dog abuse at park

A couple of weeks ago I took my APT and my GSD to the dog park. For over an hour they had a wonderful time playing with the other dogs. Then a biker looking dude shows up with a Rotti. My Pit along with the other dogs ran over to sniff and check him out. Something weird happened and next thing that I know the biker dude was screaming and the top of his lungs and kicked my Pit Bull. I am still angry about the situation and wonder if I have done enough to protect my dog. I wanted to beat the hell out of this man, but if I were to be hauled off to jail my pups would have suffered the consequences of my actions as well. How do I keep my dogs away from people like him. I don't even enjoy the dog park anymore because my nerves are on edge. Please help.

Hi ya and welcome to the forum. First things first, beating the c**p out of the fella would do you no good as you realised. The key here is to watch. There is nothing in your post that says why it kicked off so who knows apart from the dude shouting etc.

The way forward and the way to keep your furry friends out of strife is to exercise good recall. If you see a potential problem you should be able to call your dog away.

For you to be able to relax you need to be in control, work on the recall and when you have it going good you'll be confident that this won't happen again.

When you get a min, pop along here and say hi:-
https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions

he claimed that she was going to go over to the Rotti and try to fight him.

Ian is right...your recall should be pretty spot on if your letting your dog off in a public place. Unfortunately I found myself in a similar situation a few days ago...someone kicked my dog as he walked past and there was no explanation apart from 'get that thing on a lead'. The other guy may have misread one of the dogs body language and panicked, you just don't know. The last thing you want to have to stay away because of this so get yourself a training lead and practice recall with some high value treats. Try in your garden over and over and it will eventually become a game. walk your dog on an extendy lead and practice as your walking as well, then transfer his training lead on and keep repeating. Use treats like cheese, mini sausages, ham...something he doesn't useually have at home and will only associate on walks. I used FROLIC. a meaty dog food and he loved it but would never be fed on it.

Hope this helps Let us know how you get on!