A notice regarding AGGRESSIVE DOGS at the dog park: The Shaw Dog Park is located in a thriving vibrant community that continues to grow with more people and their pets moving into our neighborhoods every day. As new neighbors and their dogs move in, more and more people will be visiting Shaw Dog Park, especially on beautiful days like we have been having. Shaw Dog Park Association is glad that all in our community can enjoy the park, however, as more people visit the park, bad behavior by both humans and dogs increases. The Shaw Dog Park Association recogniizes that at times dogs will get into fights. With some dogs, it is hard to distinguish between rough play, and aggressive play. And not all humans have the same perspective on what aggressive dog behavior means. The ASPCA website provides very helpful and useful information regarding aggressive dog behavior aspca.org If you and/or your dog have been a vicitim of a dog attack where the aggressive dog is breaking the skin of another dog, or human please do your best to remain calm and follow some simple guidelines below: First: If it is safe to do so, break the fight up as quickly as possible. In the dog park we find the best way to do this is by shuffeling your feet on the rocks by the fight, or grabbing a bowl of water and throwing on the dogs. It is never safe to reach down and grab the dogs by the collar - The dogs may turn on you. Please review some tips and guidelines on the ASPCA website for helpful tips in breaking up a dog fight. If a human has been or being attacked, contact the Metropolitan Police Department immediately Second: Once the fight has been stopped, sepearte the dogs immediately. It is never safe to pick your dog up while inside the park. It is also never safe to leash your dog inside the park while other dogs are off the leash. Third: If you feel safe doing so, confront the owner/caretaker of the aggressive dog and ask them to remove their dog from the park. If the owner refuses you may contact Washington DC Parks and Recreation Authority, or the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department. You will need to provide the authorities with a description of the owner, the dog and detail account of the incident. Also try to secure witnesses to the incident. NOTE: If the owner threatens to bodily injury to you, you should contact the Metropolitan Police Department immediately and report the incident. Never let that sort of action escalate by getting into a physical altercation with the dog owner. You both will go to jail Fourth: Provide an account of the aggressive dog incident to Shaw Dog Park Association by sending an email message to [email protected]. Again, you will need to provide description of the dog, the owner and an detailed account of the incident. While the Association has no policing authority in the park, the association can work with the DCPR to have the owner and the dog banned from the park permanetloy, or until the owner can prove the dog has behavior has become acceptable Most dog owners recognize when their dog is playing to aggressively and will quicklycorrect the dogs behavior, or remove them from the park. We encourage you to always be mindful of your dogs actions by keeping a constant watch on your dog while at the park. We discourage the use of cell phones, or reading while at the park. Your dog deserves your full attention If you are the owner of a dog that exhibts aggressive behavior we encourage you to seek the assitance of professional dog behaviorist and trainers. There are plenty to choose from in the DC area and some are listed on our website at shawdogs.org We do not want to see you, or your dog banned from the park if it is just a matter of a little training to correct the bad behavior. SDPA wants to maintain its mission of provding for the management and oversight of Shaw Dog Park and help foster a safe and clean environment for humans and their dogs to enjoy! We welcome all comments and suggestions on how we can maintain this mission. SDPA hopes all of their neighbors continue to visit ane enjoy the park on a regular basis- it is such an important part of our increadiable community!
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 00:58:39 +0000
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