I feel like I should premise this by saying I generally love the dog park near my parent's house and the people there are usually pretty knowledgeable.

However, there is one man that comes with his wife that I've had enough of. They foster dogs constantly, which is commendable and something I'm not sure I could do, but they have no idea what they're doing.

The first dog they brought was an older GSD mix that was very laid back and didn't want anything to do with the dogs there. They thought it was great and they brought her for a few weeks before she got adopted.

But since that first dog things have gone down hill. The next dog they brought was essentially the complete opposite of the first. She was a small Jack Russell mix that played WAY too rough with everyone (and having seen Pippa play, that's saying something) and was relentless with dogs smaller than she was. I found her annoying because she got Pippa wound up unnecessarily. Someone asked them something about how they foster or what shelter they go through to foster and they ended up telling us how they purposely choose dogs that are marked as not being other-dog-friending and bring them there to "socialize" them.

I wanted to scream.

Tonight though, was the last straw. I showed up with Pippa and it was the usual group of people and then the man and two dogs I didn't recognize. I opened the first entrance gate and took Pippa's leash off, gave her a second to calm down some, and then opened the second gate. Normally, she leaps over the other dogs and tears into the park. But one of the dogs, that looked to be a bulldog/pit mix, was standing in the entrance and as soon as Pippa went to sniff her, she lunged for Pippa. I grabbed Pippa from behind to pull her back into the entrance and he grabbed the other dog. I tried to close the gate, but the dog rushed into the entrance and started at Pippa again. The man was still in the park at this point, so I was trying to pull the two away from each other and he tried to CALL her over to him.

He FINALLY came over and took her collar from me (while she was still snarling at Pippa) and I got the rest of the dogs back into the main part and closed the gate. At this point he leashed her and was trying to catch the other one he had with him. I had leashed Pippa and was going to wait for him to leave (since that appeared to be what he was doing), but a woman walked in with a five month old puppy and just threw him into the mix.

So the puppy sniffs around for a second and the man says to the dog, "Well are you going to be nice?" and then UNLEASHES the dog. She immediately goes for the puppy and pinned him to the ground, snarling at him. So I decided that I'd had enough and walked around the track that runs around the park. It's about two miles and when I got back he was STILL there. I went home.

I'm so frustrated and I didn't know how to handle the situation. Pippa wasn't completely innocent. She stood her ground when the other dog went for her, but I assumed it was defensive, because I've never seen her act like that. She's gotten into scuffles about tennis balls, but nothing like that. I'm not even really concerned about her safety (bad as that sounds), I just worry that when she gets in that state, she seems so on-edge and tense even after the fact. I feel like someone needs to say something to him, but I was hoping it wouldn't be me, but looks like it might need to be.


TL;DR:
Man at the dog park brings unsocialized, what seems to be, dog-aggressive dogs to the park to "socialize" them. His different foster dogs have gone after Pippa (and other dogs) on multiple occasions.

Am I in the right here though? Or should I just not stay when he's there? They seemed to be doing fine before we got there (I assume), but I feel like it's not my fault that she gets defensive?

Sorry this was so long, I'm just at a loss and need some advice.

I encountered a tough situation similar to that not too long ago.

Hannah is a very playful dog and would rather play chase than to wrestle. She immediately will take a submissive position when it comes to other rough dogs.

At one of the dog parks, Hannah approached another dog who seemed to be very toy protective. He eventually started to wrestle with her and took her to the ground. Hannah immediately put her paws up and submitted but the other dog would not have it. He started to bite at her and his owner and I immediately rushed over to break it up.

He asked if my dog was alright, and I said yes, and eventually he and his gf left and went to the small dog park area which was empty.


Haha, ANYWAY, point to my story is that I decided the situation was awkward so I decided to leave. I waved at the couple to say everything was alright and Hannah startled but not really hurt, however the groundskeeper and manager of the park saw the situation as he rode over in his riding lawn mower and asked if my dog was alright. I said yes, then he started to tell me of other people who bring aggressive dogs to the park and that it was not allowed. That it clearly stated in the rules that you can be kicked off the premesise. He also said there's been confrontations before with people with guns. Lets just say I'm never going to that dog park again, lol.

I'd look around the park, there should be clear rules posted and if it says stuff about aggressive dogs then he shouldn't be in there, no matter how noble his intentions are.

IMO, the guy was in the wrong, he knew that the dogs he was bringin to the park where aggressive and unsocialized and yet he still brought them... shows a level irresponsibility on his part. i understand why he did, but there are other ways of going about it, and certainly much safer ways. if i where you i would find another park or go there at times that you know he wont be there (since you've seen him on multiple occasions, im assumeing you've got a general idea of the times he visits the park.) and if you see him either there already or pulling up simply leave to avoid any altercations. i know you shouldn't have to, but short of the manager of the park banning him and his dogs from the park i dont see that there's much you can really do in this situation other than avoid putting yourself and pippa in it again.

Also try fileing compalints if/when these thing's ever happen again, nothing will be done about it unless the people in charge know of it going on. and if they do know now but arn't doing anything about it once they get enough complaints they will have no choice but to take action.

From my point of view this is all you really can do.

you might want to have a chat with him and let him know that he can get into serious trouble doing that. what if the dogs he adopts seriously hurts or kills another dog? his intentions might be good but the outcome might not be. all i know is if a dog ever attacked my dog it would be lights out for them. especially if i find out they were getting non social dogs on purpose. they need to take the dogs to training school.

I've learned from experience that confronting people with zero common sense is pointless. The last guy I talked to about his aggressive dog almost hit me, in front of 7 other people. And no one had my back, but they all agreed with me. Now, I just leave. No use in my dog AND me getting hurt. The people with the aggressive or undersocialized dogs never leave when there are issues, they think its a "learning" experience for their dog. Hence why it is pointless to confront them.

good point, while it is pointless most of the times i would try. it sucks that no one had your back but agreed with you.

People are really ignorant sometimes. Two days ago a guy who's 8 week old puppy was CLEARLY terrified of kiba, was super persistent they play anyways. I kept saying "I think your puppy's a bit scared right now" and still the guys persistent. Ended up walking away until I saw he was gone and then we came back.

I'd just leave if I saw him again (if I was in your shoes). The guy thinks he's doing the "right" thing by the foster dogs but clearly has no clue. At least you can say his intentions are good right? Maybe you could even nicely suggest some training classes in your area if you see him again.

Thanks for the responses everyone!

It's tricky because I know he has good intentions. It really takes a special person to foster a dog. But throwing a dog that's known to be aggressive into a crazy mix of dogs is just stupid.

I think I'll just avoid going in if I see that he's there.

I do think there's a point where things can get tense very briefly with the dogs, when one gets too rough or a dog doesn't like their leg bitten or whatever, and they sort that out. But there's a clear difference (at least it's clear to some people apparently) between dogs working things out and a dog that's aggressive. And the dogs he brings are usually the latter.

Oh well! Looks like I might just need to search for a different dog park.

It might be worth mentioning to the shelter he fosters for. I'm sure they wouldn't want him bringing dog aggressive dogs to a dog park. Especially since I'm sure they want the dog rehabilitated and not euthanized by animal control.