Fort Barnard Park

I used to go there a couple of years ago and it was pleasant enough. People with bigger dogs were aware of their dogs and watched for aggression to smaller dogs. Went last night with my 2 smaller dogs (between 15 – 20 pounds each), actually, I should say, I tried to go because when I opened the door, at least 5 larger dogs were so curious that they were blocking the passage and were very pushy with one of my dogs, my other dog couldn’t even make it through the door. I went in and tried to pull them away from the door by their collar (I know… not the best move but no one was doing anything about it) and with no success and none of the owners even made a move to help. Most of them were sitting on the benches chatting. When I finally asked if they could take care of their dogs, they looked at me with a blank stare and one woman made a feeble attempt to call her dog. I turned around and left. If that’s how they were acting when someone came in, I didn’t want to take the risk of having one of their dogs get agressive with mine and them not doing anything about it. So, if you have small dogs, I recommend the Shirlington Dog park small dog area or go to this one at off hours.

Love the park and my fur babies love to play with their friends. It’s clean and a much better park, in my opinion, than the Shirlington Park because the latter is dirtier. Also yes it’s smaller but, it still allows the dogs to run, fetch etc. Bigger isn’t always better. Plus, dog owners talk with and to each other dye to the setting of the park.

We visit this dog park nearly every day and our dog loves to go play there.
The park is on the Northwest side of Glebe road, next to the community garden, the water tower and the Police K9 obstacle course.
The park is well maintained by the county, with frequent trash pickups to ensure the place is sanitary. Park guests typically keep the boxes stuffed with plastic bags to clean up after your pup.
Every time there is an issue with a gate or anything else, it is usually repaired within the week.
The surface is mostly wood chips /​mulch and if you have a white dog, they will get dirty rolling around.
There are a couple water fountains and some bowls to keep your pup hydrated after running with the herd!
There are a few benches and picnic tables that the dogs sometimes allow the humans to sit on without bothering them, but this is a Dog park, and they often jump on the tables to say hi.

This is a great alternative to the Shirlington Dog Park! While it’s much smaller, there is certainly plenty of room to run the dogs — it’s also less crowded and (usually) a much better place to play fetch than Shirlington. There are always plenty of tennis balls around and plenty of water bowls.
We sometimes have the park to ourselves, which can be a nice change of pace.
I’m also a big fan of the mulch covering — makes it much softer, cleaner, and enjoyable for the dogs to run — and the trees, which provide a pretty good amount of shaded area for play on hot days. Earlier this summer, they unloaded a HUGE truck of new mulch on the grounds and it was like Christmas for the dogs. I really like taking the dog here after it has rained since it’s so much less muddy than Shirlington (the park is on top of a big hill)
Some of the HUMANS who go to this park could be more attentive to when their dogs bully others (We’ve not really had any issues with this, but I’ve seen others whose dog was getting bullied around have to pull a dog off of their own dog while the owner sat facing away on the phone, reading, etc.) and people generally aren’t as good about picking up poop here as they are at other parks… but I guess you have these issues to some extent everywhere.
Overall, big fan!

The stock park is at the end of my street and normally I love to take my dog here. But yesterday I had a very bad incident which there were many witnesses to. A blonde lady came in with three large dogs and she was hardly paying attention to them. My dog was mainly minding his own business just walking around and stuff and things. He is a smaller dog on the 15 pounds. He walked by one of her dogs was playing with the tennis ball and all of a sudden out of nowhere her dog attacked my dog and bit his eye. I ran over to separate them and my dog was squealing. The worst part is she did absolutely nothing. She didn’t even ask to see if my dog was okay, nor did she apologize or reprimand her dog at all. My dogs I was filled with blood so I rushed him to the vet Who did and I exam to make sure his I wasn’t scratched. He had a big gash behind his eye. I had to get him pain medication and anti infection cream. I’m a little worried to take him back there in case this dog is there again. But the worst part about the whole thing was his owner could not have cared any less. Beware!

I didn’t even know this dog park was here until yesterday (dog owners at other parks are a godsend). Love it. It’s quiet and fairly large. Water fountains are available and it’s covered in mulch instead of grass. A welcome respite when you’re not quite up to the excitement of Shirlington.

If you are looking for a small quiet park for your dog to run around in this is the place. We came on a Saturday morning and there were a couple of dogs in the park. All very nice. Our dog made a friend quickly and they wore each other out… Which is exactly what we needed.
Down fall to the park… It looks like they are working on fencing issues as there was a big fence kind of taking up a portion of the park limiting the space. Also cleanliness was a slight issue as folks were not cleaning up after their pets. Matter of fact that was a huge disappointment.
Plan on returning on weekends in the warmer months. But will keep my eyes open.

Nice park. Not as large as the other 2 local parks but has a pool and friendly dogs and people

great park with very nice dogs and humans.

It is a great open place. I am struck by how friendly and welcoming everyone Is… dogs and humans. There are regulars who go out of their way to make new persons feel at home.

This park is a nice breather from the Shirlington Park a couple minutes down the road. It is just the right size that you don’t have to hike all over to keep an eye on your dog. It is also big enough that your dog can hit top speed if they want to.
Pros:
–Size
–Parking
–Drinking fountain (both human and dog)
–Not muddy all over (have been here 24hrs after a rain storm)
–Not overly crowded
–Picnic tables
Cons:
–There is one small muddy puddle by the drinking fountain. It isn’t huge but for dogs that like mud they go right for it. I saw some digging equipment there the last time I went so maybe they are going to fix that.
Overall this is a great dog park.
Note: The address is wrong. It is across Walter Reed from the address shown here.

I too live close to this park but I really can’t stand how crowded it gets. I agree that the owners are clique-​y and sometimes aren’t paying great attention to their dogs. My dog has been bit twice there. I stopped going except when it’s nearly empty and certain dogs aren’t there. The dogs can get into pack mode which make the experience less fun for me and my dog.

How is this considered a dog park? The fence is open, and it’s a baseball field, basketball court and playground inside. This park is NOT meant for dogs.

Pros:
–Running water
–Grassy
–Picnic tables
–Laid back people/​dogs
–Fully fenced
Cons:
–No shelter from sun/​rain
–No pool like the one on Utah St.
I’ve never seen it really crowded.

Because my dog is huge and crazy, when I have him by myself I like to take him here so as to maintain some degree of control as opposed to the balls-​out mud fest that is the main Shirlington dog park. The coolest feature of this park might be that it’s adjacent to the police K-​9 training park, so you can compare your unruly disaster dog to the skilled specimens smoothly executing commands 50 yards away.
Or maybe that’s just me.
Anyway, this park never seems gets to get too crowded; it’s lit in fall/​winter evenings so you can play late; there’s a community bulletin board for posting info; parking is easy and plentiful along Water Reed Drive; and there are water fountains for both humans and dogs. Solid all around.

I live right near this park and take my pup there often. It’s fully enclosed, and has water for the dogs to drink. It’s not as big as the Shirlington Dog Park, but it’s big enough. It gets very crowded at times. It’s a bit of a PTA moms type place, where groups of people stand in the corner and gossip about other people’s dogs. Amusing to watch.