I brought Rockwell to the park Saturday afternoon...great weather and LOTS of dogs out! Bonus, the owners were on the ball and sticking pretty close to their dogs while chatting too. What bothered me was seeing a stroller with a toddler at the top bench. Hmm...well, at least they're up top, maybe there's a care situation...I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Then, I was over on the other side of the park and noticed that the toddler was on the incline, dogs all around him...yikes! Seeing as last winter I was bowled into by large dogs running and playing and was consequently off work for 3 days because of a bruised adductor (I couldn't walk!) I shudder to think of what could happen to a toddler. A gentleman and I were talking at the time and he commented on a doggy doing his business and where was the owner and he had noticed a lot of piles and I said that more of a concern to me was the children who weren't supposed to be there (there were also two boys, probably between 7 and 10 yrs old there as well, which this gentleman said were his and he knew they shouldn't be there but.....and he left not long after). (sorry for the run-on sentence!)
I got to thinking that maybe the rules/etiquette aren't obvious....
Well, I ended up chatting with the mom of the toddler...very nice gal, doesn't have a dog but was there with family. Her son had no fear of the dogs at all...all sizes. After chatting for a bit I asked her if anyone had mentioned to her that children under 12 are not to be in the park and with surprise she answered "no!" I then told her my injury story and she was very gracious and not too long after she left.
As I was getting set to go with Rockwell another family came in...sigh....Well, they had a beagle (connection for me!) so I approached and after a quick chat told them about the under 12 rule and they all left almost immediately.
Boy...I do not like bringing up touchy subjects!
So ever since I have been thinking that maybe we should fabricate some sort of sign to post on the first gate with the 2 big rules..."Do not enter if: You are under 12 or if your dog is not spayed or neutered!" (that's another rule that often gets ignored I am hearing...)
Other than that and Rockwell having a couple of set-tos, it was a great day at the park!!
