"I just got him yesterday," the man said. My daughter was at the park with her children when she met this man with his "new" dog. The dog was off leash and as any savvy Mom, my daughter was being extremely cautious. She hovered around her two year old as the dog ran around the playground.
First, no dog should be running around off leash in the playground area; that is unless there are no children anywhere in the area.
Second, even leashed dogs need to be strictly supervised around children, especially children that are not your own.
As my daughter conversed with the man she learned that the dog had just been rescued the day before. Not only was this dog running loose in the playground, but the man didn't even know this dog. They were in fact complete strangers; the dog didn't know the man and the man didn't know the dog.
This could be an extremely dangerous situation for everyone involved. The man did not know how the dog would behave with children. The man had no idea what would happen should the dog run off. Well as it turned out, the dog did run off with the guy in hot pursuit (but of course it did.) Honestly. Listening intently to my daughters story, I was fuming and shaking my head.
Can you imagine rescuing a dog and then letting it off leash the next day? I can't even ask "what was he thinking" because clearly he was not thinking. I LOVE dogs and I ADORE children; but when the two come together, great care must be taken to protect both involved. Not all dogs love children, especially unknown children. I often see dogs at parks where there are lots of children and they are typically on leash and very close to their guardian; which is where they should be. Dogs should not be wandering around a children's park off leash.
Just a couple of days ago I was at a park with my daughter and two grandsons. They were having a great deal of fun and as we were leaving a man with an off-leash bulldog headed our way. I immediately got in-between them and my two year old grandson. But I was happy to see the man leash his dog as they got closer. You just never know how a dog will behave around children; there is no way for everyone to know every dog. Many people don't fully know how their own dog deals with unknown children. It is always best to veer on the side of safety.
The off leash dog at the park, who was just rescued the day before has me still shaking my head big time. Come on...