Dog park etiquette

hopefully you told them something along the lines of fuck off you cunts and keep your dogs on leashes if they are shit asses.

>>2396315
It may have been "just play", but those ladies are completely incompetent and should never allow 5-6 dogs to charge another dog. That's just disrespectful and lazy.

It doesn't matter if it was just play. They need to control their dogs.

You could *maybe* argue that it was just play (I've noticed that pit mixes tend to put a little extra "rough" in rough housing), but if the dogs are jumping up on a PERSON (your friend carrying your dog) then they are poorly trained and the owners are shit.

Go with your gut, OP. I've stopped dogs whom I've felt were playing too hard with my dog and got shit from the owner, but their dog almost always starts a fight with another dog within 20 minutes.

>>2396332
this, regardless of intent they shouldn't be charging at anything.

You're all at fault in that situation.

Nervous dogs, especially small nervous dogs, should not be at a dog park unless it has a fenced area dedicated to small dogs. A dog that runs and screams when a large dog runs towards it is likely going to trigger the prey drive in some breeds. Once a chase starts, other dogs tend to join in. If your small dog is acting like panicked rabbit, it could easily end up like one.

That said, the women should have better control of their dogs. Whether it was play or not, they should have leashed the dogs when they chased a dog that clearly didn't want to play. Even if their dogs weren't going to hurt yours, another nearby dog excited by the noise might.

I have huskies and I stopped going to the dog park for this reason. Most small dogs there are terriers mixes that hold their ground when a dog runs toward them, so my dogs have no problem playing nicely. But people insist on walking their unsocialised, nervous wreck toy breeds there, that scream like banshees when a dog runs to greet them. That noise always riled my dogs up. I always had to be on guard and leash them when I saw a dog that might react that way coming. My dogs never actually hurt another dog, but I'm not willing to take the risk.

Tl;dr
Dog parks are best suited certain kinds of dogs. None of the dogs in this situation qualify so expect drama.

>>2396378
Is it reasonable to expect anyone, dog or human, to respond well to 6 large dogs, who I assume know each other thus pack up, traveling together? I'd be on guard even with my staffy in that situation.

It sounds like OPs dog didn't start yelping until they were outright chasing it as a group.

>>2396389
Depends really. When unsure dogs first enter the park and 10+ dogs run at them, most dogs I've seen will freeze up until the other dogs lose interest. Dogs that immediately run are the ones that tend to start a bad situation.

>>2396406
Where do you go where 10+ dogs are grouped up at an entrance? It's common knowledge and rule in every park I've been to never crowd an entrance like that, because that is what starts issues.

>>2396315
I'd carry a knife in all honesty. If those dogs had started biting your only choice would have been to use force and stab them to get them off. Totally legal as defense of your property as far as I'm concerned (pets are considered property by the law), but you may want to check local city laws. Ultimately it just sounds like shitty owners who have no control over their animals. Any normal person would not have let their pack of mongrels chase after someone else's smaller dog. These women were deranged and if possible you should have reported them. If not their names (which they probably won't tell you), take their pictures and post them on craigslist/facebook/etc to publicly shame them into obeying dog part etiquette.