By Griffin Mancuso

One day, your close friend offers to invite you to a fun party. You spend more time with this person than anyone else, so you trust them and follow along. You gladly hop in the car and your friend drives you to a house you’re not familiar with.
Once you’re brought inside, the house is filled with dozens of people who you have never seen before. As soon as you step through the door, a group of partygoers swarm you, staring you down and blocking you from every angle. One of the people next to you open-mouth coughs on your face, and several others start shoving you and tugging at your shirt.
You frantically look around for your friend, and you find them sitting in the kitchen scrolling through their phone. They look up and smile, shouting, ‘I’m glad you’re making some new friends!’

This would already be overwhelming for a person, so imagine how it would feel if you were a few feet tall and had the mental capacity of a toddler. Dog parks are a cesspool of chaos, disease, uneducated owners, and stress for you and your dog.
People bring their dogs to the park for a variety of reasons. They may want to socialize their dog, help them overcome fear of other dogs, get their dog some exercise, or find community with other dog owners. All of these can be achieved without a dog park, and any benefits of going to one are outweighed by the cons.

Just like people, not all dogs are extroverted and want to befriend every dog they meet. It’s like they are stuck in a party where they can’t choose to leave. If your dog is nervous around other dogs, dog parks only exacerbate the problem. Introverts do not magically become extroverts, and you cannot expect your dog to befriend every dog they see. 

If your dog goes into the dog park well behaved and friendly, they may pick up some rude behaviors during their visits. Dog parks are overstimulating environments where most dogs cannot make good choices, and in some cases the line between playing and fighting is crossed.

I have lost count of how many fights I had to break up at dog parks. It’s all fun and games until you’re trying to break apart two 100-pound dogs by yourself and one of their collars snaps. Usually, one of the dogs involved was a repeat offender and the owner couldn’t get past their own ego and stop bringing their dog back to the park. This isn’t the fault of the dog — we don’t expect every human to get along, so we can’t expect dogs to do the same. You may trust your dog to play with others politely, but the other dogs there could turn on a dime at any moment. No matter who starts it, they will get involved in a fight at some point. In rare cases, your dog may not walk out of that fight alive.

If another dog doesn’t injure your dog, the park itself will. Each of the dog parks in Humboldt County present their own unique hazards. Eureka Dog Park has plenty of gravel to crack your dog’s nails and a river bed of still water brimming with parasites. Del Norte Street Dog Park is overgrown with thorny blackberry bushes. Hiller Park is a minefield of gopher holes waiting to break your dog’s ankles.
I used to regularly take my dog to dog parks. He was a relentlessly hyper puppy, I was desperate, and I didn’t know any better. He played well and had no incidents up until he was around one and a half years old. Suddenly, he became too overstimulated to listen to commands or recall around large groups of dogs. He was older and stronger, and he decided that chasing after dogs and tackling them was fun. Most dogs and their owners did not. 

It took me a few months to realize I wasn’t setting him up for success and I needed to find another way for him to get physical and mental enrichment. He is now fulfilled by dog sports, regular training, and occasional one-on-one playdates.
We like to treat our dogs like human children, but at the end of the day, they are unpredictable animals. No matter how badly you think your dog needs lots of friends, taking them to a Russian roulette dog fight club is not going to do them any favors. Socialization can be done safely in many different places — pet-friendly stores, hiking trails, parking lots, or at supervised playdates with trusted dogs. Be involved in your dog’s exercise and use it to increase your bond with them. Be your dog’s own party.

Griffin Mancuso is a journalism major and editor-in-chief for The Lumberjack. He is involved in multiple dog sport groups in Humboldt County and teaches local training classes. His dog-child athlete Oscar Meyer can run up to 27.5 mph, has titles in Fast CAT and AKC Fetch, and really likes cheese.