Phoenix Dog Park in Fair Oaks, California

We tried a new park yesterday… figured after the air conditioner was done, we owed him. He was placed in his crate, and after we were the only ones home, I let him loose…. where he ran (literally) from room to room looking for “people” with sheer excitement. Cooper doesn’t seem to understand his jumping up onto people is rude, so he felt like he missed out. And he frantically looked for someone that might still be there to pet him and sweet talk.

My husband heard from a customer about a park, which has grass with no patches of dirt. I was actually looking forward to the possibility of a place I can take him and not have to bath him after. Turns out they still have the doggy pools, and the gentleman claiming to run the park (he had cards for the park’s website and a printed out I.D.) doesn’t exactly allow the pools to be dumped and refilled, stating that it creates mud from the lack of drainage. I have always been a little hyper sensitive when it comes to my puppy. So when I see one dog had a muzzle on and another was drooling a froth, I find it frustrating I can’t possibly save my Cooper from a potential disease.

The man had also gotten onto our children, about “running” and playing with the dogs, stating that running wasn’t allowed. Normally I would leave it at that, but we left after he insisted on literally following the kids, even when he saw they were already be spoken to by us. I might be hyper sensitive when it comes to my dog, but it is creepy to have a grown man literally following my kids to beat us to telling them the man’s self imposed park rules. We will not be returning to Phoenix Dog Park anytime in the future, it was less than welcoming.

I went into this experience with a positive attitude! I thought of the name and the symbolic meaning, and figured it would be a welcome change (a chance to let Cooper run off energy and not bath him every time). And I have to admit, I prefer the first park and it was the best choice! The children enjoy the normal park we attend, they have a blast playing with others people’s dogs and children(throwing balls, blowing bubbles, and Frisbees), and since having a dog and going to more dog parks deprive them of the ability to go to more children/human parks… I prefer a place where the owners are more like us! We are attentive to our pet, we love how our children can run and play with other dogs (helping to alleviate previous fears they once had towards all dogs), and it helps to get the dogs to run/jump/play… hence the reason for going to a dog park. If my dog isn’t running off excess energy after being indoors than a dog park is reduced to who knows whom and about the owners over the dogs. And if I was that desperate to talk to other adults, my dog wouldn’t be my excuse, I’d use Yahoo groups, Meetup.com, and various other resources (even Craig’s List has groups). Unfortunately, I have to admit when this phoenix caught fire is wasn’t born into a new/positive experience but was quickly crossed off our list, and I’m sure I’ll when chatting at other parks pass on our experience to others so they can avoid being treated like lepers. And more so if they do go, this is not a welcoming environment for children.