Maybe it's just me (I'm not a parent), so I thought I'd throw this out there.
Yesterday, a friend and I were in the "big dogs" area of our local dog park with my Dakota and her three dogs. in addition to our dogs, I estimate that there were about 10 others, including an intact male pit bull, some lab mixes, some border collie mixes, an elderly malamute, and some terriers and hunting-type dogs. All the dogs were playing well, and it's a large park.
At one point, a woman without a dog entered the park. She had a baby in carrier in her chest and a toddler whom I was guessing was about 3 to 4 years old. As they entered the park, Dakota approached them and happily greeted the boy. I approached Dakota to leash him up. The woman asked me, "Is your dog kid-friendly? My kids are dog friendly." I replied politely that Dakota was friendly but he is large and that I preferred to leash him. She told me that I should not leash him on her account, and I told her that I was going to leash him anyway. I kept Dakota on a leash until she left the park.
In the 20 minutes or so that I was there, I was astonished that she let her toddler run around in the dog park with a bunch of strange dogs that are also strange to each other. I have never seen Dakota act badly toward a child, but he runs and plays in the dog park, and I certainly wouldn't bet some child's safety on him not accidentally bumping into the kid or knocking him down or, worse yet, getting involved with some scrap with some other dog somewhere near the kid. I mean, at one point, the toddler was trying to get dogs to chase him. I've leashed Dakota in the past when I've seen older kids (10-ish) in the park. It just seems that the kids did not read dog body language well and would approach dogs that were engaging in some pretty rough play and showing some possessive behavior. I can see that kids would like to come to the park and watch the dogs, but for the parents to let them get in there and run around with a bunch of strange dogs? I think these parents are nuts.
So, is it just me? For what it's worth, the park has a rule against kids under 12 being in there. I was very polite to to the woman with the baby and the toddler, and, like I said, I just kept Dakota leashed until she left.
Just curious if I overreacted or others think she was nuts, too?