Its a DOG park....not a KID park

Friday I took Layla to the dog park to run off some puppy energy. When we got there, I noticed there was a lady with 3 small children. (Small as in under 3 feet tall and probably between 18 months and 3 years old.) These children had balls and as one might expect from a 2 year old, were unable to throw said balls very far and instead ran around with them.

Enter Layla.....who is practically magnetized to kids because they are her size. She interprets their laughing and running with the ball as playing so she chases them. She does her wiggle butt jump thing and within 10 minutes two of the three kids have been knocked down (mostly by tripping over their own feet) and are crying. I get her and hold on to her wait for the mom to pick up her kid and ignore the mom's dirty looks as I pray for her to leave. She finally does, after huffing and puffing, and I let Layla go and she runs and plays and jumps..(and rolls in mud)..just like she should be able to do in a dog park. She (and I) came home dirtier than we arrived and she was exhausted, which was needed.

After she left a few people came up to me and told me it wasn't my fault or the Layla's fault and that there's a sign saying no kids under 8. It made me feel better, but you know, I felt bad for the kids because its not their fault their mom is an idiot, yet they got knocked down. You just shouldn't bring kids to a dog park, particularly not SMALL ones that weigh half of what the average dog playing does. Of course the dogs are going to play and run, and yes, they will occasionally run into you and/or jump on (or very close) to you - its what happens.

Its not like I brought my dog to Forest Park and let her run free and she knocked your kid down. Its a DOG park, lady. Stay over in the little dog side or even better, keep your kids out all together.