Garden City Dogs Off-Leash Area
Markus (middle) playing with a puppy version of himself at the Garden City Dogs Off-Leash Area
Update: We've been told that the issue with the gaps under the fences have been fixed and patched up now! We recently visited with Markus ourselves and we can confirm that the gaps are no longer there.
About Garden City Dogs Off-Leash Area
Type: Off-Leash Dog Park
Size: Small
Enclosed: Yes
Doors: Two sets of double doors
Traffic: Moderate
I recall a time when the Garden City Dogs Off-Leash Area was a temporary dog park, but it has since undergone major upgrades to become a permanent dog park. Located in Richmond, British Columbia, this park used to be made up of temporary green metal fences that surrounded plain grass and plastic lawn chairs. Today, it has been converted to a well-maintained park with permanent wooden fences that surrounds a plot of land that's also been upgraded to include grass, an area with small rocks, some trees and logs for dogs to jump on.
The dog park itself is not a very large park, but it does connect to the Garden City Community Park and Arboretum (learned a new word today!), which is another great place to take your dog, but it does get busy with pedestrians. The dog park is small to medium sized and since it's located fairly centrally in Richmond, there have been a lot of dogs during the times we've gone. Having a lot of dogs in a concentrated area is great if you wanted to train your dog to be social, but if your dog is reactive, we do not recommend coming to this park when it's busy. For the times that we brought Markus there, it has felt a little overwhelming at times.
Markus (right) conversing with his Shiba Inu friends at the Garden City Dogs Off-Leash Area
Part of the reason why it was a little overwhelming for us was that we didn't have a good experience with some of the other dogs at the park. This feedback might not be useful since the dogs in the park will always be different, but for the few times we went, there was always the "over-friendly" dog that set Markus off - more than other parks. There were also a few other dogs that snapped at these particular dogs, but since it is behaviour the we don't want to encourage for Markus, we tried to avoid them altogether. The problem is because the park isn't that big, the dogs really can't go too long without meeting and going at each other again.
Maybe this was just us, but on the variety of breeds, it felt as though the dogs were on both ends of the small and large spectrum. We think perhaps this stems from the fact that the neighbourhood consists of either houses with bigger yards who have the space to raise bigger dogs or apartments where space is limited and owners need to raise smaller dogs. It's also very central to Richmond, so location-wise, it is perhaps the most convenient place for dog owners to go.
At the time of this writing, there are still a couple things that need a bit of attention at this park, but seeing how quickly the city of Richmond had made improvements, I'm hopeful that some of these issues will be addressed.
The biggest issue that we had with the park was that there were big gaps at the bottom of the fences where the wire ends and doesn't meet the grass. Markus is a 35-pound dog and he could have crawled under the gap if he had tried to. You might be wondering, well why would Markus crawl under the fence? The answer: bunnies. To make matters worse, there were bunnies on the other side of the fence, so for Markus who used to roam the streets of Korea hunting for food, his prey drive kicks in. While other dogs were playing, he was fixated on the bunnies and we had to stand by the gaps to prevent him from going underneath.
Overall, the actual park is fine. There are some things that need to be fixed or improved upon and I'm sure those things will be done, but if your dog is reactive, I would find a time to go when the park isn't so busy.
What we liked
It's fairly new since they've made those recent upgrades.
Two entrances with double doors on either end of the park.
It felt like there were a lot of dogs with a wide variety of breeds, if that's what you're looking for.
What we didn’t like
The gaps under the fences need to be fixed or dogs can escape.
It's not the biggest park, so when there are a lot of dogs, it can be hard to find a quiet space with your dog.
If your dog is reactive, it can be overwhelming.
Our Recommendation For Reactive Dogs
This park is hard for us to recommend this park as long as the gaps under the fence exist. With bunnies on the other side of the fence, Markus was actively distracted and trying to go under. He also had some trouble with one other dog one time while we were there, but they mostly just barked at each other. Most owners typically enter through the end that’s closer to the parking lot, so if you wanted to enter the park quietly without getting rushed, you might want to take them around to the far end of the park where the other doors are. I do find that the park gets fairly busy and at its peak, it could be hard to avoid other dogs.
We’re so grateful for your support of The Markus Project. We mostly choose our locations through searching and word of mouth. If you know of a park, trail or location you think we should check out, please share it with us. We’d love to know!
