Why should you never take your dog to a dog park?

Off-leash dog parks pose problems and no one ever seems to recognize them until it’s too late. There is a high level of risk associated with attending any dog park and even more with off-leash dog parks. Owners often forget to keep their dogs up on vaccinations or even properly deal with socialization issues. Illness can spread fast in dogs and they can often be sick before the owner even realizes there is a problem. Parvo is a common problem among many young dogs and leads to deaths every year because young dogs are exposed to the disease and not properly vaccinated against it. Once parvo is in the ground or in your house it takes more than six months for it to die, making a park particularly dangerous once one dog has been there with parvo, even once. I have heard the horror stories of people taking their dogs to off-leash dog parks and seeing them be attacked for no good reason or even having seen their dog turn to aggression for no reason. Unfortunately, the sad but true story is that if a dog were to attack my Rott, he would be the first ordered to be put-down because he is the “bully” breed and there is little to nothing I could do about it once the decision is made. I know not everyone is irresponsible with their dogs, but I’m not risking his safety for something as trivial as a chance to run free with other dogs.