Partner In Paws Training & Behaviour

After our walk in Confluence Park last Sunday, I decided to sit outside the Beddington fenced in dog park for about 15 mins.

This is what I learned:

1️⃣ About 70% of owners follow leash laws. Some left the park or car without their dog leashed (one of which harassed us) but most people were respectful of us being leashed.

2️⃣ Fenced in parks seem to attract the people that do NOT have any established recall. I already knew this, but the amount of times I heard this one particular lady yell at her dogs from the other side of the park and watch them blow her off, seemed like 800 times.

Note* Legally you are required to be able to recall your dog even in an off leash space

3️⃣ Although exposure is incredibly important when working through reactivity, in most cases this is not something I would recommend to my reactive clients.

Why? Too uncontrolled of an environment. When working through reactivity, you really want to avoid scenarios where your dog may be rushed by a strange dog. The benefit just does not outweigh the risk here.

4️⃣ SO MANY DOODLES 🐩 All shapes and sizes! It’s quite fun to see what type of breeds are popular within the city.

Lastly, on occasion (usually very early in the morning on a weekday) we do use this park. It’s a great space to play fetch with Chessi when she hasn’t been off leash in a few days and I’m not convinced that scents of won’t get the best of her.

Have you been to this park? If so, what experiences have you had?

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