Dog Park Etiquette Fail and a PSA

On Friday the sun finally came out and I took the girls to the park. We were running seriously low on new photos so I definitely wanted to get some and the girls got play time so it was a win-win situation. We did our thing, the girls ran around and I took photos. It started to get late so I took an exit trail to head back to the car. On the way back the girls decided to go look for bunnies in the blackberry bushes. It's not my favorite thing that they do but since we haven't been near those bushes in a while, I figured I'd let them check them out. 

While I'm standing there waiting for the girls to catch up, this lady comes up on me with two black labs and as she gets up to where we were, Zoe pops out of the bushes and she's clearly limping. The lady even saw her limping and definitely heard me exclaiming about it. "Oh No!!! Zoe what did you do!? Why are you LIMPING!?" The lady then allows her two labs to just be in my face. They were skittering around me, jumping on me and generally being labs which would of been fine if Zoe wasn't hurt.

The lady continues to meander and by meander I mean she is slowly wandering up the trail, still making no effort to get her dogs out of my space. At this point I probably should of said something to her but I was starting to get mad. I knew I wouldn't be able to be polite so I said nothing. She stops part of the way up the trail and starts playing with her phone!!! Meanwhile, Zoe is still limping around and I really need to get her back on leash and check her foot.

What seemed like 10 minutes later this woman is still not getting her dogs and I can't get to Zoe because her dogs will not stop bothering me. She's still playing with her phone.

Note: This photo was taken before she was injured!

I know I talk all the time about being a proactive owner and it's because it's so important. I know it's hard to always think of all the things our dogs might do but common sense does go a long ways.
 
Dogs when they are hurt are not always nice. If you see someone at a park and their dog is injured or if an injury happens right in front of you, it's so important to get your dogs and keep your dogs out of their way. The person really needs to be able to check their dog, get the dog on leash and leave. They can't do that if your dog is getting in the way. If one of her dogs had jumped on Zoe in that moment, Zoe might not have reacted well to it. When dogs are hurt they may become aggressive. Even though they didn't bother Zoe, they definitely impeded me from getting to her which could of led to further injury.

Eventually this woman figured out that I was getting pissed and she did come and finally get her dogs. I was able to get Zoe back on leash and we hobbled about a half a mile to the car, taking frequent breaks. I couldn't find anything in her paw and I didn't see any entry points for thorns. I ended up bringing her home and soaking her in a warm bath for 30 minutes. She's still a little gimpy when we go outside over the past few days but we are taking it easy and not doing anything too strenuous. I'm making her rest and I sort of think she bruised her paw on a rock or she could of tweaked it stepping in a hole. Her leg and paw is not swollen, there's no heat in it or anything. I can wiggle it around and she doesn't act painful. She also does not limp at all inside our apartment. I'm sure she will probably be fine but I will take her to the vet if this continues.

Have you ever had an annoying experience at the dog park?