I go to the dog park very cautiously. There's one or two I can have to myself if I go early in the day, there's another that's ok depending on which dogs are there. Earnest is very protective of pups and immature dogs, we've had a problem where another dog was being pushy and dominant (but not beyond the realm of normal behavior) to a younger dog, the younger dog rolled over and yelped, and Earnest ran over and stood over the submissive dog, growling, keeping the "dominator" away. The owner of the submissive dog misunderstood and went screaming at Earnest running from quite a way away. Which is why I knew what was happening and she didn't, I follow my dogs around so I can monitor them at all times. Earnest wouldn't "leave it" until the dominator dog left, I was trying to handle too many factors at once. Well, the lady, still running at Earnest, started flailing her lead around, that's when Phyfe appeared out of nowhere, stood between Earnest and the woman and said WOOF! The dominant dog ran off, Earnest stepped away from the pup to tell Phyfe how glad he was to see him and thank him for the backup, and the woman berated me for bringing two such aggressive and dangerous "beasts" out in public.
Her pup, meanwhile, was dancing all around my big guys trying to tell his mom "Look, mom, my new friends aren't gonna let anyone mess with me"
Now if she's there when we arrive, she goes around "warning" everyone about my dogs, and most of them leave. I like having the park to ourselves, but worry that something small like a snarl or a scratch could lead to overblown complaints and consequences.
Our visits are few and far between, so many people don't seem to have a clue about pack behavior and dynamics, they freak over normal situations or expect all the dogs to play nice like kindergartener s, and have no idea what to look for to insure the situation stays stable.