, though thankfully we called the troops and he got recovered quick (a taxi cab helped us corner him- told Jarod to jump in and he'd be another car! awesome guy).
I told the kid if I ever saw him again he better run. I'm not going to lie, if I wasn't in a rush to get out of the gate I would have been a terrible human being and thrown that child into traffic. I was furious. And neither the kid or the parent helped us get him either.

Heather! wrote:

Hayden_69 wrote:

Also, one kid left the gate open at our park and all the dog's were trying to escape and his mother didn't even say a word to him.

Some may remember this, but 2 kids- maybe 8 years old- left both gates open at the dog park in AZ one day when we went at night and Koda got out and the park was down a hill and I couldn't even see where he went. That was the worst night of my life, though thankfully we called the troops and he got recovered quick (a taxi cab helped us corner him- told Jarod to jump in and he'd be another car! awesome guy).
I told the kid if I ever saw him again he better run. I'm not going to lie, if I wasn't in a rush to get out of the gate I would have been a terrible human being and thrown that child into traffic. I was furious. And neither the kid or the parent helped us get him either.

Can't say I blame you there. I would have been furious!! At least you had some good people to help you out!

Kids should have to be on a lead at the dog park haha

Hayden_69 wrote:

Heather! wrote:

Hayden_69 wrote:

Also, one kid left the gate open at our park and all the dog's were trying to escape and his mother didn't even say a word to him.

Some may remember this, but 2 kids- maybe 8 years old- left both gates open at the dog park in AZ one day when we went at night and Koda got out and the park was down a hill and I couldn't even see where he went. That was the worst night of my life, though thankfully we called the troops and he got recovered quick (a taxi cab helped us corner him- told Jarod to jump in and he'd be another car! awesome guy).
I told the kid if I ever saw him again he better run. I'm not going to lie, if I wasn't in a rush to get out of the gate I would have been a terrible human being and thrown that child into traffic. I was furious. And neither the kid or the parent helped us get him either.

Can't say I blame you there. I would have been furious!! At least you had some good people to help you out!

I am very thankful that park was a mile away from where all my husband's friends live! We were also very lucky Koda stopped running because he didn't see us and only started running again when we saw him haha.


And yeah, sorry, my dogs > other people's kids in my world.

So I'm on lunch at work and a friend of mine said he wanted a dog and his parents won't let him get a big dog because they had a big dog before who bit their cousin on the face and they sued them and won 18k and they had to put their dog down. The thing is the kid hit the dog with a stick and I know this happens all the time but really? A kid abuses a dog and gets bitten and it's the dogs fault, the kid was like 12 also, well old enough to know better. Turns out it was a husky too... I would be LIVID.

Wanted to add that a parent can get a ticket for bringing young kids into the dog park here ( of course there needs to be a policeman at the park or someone needs to call).

On another note"

My parents live in Des Moines, Ia and they just got a dog park there and for you to use it you have to buy a license or permit something like that.

While I agree that a 12 year old knows better and children should be taught how to properly touch dogs and whatnot, neither of my dogs would bite someone in the face if they were being hit. My nephew was pretty rough with Koda for first week he was around him, but Koda would have never dreamed of hurting him. Only time his mouth was on my nephew was to hold his hand very gently.

Not that it's the dog's fault. It's not. I make sure my dogs are not responsible to things of the such since we do visits on post where challenged kids get to read to them and I know they may do something unpredictable and I don't want my dogs to respond badly. The owner should have the dog to adjusted to things and better yet, supervise their child and ensure they instill in them that you are gentle with a dog and don't hurt them.

I guess I don't know how I'd feel about that. If Koda bit my nephew in the face, he'd be put down. That was something we understood between my brother-in-law and myself during the period we lived with my mom while Jarod was gone (my nephew was there after school/on weekends). A parent is going to be angry and just see it as a dog who hurt their child, and I wouldn't really be able to defend Koda against that. Which is why I took it so seriously to make sure Koda would never hurt him and I am 100% confident that he never would now.
note: nephew was 5 when Koda was around a lot. Both of mine are fine with even infants though.

Sorry, ramble!

I would think ticketing could happen- all the parks I see say no kids unless kids remain seated (some say none at all or have an age limit), and they also say the dog must have someone 16+.
A lot of parks have permits to visit them. I wish all did. That way they can regulate dogs who are vaccinated and whatnot, and it also helps with funds to keep the park looking nice.

Maybe give them money but not put it down. It was his cousin, needless to say they don't talk anymore. They got their karma anyway, usually in these cases the kid who suffered gets the money put away by his parents. These people spent it all on new cars and the their house burned down and they have no money. Karma is a bitch.

I would never sue anyone over it. I'm not saying it's okay to sue someone as in most cases, suing is BS and just wanting to get a money break. I would expect any medical expenses not covered by insurance to be paid and send them a bill for anything that results from it. But once again, if either of mine bit any of the kids in my family they'd expect them to be put down and depending on what happened (quick nips or full on lunging) I would comply. Biting someone's kid in the face is a pretty big deal, even if it is not directly the dog's fault. I've been bit by a lot of dogs out of fear when trying to get strays (pulling on paws) or gotten bit defending my dogs from offleash dogs who aren't friendly, and they've never went for anything but my leg or arm- I've let it go always, but I would not be so forgiving if a dog bit me in the face, much less my child if I had one.

I was bit in the face by one of my mom's rescues when I was younger. I was petting another dog and this one came running over and bit my cheek for no reason. It was put down. But one of my mom's rescues who we decided to keep bit me on my hand, cause he didn't like when you tried to get him off the couch and I was poking him. Hey, I was a little kid! lol. We didn't do anything to him, actually I got yelled at. He never bit again and was a wonderful dog till the end. So it all depends on the situation. If I hab been teasing the first rescue and deserved being bit, I don't think she would have been put down, but it was unprovoked.

As for kids at the park, I don't mind a ton, but I do hold my breath when I see Siku running full speed at a kid, though she always just runs right by. Most kids I see are well behaved, but there are a few that yell and scream and chase the dogs. I really with those wouldn't go to the parks. I actually get more annoyed at people bringing litte dogs on the big dog side than bringing kids!