I used to love to go to dog parks, but the last two times has not been so nice.
I guess talking to people about how to handle their dogs is like telling people how to raise their kids-- both will get you hated!
One experience was a small dog park in key west, like the op I felt like the new kid or outsider! My dh was holding Remy and about 6 dogs (mostly doxies) ran up to us and were jumping to get to Remy. DH did not put Remy down, she started growling and one of the owners told me I needed to socialize my dog. I said, and your dogs jumping on us is socialized? We left
The second.. oh my.. well I took all three dogs. This was not the first time so I thought I had it under control. It was muddy in the parking area. So I had the bright idea of caring my white shih tuz over the puddles. Bailey is shy. When we got inside about 4 large dogs ran up to us, Bailey (I had put him down) got between us and tried to "protect" me. One owner ran up and got her dog, and said sorry. The other 3 .. don't even know where they were. Bailey got really --not aggressive but defensive -- after the dogs ran away he took a big dump
.. we tried to go to the small part but there was a lady with about 6 little guys and they ran up to Bailey.. and he kind of freaked. So we went home-- the other two were fine and had a good time.
Bailey is the sweetest dog on earth, we have had him at 8 weeks. We are social people and he is walked two to three times a day. BUT he won't let people pet him. If someone walks up behind me he groans... he will block and posture -- growl if he think I am being threaten. So.. dog parks are out for us.
Also... I think some parks are just not worth it. The park near us has had several dog fights (thank heavens not the day I was there). I take the pack to meet ups and play groups... that works better for me
Even Bailey does well at small play groups