Dog Park Personality #3

Ah yes. The sun is still out, and we had a refreshing afternoon at the park this afternoon. Simon chasing his ball, Skally darting about in the driveway, trying to have me chase her before we hie down to the park...Rusty barking demanding attention, then chasing me through the fields, and Samson running up and investigation people and other dogs. Of course, they all adore Pepper, a pit-bull mix, who adores them back, along with her papa, Viktor.

Today was fine, without anyone in the negative personality pool...

But they do come.

Especially the Banana Brains!

What is a Banana Brain? you ask. A Banana Brain is someone who is just ridiculously not with it. They can be a Drama Queen, a Helicopter, or many other assortments of personalities - in fact, many people find themselves in any one of the described pools from time to time, and they do bleed into one another; therefore, noting attributes and designating someone as being only one of these may be difficult - but when they show their colours, they are definitely these personalities!

One form of Banana Brain, is the owner who comes into the dogpark leashing area, and leaves the gate to the outside open. Then, they bring their dog into the park to unleash it, leaving the second gate open. And when another dog sees the wonderful world from which they are fenced from and squeezes out to frolic, they say nothing. They simply remain quite vague, and close the gate behind them and wander in - not even noticing someone else's bundle of joy has gone off into the hinterlands.

It's true. I've seen it too many times to count.

Other Banana Brains are those who bring their children into the park to play. Really? Are they unable to read the postings? Oh yeah. They have Banana Brains!

These are the ones who bring their children in with bikes and scooters, and have their children riding around the park. OR they have them run about. Now, we aren't talking teenagers, or tweens. We're talking 5, 6, 7, 8 year olds, or even younger. When other pet parents speak up, the Banana Brain tells them it's their park, and they're simply using it to exercise their dog and children. Huh. Funny how quickly they become Drama Queens when their kid is knocked down by a dog who wants to investigate the little bugger on the bike, or the kid who's running around. Funny how they demand compensation for the damage to the bike, or child.

My favourite is when they have their kids leave their bikes lying down in the leashing area. Seriously?! I have four dogs, and we can't fit without some sort of mangling the bikes that are just lying about. So, I pick them up and toss them out. They don't like this. Of course, though, my dogs also tend to have weak bladders around the handlebars and seats...Nothing makes these people get up and fly across the park than this! Luckily, I take a deep breath and tell them to learn to read signs, and to follow directions - also, that this particular section of the park is funded by private donations, and this could be grounds for their being blocked from the park. They rarely come back at that time...

I remember one father, a very nice man, who used to bring his 4 year old daughter and 6 year old son to the park. He would trot off to sit at one of the picnic tables to watch his dog. That was fine. His children, although very sweet in nature and intent, would chase the dogs, trying to pick them up. Now, anyone who teaches their kids that the park is a petting zoo probably has high insurance premiums, or has very good life insurance policies on his/her child(ren).

At this time, I had Syd, Cubby, and Skally. Syd, if caught, would allow them to try to pick him up, but he was rather bulky and heavy for the two little heathens. Skally was out of the question. However, Cubby was jjuusstt the right size! So, they would corner him, and then attempt to lift him. I was surprsed when I saw him being nice and allowing this, but then struggling enough so they dropped him on his feet and he scurried away.

I walked up to the little vipers, and said, "You can't just chase any dog around and try to pick them up!"
"Why?" asked the little toe-headed girl in the pink dress.
"Because they don't know you, and they don't like that," I responded.
"But they're so cute and cuddly! I just want to hold them!" was her retort.
"But if they don't know you, and they don't know that about you they may not be as nice as you'd like."
My friends, Anne and Claire were next to me, with smiles on their faces. They like kids. They don't feel safe with them in the parks, though...
"But I want to hold them!"
"If you chase them, and they don't want it, they could bite you. Then you'd bleed, and then you'll die," I finally snapped.

The shriek of terror that emitted from her tiny head-hole was wonderful. I had endured these kids for 3 weeks, and was just tired of them.

She ran to her father, crying. Her brother was on the other side of them, throwing the ball, meant for the dog - but the boy believed it should have been for him- barely over his father's head, hitting his sister in the noggin. The father scooped her up, and she sobbed into his shoulder.

The father then looked at me, winked, and apologized. "I'm sorry. I know they're active, but I've got to figure out how to wear them out and the dog - I've been working 14 hour days, and their mom is away on business."

My friends were crying from laughter, and they assured him it was fine. I told him it would be fine, but he needed to put limits on his kids, just to keep them on the safe side. He agreed.

See? Banana Brains can be reformed!

Then, there was the day when a mother brought her dog into the park, along with her 5 sons. Yes. One dog, 6 people. When I arrived at the paddock, the front gate was wide open, I was unleashing my dogs, and one kid opened the gate behind me, shoved me to the side, and opened the next gate. He shut neither gate. I called to him to get back there and shut the gate. He kept walking. The mother yelled to me about what was the problem. I told her. She told me to close them myself. Well, this went under the wrong piece of skin on my bod.

I closed the gates, and got into the park, only to have another kid do the same thing, coming into the dogpark. 3 dogs escaped. I yelled at the kid. The mother yelled at me. I yelled back at her that her idiot children needed to learn dog park etiquette. She got all up and puffy-like, and strutted like a Tom Turkey in a nest of chicks.
"What did you say?"
I repeated myself.
"How dare you!"
"Your kids need to realize that you're liable if anything happens to those dogs that escaped, it falls on your shoulders."
"Well, I can't keep track of them. They're boys."
"You're a Banana Brain, lady!"
With this, she packed up and left, leaving 2 other owners fuming after her to find their dogs. I heard angry words exchanged later, and it was from one of the owners and the woman. The other owner was busy writing down her license number.

See? They can be Drama Queens, too!

They're all over the place. These people with mush for brains!

Unfortunately, I think I've been one of them as well...at some point...but dementia has set in and I cannot recall any such incident....