It finally happened to me
I took Kyle (chihuahua) to a dog park and he got attacked by a pitbull. I stepped between them (which I know isn’t safe but I just wasn’t even thinking about anything but protecting him) and his owner kept calmly calling over the dog, saying she just wants to play. That stalking and ears down and pointed out tail is NOT play.
I was screaming at the dog and obviously it did nothing and the guy was all the way across the park calling the dogs name, saying “don’t scare him, he just wants to play”. I told him to get his fucking dog and kicked at it to get it away. I was so pissed.
I always heard people say that it isn’t safe to take dogs to a dog park, and I had always brushed it off. I learned my lesson the hard way. Luckily he is fine, but of course the pitbull owner can’t recognize the signs of aggression/prey drive and thinks the dog “wants to play” - he cornered my dog and was jumping and snarling at him, he was totally going to bite him and he could have died. I fucking hate people like that.