Rancho Penãsquitos Linear Dog Park — Attraction in San Diego

WAS a nice and safe area for small dogs, but it's gotten hostile. The big dog area has fights a lot, but the owners seem to be on top of it pretty quickly. Small dog area has grass but very little shade. The small dog area has some "regulars" who fence fight (aka Fence Run) and instigate fence fighting with the big dogs or herding dogs who get in their way. The Biggest culprits are: brown and white Boston terrier, black fluffy purse dog type, brown French bulldog, and a brown striped English bulldog. If you have a herding breed, they will try to herd one of the fence fighters and could get hurt when the fence fighter doesn't like it. The owners of the fence fighters are dismissive about their dogs bad behavior and tell or screams at you to mind your own business. And they always say "we're regulars here. My dog always does this. It's how they play." Park rules are posted and say: "Any aggressive dog must be removed by leash" and "No excessive barking". Fence running or fence fighting is classified as "aggressive behavior" by every dog trainer and animal behaviorist. So, owners beware!

Update: the owners of the fence running or fence fighting dogs are now screaming at anyone who tells them that their dogs are behaving aggressively or are breaking the rules of the park and instigating dog fights. They even screamed at a Military dog trainer (PROFESSIONAL DOG TRAINER) who told them that their dogs are the issue. Herding dogs are getting blamed when their dog goes after them because the herding dog is instinctively trying to correct the aggressive behavior of fence running. This park has become hostile and unsafe for herding breeds from 4:00-7:30pm...

I just left there and I am not happy. I have a small dog, 15 lbs, and the sign says under 30 lbs. When I approached I noticed 3 large dogs and one very small dog, so I proceeded with caution. Two of the large dogs rushed first the fence, and then us with back hair straight up. I asked out loud if they were aggressive and received no answer so I stayed with my dog. The largest then jumped on my back before deciding to check out my pup. I asked again if the dog was aggressive and the lady flipped out and started talking about me to other large dog owners...none of whom felt they should maybe move over to the totally empty large dog side. Their answer was that John, the parks guy tells them it is ok. I am filing a formal complaint, but be cautious there as the regulars sometimes feel that they get to make the rules...be assertive or just like their dogs, they will run...

I used to take my dog to this park -most of the people were fairly nice - we stopped going after I was “cussed out by a regular dog park goer telling me not to bring my dog to the park - he did this to me in front of my 10 year old son and I am a mom. My dog did nothing to him or his dog, we never returned to the park again . I can only pray for a person who has to stoop down as low as to cuss at a women with her 10yr. Old son and dog . No I am not fearful of this man - but honestly I don’t want to be around this type of behavior- especially when we are just trying to enjoy our time with our dog inside a dog park . I also witnessed this behavior years and years ago by another man . There are so many better places to...