Dog Park Disaster

This morning after walking and eating and walking, Mommy pulled me aside and whispered in my ear, “Ethel Frances, we are going to meet Jacob and Wasabi at a dog park!  Doesn’t that sound like fun?”  I said yes with my tail even though I didn’t know what a dog park was, but I love Jacob and Wasabi and I am happy to see them anyplace.  Mommy didn’t have to explain why she whispered because I already knew.  LuLu is afraid of everything and Izzy isn’t nice to other dogs so I was the only one who got to go.  That made me happy!

We got in the car and drove to a beautiful place that had lots of trees and people and there was even a train!  We walked up to a fenced in area and Mommy opened two gates.  As we were going in Mommy took my leash off and said, “Ethel Frances, here we are at the Dog Park!  Go find Wasabi and have fun!”  I looked around and the area inside the fence was huge and there were lots of dogs running around without their leashes.  Wasabi found me and we ran and ran and ran.  I met a dog named Bentley.  I already have a friend named Bentley and now I have two Bentley’s.  Bentley’s daddy was throwing balls and Bentley brought them back.  They were having fun and I wanted to join in.  I ran up to Bentley’s daddy and stared in his face and wagged my tail real fast.  Bentley’s daddy asked my mommy my name and then he said, “Ethel Frances.  Go get it!”  He understood that I wanted to play with him.  I was having a great day.  Until…

A man and lady came in with a small, black German Shepherd and a Catahoula Leopard Dog.  Mommy told me to stay away from the black dog because he made her a little nervous, but before I could think about him, the Catahoula attacked me.  He jumped up and grabbed the back of my neck with his teeth.  I started growling and tried to get away but before I could do anything the man owner of those dogs grabbed the one that attacked me, put the leash on him, and handed the leash to the lady.  I was very upset and so were Mommy and Jacob.  Mommy said, “Oh, Ethel Frances, I am so sorry that dog hurt you.”  She put my leash on me and said, “Come on, baby, let’s get out of here.  I am nervous about going to dog parks because some people bring their dogs when they know they shouldn’t and that’s why you got hurt.  I will never take you again.  I am very sorry you got hurt because I love you so much.”

The owners of that dog never said they were sorry and they didn't ask if I was OK (I was).  The lady did say something though.  She said, “This is why we are taking him for puppy training even though he is six years old.”

I heard Mommy and Jacob talking about what happened.  Mommy was very upset with the people.  They knew that dog didn’t know how to behave nicely and they brought him to the dog park anyway and after the attack was over they didn’t even take their dog out.  Wasabi started to go near that dog and Jacob took her away.  The lady said, “You can leave your dog.  Mine has to get used to small dogs.”  Jacob said to Mommy, “They aren’t going to use my dog to practice.”

If I could talk, I would have told those people how scary it was for their dog to bark and growl and jump up and bite the back of my neck.  I wanted to do the same to those people but they were too tall. 

Maybe they learned from my experience that their dogs are dangerous.  I hope they did because I don't want any other dogs to get scared and hurt.