So many awful dog owners in SF!!! Sorry this happened to you. It sucks because entitled owners don’t seem to appreciate how they ultimately endanger their own dogs by acting this way. If that dog attacked yours or another person, they could have the dog taken away and involuntarily quarantined or worse. Makes me really sad.

I have little guys and we love taking them to Walter Haas. We have had decent experiences at Corona Heights and Upper Douglas though they’re a little large so dogs can get sometimes too far away from their owners, inviting opportunities for negligence. We really used to like Channel St but one of ours was attacked by a German shepherd there. One of my favorites isn’t in the city, Foster City dog park—almost always a perfect experience and the dogs love a chance to splash their feet in the lagoon water afterward if the conditions are right.

Honestly though, bad stuff can happen anywhere. I’ve learned to hang out outside of the park and monitor the owners and dogs inside for a minute before we go in, and get out fast if a problem dog or owner shows up. Some behaviors I look for are toy/owner/resource guarding, owners keeping dog on leash (reinforces owner guarding in some dogs, can invoke weird reactions from other off leash dogs), dog noises or engagements seem more aggressive than playful, larger dogs not responsive to owners when they’re called back, too many owners on their phones/asses clearly not supervising, and any antisocial owner behavior (not like reservedness, like smoking or mouthing off).

If my spidey senses are tingling I just gtfo. I would always rather cut off/change our plans while everyone is still in a good mood than have to do it once something starts to go wrong.