Game Dog Guardian. It’s Our Turn To Fight For Them.

Ah...The Dog Park

Here is the Game Dog Guardian Statement on Dog Parks:

Ah...the_dog_park.pdf

Further thoughts:

Somehow, communities and dog parks all over the country survive day in and day out with "pit bulls" in their midst.  Yet it seems like there is no shortage of "saviors" who have a great idea - that banning pit bulls from dog parks is going to make things "so much better."  Proposing the prohibition of pit bulls isn't reinventing the wheel so much as it is making a square frame to put around the wheel to fix a rolling problem that doesn't exist.  Even some pit bull advocates, while not supporting a ban on pit bulls in dog parks, will say openly that "pit bulls" don't belong in dog parks. 

Well, in short, they're all wrong.  Just like every other dog of every other breed, some "pit bulls" will do well with strange dogs in a dog park setting and some will not.  It all comes down to the individual dog, what its temperament is like and how well socialized it is.  As we have shown before, even dogs taken from dog fighting busts can do well in dog packs.

As is always the case, there is no real science behind the call to ban pit bulls from dog parks.  In one of the few (if not only) studies to address dog aggression in dog parks came to the conclusion that, “No patterns were found regarding breed or mix in terms of aggression. Instead, aggressive behavior appeared to be a function of individual differences in specific dogs.”

“Bark Parks”—A Study on Interdog Aggression in a Limited-Control Environment, Melissa R. Shyan, Kristina A. Fortune, and Christine King

"A Romp in the Park or Barroom Brawl?"  (Summary of Study)

This is not to say that dog parks are without concern, (although most of them have two legs rather than 4). 

Here is the Game Dog Guardian Statement on Dog Parks:

Ah...the_dog_park.pdf