I know I have mentioned our favorite dog park that Beneful sponsored with the bridge, fancy dog fountains and turf grass many times. We used to take Roxanne to a couple of other dog parks until we found out about the new fancy park and now it is the only one we really go to. It is just so nice and Roxanne doesn't get as filthy there as she does at other dog parks where it is all dirt and mulch. Well lately we've had some problems with Roxanne at the park. Last weekend Rob took Roxanne there on Saturday morning and she had a blast. Rob picked up his mom's labradoodle Bailey and took them both to the park to play for an hour or so and everything was great. The next day I took Roxanne to the park and within 5 minutes of entering the park she spots a little boy running around and starts following him around while still keeping her distance and starts barking at him. I told her no and tried to get her to follow me to another part of the park to play ball away from the kid. She was ok for a little while but within 5 minutes or so she started barking again. Roxanne isn't really one to bark that much though and this wasn't just a couple of barks. This was Roxanne walking around barking non-stop, ignoring me calling out her name, ignoring all tennis balls, just barking. Then I see that same kid about 30 feet away and notice Roxanne sees him too and I realize her barking really is directed at him. I was so embarrassed I grabbed her by the collar and dragged her over to the picnic tables and told her to sit and stay. I had to do this twice. I felt like one of those moms you see at the mall with crying screaming children throwing tantrums and you think to yourself, wow she has no control over her children. I know I didn't have a child, just a loud dog, but the way some people are at this dog park I know someone was judging me and my lack of control over my dog. The third time Roxanne barked at the kid I decided enough was enough and I put on her leash and we left the park, me holding the leash about 2 inches away from Roxanne's collar. We had been there maybe 25 minutes and Roxanne had done nothing besides bark at kids, dogs and at some points seemingly nothing.
On the way home I was so furious I called Rob to tell him about it. I said, "It was that 7 year old boy with the puffy Cars coat on who runs around chasing his dog." (We have both seen this kid there before) Rob immediately was like, "That kid? With the Cars coat? Oh my gosh.." Two weeks ago when Hayes and Caroline were visiting with their lab puppy Oliver, they all took the dogs to the park while I was at work and I was later told that Roxanne had barked nonstop at a kid at the park. Turns out it was the same kid she was barking at both times. I thought it was just a one time thing when it happened a few weeks ago, but apparently not. Roxanne hates this kid for whatever reason. Maybe it's because he chases dogs around the park, maybe it's because of his puffy red jacket, or maybe it's just because he is a kid and Roxanne is, for the most part, scared of kids. The kid is somewhat of a rascal himself, which doesn't help the situation. Rob held Roxanne in a sit position and asked the kid if he would come pet Roxanne so she could see he was ok and he refused and proceeded to shake his finger at her saying "Bad!" whenever she barked at him. I told Rob I really wish we could give the dad our number so he can shoot us a text letting us know when he will be at the park with his kid so that we can avoid going at the same time, because I'm pretty sure Roxanne isn't going to forget this kid anytime soon.
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