Minneapolis/St. Paul Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
St. Louis Park dog people - more dog park dramaz
Can't make it clicky by phone. Sorry. http://stlouispark.patch.com/articles/barking-and-snapping-highlight-meeting-over-dakota-dog-park
Re: St. Louis Park dog people - more dog park dramaz
Wow, I saw the sign about the meeting but didn't realize it was such a big deal! I don't often see any small dogs in the designated 'small dog area,' but I have seen people use it for their big dogs.
I also don't really understand this: ?the large dog owners intimidate the small dog owners,? which keeps usage of the small dog area down. I guess every dog owner I've seen there appears friendly and it appears people get to know each other through their dogs, so I don't understand why you would feel intimidated to use an area that is specifically designated for your dog. We also must go at the wrong time of day because I have never seen anywhere near 30-40 dogs there at once!
Side note: Did you see the article about the break-ins/neighborhood meeting in the Lenox neighborhood? We were stopped by the lady who organized it while out walking and it sounds like most of the activity was a few streets over from us, but still pretty scary that one incident killed a dog!
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. I'm sorry, that article made me laugh. GET A GRIP PEOPLE. It's the DOG PARK.
To be yelling obscenities at each other is absolutely ludicrous.
While I did think it was ridiculous when they made such a large small-dog area, I also didn't get my panties in a twist over it. It is a public place. There are good and bad dog owners that go there. You have to use your brain and use the park responsibly.
We don't go to that park particular anymore and part of the reason is Mike McDonald, the "leader" of the Dakota Canine Club or whatever it's called. He lords over that place while smoking nasty cigars and I don't care for that one bit. He approached me a few times about joining the club but I never emailed him.
If they focused their energy on checking to see if dogs in the park have permits to be there that might be more successful. Fines could bring in lots of money for the city! I've heard many people brag, "I don't pay for the permit but come here anyway, who cares?"
I'm REALLY rolling my eyes at putting up a camera to document usage of each area.
I will admit to getting slightly worked up over a DIY water feature put up at the other park, but that's because it was a health hazard and just plain unsafe...
Not surprised, in the least. When we lived by Como, we'd go to the Woodview Dog Park (over on Larpenteur by Dale?) There was a small dog area, but it was only designated for small dogs during certain hours (4 hrs/week total.) The problem, though, si that the huge area that was the rest of the off-leash park wasn't fully fenced in!
So, we'd always just let Puck run around in the small dog area, even after he got bigger. But we made sure not to go during those specific hours. More often than not, someone with a little dog would come in and *** at us "your dog is too big! he's so scary!" (He's a husky/Golden mix and looks like a typical puppy.) Meanwhile, the little rat dog they were holding was barking and yipping like crazy.
I saw 3 dogs get bitten at that dog park over a year. They were ALL by small dogs. I NEVER saw a big dog attack anyone (animal or people.)
Eat.Drink.BeMarried. Blog.
This is so interesting! I don't have any pets, so I have no idea about the dramz in the SLP dog parks. I often run by the Dakota park, but that is the extent of my experience with it. I was always impressed by how busy it was in the winter. One of my good friends frequents the Dakota park, I will have to ask her what she has to say. They have a large dog.
Boy/girl twins born at 37w1d and 37w2d
I think this is a bit of an unfair assessment. Big dogs bite too. (I can show you the scar on my leg.) No one size of dog is "blameless" in any of this.
I think the moral of the story is that dog owners need to be rational adults about using the dog park no matter what size their dog is. The people written about in that article crossed the line from rational to irrational in my opinion.
Um. We have more issues with people bringing their aggressive dogs there and NOT paying attention to them - oh, yeah... and the lady that brings her SMALL DOG INTO THE PARK AND LEAVES IT ON A LEASH. Talk about the fights that have started...
I've started bringing Rusty into the small dog park area only. When someone comes with a small dog and actually wants to use the small dog area, then we will leave.
ETA: The more I think about the Dakota dog park, the more it really p*sses me off. I watched one dog attack another dog and the owner did nothing to stop it, then it went and attacked another dog and the owner still did nothing - and neither did the people standing around. The bad owners have been out in full force this year.
Oh, I totally agree. I was just saying that because it was as ridiculous as the small dog owners calling all big dogs super scary because they're big. It's all dogs- they are animals after all. I'm guessing the majority of the time, it falls on the owner for actual responsibility to unfortunate dog incidences.
Eat.Drink.BeMarried. Blog.
Oh, I've seen this before too. There was a black dog that attacked a tan dog (only using colors so the story makes sense.) Both of the owners were on the other side of the dog park, but were running over when they saw it happen. Another owner was nearby and grabbed both dogs by the collar to separate them. The black dog's owner freaked out on her, cursing and swearing at her to NEVER ABUSE HER DOG AGAIN.
Now, I'd be pissed if someone randomly just grabbed my dog for no reason, etc. I totally udnerstand that. But these dogs were going to get hurt, so I can see why the other owner instinctively tried to separate them.
The whole situation was bizarre- the black dog's owner never apologized for her dog attacking the tan dog. Nothing.
Eat.Drink.BeMarried. Blog.
Ugh. The last time we were there I got completely soaked dumping 2 Nalgene bottles of water on two dogs that were fighting. Luckily it shocked them a bit to break them up, but still - the owners didn't even take them out of the park afterwards!
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Normally it's just fine when we go. But we go to the smaller park at "off peak" times. I've been to the park mentioned in the article when it's busy and it can get crazy. There have been some scuffles at the small park too but we've either avoided the situation by going to the other side of the park or we've left.
People just need to pay attention to their dog(s) and practice common sense.
Pay attention and use common sense? That's overrated.....or you would think so by how many people don't do either!
This is kind of off the original topic but if you remember a while back I asked why retractable leashes are so evil. I nearly got clotheslined when I was riding my bike a few weeks ago. This lady was walking 2 dogs on them while playing with her phone and for whatever reason, didn't pull them in so they ran out in front of me. Just the day before that, we were at a park in Plymouth where they had no retractable leash signs and lots of trails that dogs weren't allowed on. I was so annoyed with this woman that I told her she is the reason all retractable leash owners get a bad reputation and that being inattentive and irresponsible is why trails are off limits to dogs and/or retractable leashes. I rode off before she could say anything.
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Agreed. We've gone to dog parks a few times and it just wasn't a good experience. I think it really brings out the "pack" mentality in some dogs and our dog is super passive and it seems like some dogs can just sense those dogs a mile a way. Just not worth the risk. We went to dog playgroups instead where the dogs were screened a little more for vaccines, temperment and it seemed like the owners were a little more attentive to their dogs. Plus a trainer was monitoring all the dogs too.
Photo taken at 16 months old