They have water, "waste" bags in case you forget yours and plenty of room to roam. There is no separate section for smaller dogs which I know can be important for some dog owners.
It's hard to decide whether to rate this park a 3 or a 4. It's just average. But the lack of grass, while understandable, is a big turnoff. When specifically planning an area as a dog park, the type of turf is important. Communities will put the money into children's parks, and taxpayers pay for all sorts of amenities for children regardless of whether they have kids or not. But for the citizens whose animals are their kids, they aren't afforded much consideration. That's hardly fair, especially considering how hard pet owners try to please non-animal lovers. Cities can do better.
Overall the playing seemed relaxed and without incident while I was there. Owners were conscientious of their pup's behavior, correcting for the occasional humping, jumping or not heeding another dog's signals that it wanted space. In general owners were tolerant of other dog's behaviors, understanding that dogs will be dogs and they all have their issues, we are all in different stages of training. Of course, this isn't always the case and there is always the chance that there’s one owner who just doesn't understand how to treat others appropriately. Like the owner who didn’t get that it's inappropriate to yell at and smack their dog, even if they feel their dog is embarrassing them. Yelling at and hitting an animal caused much more of an embarrassing worthy commotion which had everyone uncomfortably staring. And I was worried that I was going to be the one in the crowd, with the dog who's an uncontrollable terror. I wish I were that time. :(
Great amount of space! Seems very well kept and the owners keep a keen eye on their dogs to make sure everyone is playing safe. I've tried to route our walks so this is our last stop before heading home.
The park is a fair size, has double gated entries at both ends of the park, several stainless steel water bowls of various sizes beside a water pump at one end and some mulch around the perimeter which is demarcated by wood members. The ground surface other than that is all dirt.
There were dogs of all sizes, ages and breeds playing. There were a couple of Great Danes, a few toy breeds, many young and adults, a couple of seniors, and a handful of puppies, but thankfully none that appeared so young that they haven't received their booster shots yet - that always makes me sad, knowing how often those pups pay the price with their lives, or at the very least have a very difficult and expensive fight to survive.
A lot of big dogs. People are nice around there. The area is nice and clean. A good place to meet other dog owners and let your animal friend off the leash to run around.
I would love if a dog park decided to install artificial dog turf. They would likely have to additionally install pop-up sprinklers to come on at night and rinse the surface down to keep it from deteriorating. Additionally there would be a need for leaf removal and perhaps additional poop bag dispensers to help encourage owners to pick up any feces they see even if they aren't from their own dog. Sometimes it's difficult to keep an eye on your own dog when there are so many dogs and so much activity. But if we all work together we could have a nice facility that stays nice and doesn't require giving our dogs a bath every time they play.
Great place for your pup(s) to stretch their legs and socialize. The park is clean and quiet and there are bags for waste as well as a watering station. It's beautiful and large and located in a great area.
Ghent Dog Park is a US Park based in Norfolk, Virginia. Ghent Dog Park is located at 1310 Stockley Gardens, Norfolk, VA 23517, USA.
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