[GeneJ]

We have only been here for a few weeks and I'm not sure what rules exist about dog behavior in the dog parks. We take our Lab to the dog park near our home here in the Villages. He loves to chase a ball. Today there was a "herding" type dog that would not leave our door alone. The owner sat on a bench reading on his phone. No matter where we moved this dog would get behind our dog and growl and nip our dog everytime he would run for the ball. I went over and asked the owner if he could keep his dog from doing this. He said his dog did this naturally and he couldn't stop it. We again moved to the far side of the park but his dog would not leave us alone. I was getting concerned my dog either getting hurt or hurting the other dog. I went back and again asked the owner if he could control his dog. He said he would not and that he wasn't going to leave just because another dog came to the park. Rather creating confrontation and also not being sure of how things run here in the villages I left with my dog.

So two questions. First is it acceptable for a dog to growl, nip, and try to bite another dog? Second if the owner is notified and they do nothing, what is the proper way to proceed? I was concerned that my dog was going to get tired of the nipping and then one or both of the dogs could have got hurt.

Any suggestions or guidance would be appreciated.