E344- How Dog Parks Can Ruin Your Dog!

[SPEAKER_00]: Hello everybody welcome back to the NoBad Dog's podcast and welcome to my second channel if you're watching this on YouTube.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is, you know, these podcasts that I do with me just talking head talking to you guys is, is, is, is fun for me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You may see my dog not go over one of my lights and move the camera.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, A to B conversation I want to, you know, just talk about stuff with dogs as I always do in the podcast and if you guys are new to my podcasts Wherever you're watching this I have over 300 episodes with scientists and veterinarians and doctors and PhD specialists everything from gut biome to nutrition to orthopedics to surgery
[SPEAKER_00]: So make sure you check out all the other episodes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Today we're going to be talking about a subject that I get asked all the time, which is going to be about the dog park.
[SPEAKER_00]: So dog parks, in my opinion, you know, I really, always had said for a very long time, excuse me, you know, these things aren't gonna get cut out, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: These little things normally would cut those out, but we're not because this is a full length, uncut.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm in my pajamas, but I'm in my sweatsuits.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is just, hey, what's going on?
[SPEAKER_00]: How ya doin' type of conversation?
[SPEAKER_00]: So dog parks, you know, historically, I've always said, you know, it's a matter of if when something happens, not if because from, you know, as a dog trainer, I hear all the stories, all the bad things, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But I want to, I want to touch on this because this is an important topic.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the more I get the travel for work and work with dogs, the more I see different things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last couple of years I've seen some amazing dog parks established with gigantic fields in forests and they're beautiful and they're not the traditional generalized dog park.
[SPEAKER_00]: So dog parks essentially are an area that's fenced in obviously for your dog to go to.
[SPEAKER_00]: The problem with dog parks typically is they are very unregulated.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're talking poop, pee, vomit, vaccinations, people not pay an attention, dogs not having any manners, and not to mention when you are going to a dog park your whole intention is to literally go and let your dog be crazy, I mean,
[SPEAKER_00]: So, and, and, and I'm not against that idea, you know, like I, and I'm trying to clarify a lot of things over the years because a lot of people just watch like a little short clips of me and stuff and, and I want to, that's why this podcast is so great because I have an opportunity to really express myself and which, which with much more context, which I think is important.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's still going to be people who, you know, take, take, you know, one thing and run with it, but,
[SPEAKER_00]: I think dog parks, again, the idea of them are great, but, and I'm sure you guys out at home, you know, you may have had a bad experience, you may go to a dog park and love it, you may go to the dog park because you have to, you know, maybe you live in a city, and you work early, you get home late, you're a hardworking person.
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, that's great.
[SPEAKER_00]: But unfortunately, you know, sometimes that's all we can do, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Especially, you know, I go to New York City all the time to do different things and, you know, I see that the little dog parks that they have there and people who live in all the buildings there, I mean, it's so convenient, especially when it's snowing and it's really hot or it's raining or whatever, like going there and letting your dog rip around.
[SPEAKER_00]: Frankly, because that's like the
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't want to sit here and say people shouldn't go to dog parks because it might be, you know, if taking away or even talking negatively about the only thing that really provides your dog with any type of outlet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't, you know, and I see a lot of dog trainers talk about this, too.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think on the surface, again, if you followed me for a long enough, you would say,
[SPEAKER_00]: You just have to consider all these things that we talked about.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like going to a public pool.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you live in a big city and you're going to the public pool, chances are there's going to be a hundred people there on a nice day, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: If you live in somewhere out rural, out in the country, or somewhere that isn't a big city, and you have a public pool, you may have...
[SPEAKER_00]: 20 people there, you know, on a good day.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I always just tell people, you got to be careful at dog parks for many reasons.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's the reasons.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, outside of the poop, pee, and vomit, and all those nasty things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, like a public pool, if you just hope people are clean and doing their due diligence and you're just kind of like, I hope you're okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, let's just
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, when you bring your dog there, you just have to, you're really susceptible to what other people are doing, like, are they picking up their dogs poop, are they watching for loose stool and diarrhea, is their dog sick?
[SPEAKER_00]: I had to open this laptop because I just remember that I'm uploading another podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, and it was, okay, I messed it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, let's try that again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, anyway, I'll put this down at a screen so you guys can't see it, apologize about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but this is, you know, this is the, oh, oh, Tom just remembered ADHD.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, oh, I'm actually uploading a podcast right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it's failed to upload it after it's been uploading for three hours.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oops, oopsie daisy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a good podcast though.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Holly Gaines, the creator and founder of animal biom.
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
[SPEAKER_00]: It's part of I can wait for that body, yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, the dog park thing, you know, and I've talked about it for a long time, and I've just told people, especially with younger dogs, with puppies, it's really overwhelming.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you got the cleanliness part, you get the behavioral part, which, again, it's quite literally, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,
[SPEAKER_00]: Need to put my dog into this fence in area for them to lose their mind, which again, it makes sense It's like why do we bring kids to the play park and stuff?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like that's what we want.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what they need.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what they deserve like we want them to have fun and run around and be a dog
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, let's say, you know, again, it's just like with human behavior.
[SPEAKER_00]: I see it all the times as a parent.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, when I bring my son maybe to a class on Saturdays, for an example.
[SPEAKER_00]: Saturdays for majority of people is an off day.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so when you go on Saturdays, it's chaotic.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's three different classes going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's much more kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot more noises.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, my son is very observant.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's quiet.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not shy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't say he's not insecure of any means.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's just observant about things and so it can be overwhelming for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's he's much less likely to participate faster with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's the same thing with dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you get a dog that's like, I'm gonna go meet a new dog today.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna go try something new today and then they go to the dog park and there's 50 dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: rushing them when the dog comes in.
[SPEAKER_00]: So not only is that overwhelming for the puppy or the dog, and now their tails tucked and they're trying to run away and they're trying to get out of there, and now it's created this stampede.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now you have this really potentially traumatic experience for the dog because they come in, their ears curl back, and they're sitting there like, oh my god, what is all this?
[SPEAKER_00]: And even if you had six dogs,
[SPEAKER_00]: in there going oh hey who are you and their intentions aren't necessarily bad or or even unfriendly it's just overwhelming right the dog's like well what's going on so then that new puppy and that scared dog just decides to just you know take off and and move out of there and then all the dogs chase that dog and so now it's a very
[SPEAKER_00]: traumatic experience, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's that.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's that overwhelmingness that I see at dog parks.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, dogs really don't get an opportunity to act accordingly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, it's the same thing I see in different cultures.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like when I go to New York City, maybe I'm walking down and there's 20 kids that are all 10 years old walking home from school.
[SPEAKER_00]: like that's normal for them, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But I wouldn't let my 10-year-old go to the New York City by themselves or walk around by themselves because in a living New York City, it's not their climate, it's not their city, it's not their norm, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So when we bring our dog to the dog park and they're not used to that, they could be, it could make things pretty bad, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, I've also seen dogs and dog parks where they can't wait to get in, they get in and they run around and they have the best time.
[SPEAKER_00]: and so this again this video isn't to say yes or no it's just to let people know about the things that I've been seeing over the years and so you got the cleanliness you got the behavior and the overwhelmingness and you also got with that behavior you got dogs picking up a lot of bad
[SPEAKER_00]: I keep bringing up behaviors with kids, but it's the same thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: You drop your kid off to a music class or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: And all of a sudden they come back and they say a certain thing or they do a certain thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: you definitely pick that up somewhere because we don't do that, you've never done that where do you get that from, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a lot of influence that happens at dog parks too from other dogs and even from other people.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we'll talk about the people at dog parks in a moment, but so that's the other thing too, especially you get an impressionable dog, you get an impressionable young dog and adolescent dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it could be barking, it could be chasing, it could be a lot of different things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are just the two things that come to mind immediately.
[SPEAKER_00]: I see the dogs who don't really bark at things, and then all of a sudden they get this hyperactive detail oriented, almost like OCD type of behavior, because they're constantly chasing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's something they don't do in their own home.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then they bring it home so now they're chasing the kids in the cat and the other dog around the house and it's something that they picked up at the dog park.
[SPEAKER_00]: So these things you just have to be mindful of, you know, when you're going to these public spaces, again, like we don't look at, you know, if we're here to get to go to a public spaces, like with our children,
[SPEAKER_00]: or with ourselves like you just have to be mindful that like hey things are going to happen right like not everybody here is on the same page not everybody here thinks the same or or parents the same um so on and so forth and so you will get people that will absolutely go to the dog park and sit on their phone like this um the whole time as their dog is humping barking, jumping, scratching, fighting even
[SPEAKER_00]: And they don't care because they, and again, it's like, you know, I have a lot of empathy for humans in general, but when somebody works all day and maybe they're addicted to their phone or they just haven't talked to their parents or they need to send an email or check in their Instagram and
[SPEAKER_00]: In the back of their mind they're like all right.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got 30 minutes a light left.
[SPEAKER_00]: They bring their dog to the dog park and the dog takes off and they're doing what they need to do Like I understand why that happens But you as a dog owner like if you have a decision to make to say I'm gonna bring my insecure new dog to the dog park because on paper It sounds like a good idea and I think that that's why I'm making this video
[SPEAKER_00]: Really is because I think a lot of dog owners are really oblivious to what dog parks can be and then and again I've had countless clients friends family members have very traumatic experiences mainly with dog fights.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it really changes their life forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't want anybody to not know these things and go into a situation like this and something traumatic happened to them because it does happen all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, I think the big picture here is there's the small little dog parks that are basically just an area for thousands of dogs a week to go and pee and poop in.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it just so happens to be fenced in, and then there's the dog parks where dogs are able to play and run and actually get some freedom and kind of spread their wings a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I think there's just like the world dog parks where they're basically like national or state parks that you know are are endless and those are incredible right so I think you just have to pick your battles.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the third thing before I forget is the people so the people at dog parks are.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, really challenging for the reason I just said about the phone and then not paying attention, I think it's just like a natural thing, you know, the way that I look at it is, you know, when I again when I travel, I just love like walk, I'm people watching people and just
[SPEAKER_00]: kind of, I don't wonder what they're doing, where they're going, who they are, what they're doing for work, and 95% of people, and they get out of a tram in the airport, for an example, they're all in their phones, just nobody's really paying attention, and I feel like it's the same thing at a dog park.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, you go to a dog park and meet your future wife for your future husband or, you know, make new friends.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, I just think whenever you are thinking about a dog park or you're even going to a dog park or maybe you're just against dog parks in general, then you just have to, I always outweigh the pros and cons or even the risk of reward here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if I bring my dog to a dog park and it's kind of sketchy, like you should really listen to that and be like, I don't really like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And
[SPEAKER_00]: you just have to look at what type of dogs are going in there too and you know some tragic things that have happened before where people go out and again that think it's just education which is why I have this channel in this podcast is people go out and they adopt the dog and the dog is like the best thing ever to people and
[SPEAKER_00]: The shelter has had that dog for 48 hours, no is nothing about it, but they need to find it at home before it gets euthanized.
[SPEAKER_00]: So anybody that walks in, they're like, this dog is so sweet, are they good with other dogs?
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe like, yeah, they are.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, we don't know, we don't really know, but take the dogs so they don't die, boom, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: God bless them for, you know, it's a tough job, it's just tough, but I guess my point is, what ends up happening, unfortunately, is, you know, the dog owner goes, well, I'm just gonna bring my dog to the dog park.
[SPEAKER_00]: because that's just what you do, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that makes sense, and they bring the dog to the dog park and then all hell breaks loose.
[SPEAKER_00]: The dog isn't good with other dogs, so the dog isn't good with males, or doesn't give it a few males, or isn't good with this, or isn't good at that, and then there's a fight, and then, oh, so you just have to be careful and mindful.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think if you're gonna go to the dog park, you absolutely have to have mandatory a good recall, because when there is a dog fight that day, because it happens pretty frequently,
[SPEAKER_00]: And dogs, you know, I should give context and define squalls, you know, not necessarily an attack, but like little tiny things, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the other thing too is there's dogs and dog parks who are really good about understanding like, you know, we see it a lot in daycare.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dogs who have these little tips, just a little argument, it's no big deal, it's like little kids kind of like, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah,
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have an opportunity, again, like New York City, for example, they have tons of places you can walk.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's trails along the river everywhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's, of course, central park, and I'm just, you know, not every city is New York City, but most cities have these things accessible.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have parks.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have obviously sidewalks, they have trails, hiking trails, walking trails, and sometimes those are better for your dog because it's safer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, a lot of people out there also have dogs who can't go to dog parks.
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, obviously there's that too.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'd love to know your thoughts and your experiences in dog parks and if you've had any good, better ugly stories, let us know in the comments below because we're always taking notes on what's going on out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And hopefully this was helpful.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you guys for listening to the NoBet Dogs podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, we have hundreds of other episodes you should check out with different guests, different topics.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we appreciate you guys a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much and we'll talk to you on the next one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peace.