Ok, in the past two summers there have been at least two fatal dog attacks on other dogs at off leash dog parks here. One owner, as far as I know, was never caught. The dog attacked, was called, leashed, and rushed from the park. The other owner was caught - his dog was a well known dog who had one human attack and a dog attack against him. The dog was supposed to be muzzled whenever not on home property. This is in addition to serious dog fights that left dogs injured, but not dramatic enough to make mainstream news. I won't take my dogs to two parks because of these common fights (and they're the two nicest parks, IMO) and the two fatalities occurred at the parks I have been using, thinking they were safe. At least my dogs are big enough to have a chance against another dog, but they can still be seriously injured.

Is this common? Do other people have problems with dog attack fatalities in their local dog parks? This just seems ridiculous and tragic to me. I would love a subscription dog park, but since we have something like 10 city dog parks and 5 or 6 county parks, plus the state park with a dog beach no one will pay for a subscription. It's so frustrating because there is no place to hike off leash with my dogs and Havana desperately needs the off leash time. When I was stupid enough to take Beamish to parks after I knew he had issues, I was at least responsible enough to muzzle him and take him at off peak times. Every dog owner here feels entitled to their doG given civic right to use parks even if their dogs are completely inappropriate.

(For the record - neither dog was a traditional "vicious" breed. One was a bull mastiff and the other a black Lab mix of some sort.)

That's awful

I'm very lucky because here the dogs and owners round here to be very good. They're not "dog parks" per se, but rather city parks with designated (not enclosed) off leash portions. There are always scuffles, but I haven't heard of one incident like you describe, although there are a number of people who I feel shouldn't bring their dogs.

A couple of days ago we came up against two *highly* reactive/fear aggressive mini schnauzers on flexi leashes, which was unpleasant. But that's the most recent experience I've had, and those dogs at least were leashed. One time there was a lady with an aggressive staffie, but she told everyone well in advance so we could steer clear - probably not the best dog to bring to an off-leash park, but at least she was being proactive.

This week, though, a dog died from chewing on a poisoned stick at a dog park in a suburb nearby That sickens me.

I don't go to dog parks because there are too many irresponsible people being dogs there. My vet has told me that they have had several dogs come into the hospital that were severely injured at the dog park from aggressive dogs. The last time that I took Yogi there a medium size dog came into the park and immediately grabbed Yogi by the neck. I was furious and scared at the same time. That's when I decided it wasn't worth going there.

My city has no official offleash dog areas, which is very frustrating. I let my guys offleash in neighborhood playgrounds or unused ballfields (completely fenced, used by lots of dog owners). So far my experiences have been very positive - friendly dogs, responsible owners.

I used to drive to the next town to an official offleash area. Most of the people using it were very responsible about their dogs, but there were occasional scuffles and Jack is small enough that he could easily get hurt before anyone could interfere.

People in my neighborhood are quite good about keeping their dogs under control on leash as well, and crossing the street if their dog isn't friendly when being walked. It's one of the things I really like about this area.

I've heard one report of a dog being attacked in my neighborhood, but it wasn't in a park. Rather, it was when dogs weren't confined in their yard and attacked another dog being walked by on a leash. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured though the woman is now very timid about large dogs.

Wow - I have never heard of a fatality at our dog parks. Obviously there are scuffles and I've heard about some serious injuries between two dogs that were both actively FIGHTING but never an "unprovoked" fatal attack. That IS scary.

I don't take Snoopy to the dogparks anymore because of his hips but we take Lucy frequently to the "big dog" park (there is a "little dog" park with dogs/owners who are MUCH more worrisome to me....) and if there is a scuffle she stays out of it. I leave if I sense that there's another dog stalking her...

We don't have "dog parks" here. Most open park areas are off leash and on trails are often on leash. 90% of the time everything works out fine- mostly because the vast majority of dogs have a heckovalotta bite inhibition and give warnings, make noisy ugly face long before anything scary happens etc. There are a handful of dogs I avoid but I highly doubt any serious injuries would result from them.

I get super sick of people who think it's okay when their dogs run up with teeth bared snarling at my dogs who are focused soley on the frisbee and we are off by ourselves but generally a good KNOCK IT OFF followed by me stepping between stops any stupidity until the owner can come and hopefully collect their dog. I don't enjoy pulling the juvenile large dogs who want to hump my dogs non stop either while their turned away chatting.

Interestly though, both my dogs have been bullied and bothered from time to time at the park, the things that have made the lasting impressions are the little monster westie we train with who attacked Sammy when he was asleep at my feet at our training school party and getting nailed on the on leash paths by small dogs on flexis. When we're off leash and there's lots of space things just seem to go better.

There have been two incidents in my small city where dogs were seriously mauled- one may have died and both of those were "dogs at large" running loose and mauled dogs walking down the neighborhood side walk. Both incidents were the same two dogs and sadly both dogs were pitties owned by morons.

I know of only one fatality, and that was related to me by the owner of the now PTS offending dog. It was a first and only attack - much like the sad example of Bari's granddog. Her dog was a larger dog, but I'm not recalling breed. She was an experienced owner. Not sure if she has professionally trained dogs, but she is knowledgeable on training methods and dog body language. It happened in our really large off leash with hiking trails and woods and Mississippi River shore and it was a Yorkie. It was unexpected to her that small dog owners were bringing their dogs off leash into this particular park, but there are no guidelines indicating they shouldn't. And she voluntarily put her dog down, though it broke her heart.

But I certainly have heard of nuisance dogs and owners who have been responsible for multiple attacks - some serious. My vet told me they had seen several injuries from the same GSD whose owner continues to take him to a small off leash near there. And both times Pofi has been bitten by dogs at parks, it was by dogs with previous bite histories. Neither were drastic or prolonged attacks. And of course, my own dog bit another dog off leash. We got Mia into a class designed to help train us and her to handle stressful situations for her starting that week...

All that being said, though, Pofi and Mia have been to off leash parks a few hundred times and in all and with those thousands of dogs, I have only been a witness to about 6 scuffles or incidents involving bites.

I've not heard of a fatal attack at the park we frequent but it wouldn't surprise me. There are several large dogs whose owners have no control over who tend to be real bullies to the small breeds and puppies. I honestly would never bring my small dog or puppy into a park such as ours, it's just a recipe for disaster. Even if not aggressively attacked, the difference in size and the level of rough play could easily get them hurt. I've also stopped taking my 2 at the same time. It's just not possible to manage them both in that environment. I'll occasionally take them both in if there's hardly anyone there during the daytime and we've been out walking the trails. There are also certain dogs who have it in for Woobie and if I see them in there we just go trail walking because it won't be a good time for him and the owners don't do a thing. I'd love a subscription park and there's supposed to be one opening here soon but it's been delayed by construction problems. It will be a nice alternative for us I think and at $1 a day, totally worth it.

Pretty much all of the dog parks around Seattle are administered by a volunteer group called SODA (Save Our Dog Areas) who frequently have monitors at the parks. While I haven't heard of any fatalities, there have been some serious attacks which resulted in owners being kicked out, banned or otherwise denied the priveledge of using the parks. Since I own a couple of so-called dangerous breeds, I've been watched of course and that's led me to meet a few of the monitors. They take their positions seriously and do a great job of differentiating rough play from aggressive behavior. I'll give credit to the monitors for the good atmosphere in the dog parks I've been to. Sure, they can't stop the idiots all of the time but they try and do an excellent job just about all of the time. Ruffysdad

We haven't been to the dog park in ages 'cause of Bella not being consistent dog park material, but we've heard second hand about a few fights with blood which were not common at all when we first started going.

We haven't gone to a park in a long time either, but I think there were a couple fatalities at a smaller (and weird vibe) park last year where big dogs made mistakes about a small dog. This park even has a "little dog area," but some people bring their little guys into the big part at their own risk. I only remember that one of the incidents involved a Newfie and I think a Mini Poodle.

We go to a local dog park once in awhile. Although I have seen some dog fights, I have only heard of one fatality. The story is that it was a small toy-sized dog brought into the big dog area.

My dogs are medium-sized (shelties) so we can go to the large or small dog side. I generally avoid going to the dog park during crowded times (like weekends!). I prefer going weekday mornings when I'm not working. It seems that more "regulars" go then, and these dogs are typically more used to playing together at the park and it seems like there's less chance of fights. But I also watch my dogs very closely. If I see them, or any other dogs, appearing stressed, I'll leave. I figure I just don't want to take a chance of anything happening. I don't want my dogs to have a bad social experience if possible.

Honestly, I prefer just walking the dogs in the neighborhood, and then giving them a little 10-15 minute run time in a safe spot where I walk. It's more predictable and I don't have to worry about them running through some dog poop someone didn't clean up. Yuck!!!!!