Dog Parks: Membership, Vaccination Safety, and Owner Behavior Insights

There is a fabulous dog park about twenty minutes from our house. It’s huge and well maintained. There are benches and shady spots, water fountains and picnic tables. The park requires membership, which isn’t cheap, but it’s definitely a good thing because it helps ensure that the dogs there are vaccinated. However, it doesn’t ensure anything about the dog’s behavior – or the owner’s for that matter!

For the last ten months, we’ve only gone four times, despite the expensive membership fee. It’s never been particularly enjoyable for a variety of reasons – owners talking on their cell phones, people not picking up after their dogs, etc. And at this dog park Emmett got in his first (and only!) fight.

Our membership is about to expire. The boys really do love running the full 1.5 acres, playing with other dogs, and just doing something different once in a while – but I don’t know. I’m undecided. So before I write that check, I wanted to throw it open to you.

What do you think? Dog parks – fun puppy playground? Or bad idea?