Thanks, Dave! At the dog park, I've always set the lens to a good distance depending on the dog's size (usually 2-3m for a normal lens), and use burst mode when they're about to cross the focal plane. I never had much success with catch-in-focus, since it's hard to tell exactly where in the frame the dog will be when their face hits the focal plane.
I've actually been using a Sony for the past few years, which I don't think has that feature anyway. I never bought any Sony lenses, though. I love my old Pentax primes too much.
Here's another from a while ago, with the SMC Tak 135/2.5: