The Los Angeles Downtown News reports that there will be a Dog Park coming to the Arts District of Downtown. It is a 6,000 square foot parcel at the corner of 4th and Molino streets. I'm sure you all think I will be excited and tell you all to go as soon as it opens, but those words will not come from me. I do not support dog parks, the ones that exists now are not good for dogs. There always ends up being too many dogs for the amount of space there is and owners that allow their dogs to run freely... no matter if their dogs should have that freedom or not. Dog parks are a main source of aggression in dogs in the Los Angeles area. My belief is that it is unsafe for dogs to be in dog parks, you don't want your dog there if an aggressive dog has been turned loose to do whatever he wants... it could seriously injure or even kill your dog.
I will wait until this is built before I officially say don't go, because maybe this one will be different. Maybe the residents of Downtown will monitor themselves and only allow a certain number of dogs to play at one time and pay attention to their dogs not the other dog owners. But somehow I really doubt this. If you do want to go to this or any other dog park, I recommend going on off hours. Go early in the morning any day of the week (weekends are best) or in the middle of the day during the week. If you have a dog park in mind, just go without your dog and observe and see what kind of dogs are there, how many dogs, what kind of owners and how responsible are the owners. If you observe that on Sunday at 5:30pm it is dead, take your dog then. You will have a much better time with your dog on the off hours and you may even meet other dogs with nice temperaments and other responsible owners. Remember, this is for the safety of your dogs that I say any of this at all.
