Welcome to Part Three in my series on Wollongong Dog Parks. This one is a bit different, in that we will be visiting two of Sydney's off leash, "dog park" areas.
As a reminder, there are no dog parks at all throughout the entire Wollongong City Council area. This is a very important fact. There are several "off leash" areas of parkland, but that is it. You can read more in Part One and Part Two.
In my humble opinion, it is sad that we need to fight for even "off leash" areas, as these are basic, unimproved, unaltered areas, that require no expenditure from council to maintain, other than improved signage. Responsible dog owners do the remainder of the maintenance of these areas.
On a Saturday, Tegan, Piper and I drove to two different fenced dog parks in Sydney, within a 35 minute drive of each other.
As with the areas visited in Part One and Part Two, we looked at several key parts of a great "dog park".
We looked at
- Availability of drinking water
- Materials to clean up and dispose of poop
- Space available to romp
- Fences and Entry/Exit gates
- Visual barriers
- separate small and large dog areas
- Available activities - i.e fun stuff - either natural or man made
So let's get started.
Allen Street Reserve - Strathfield City Council
From Strathfield.nsw.gov.au website, it states that this is the "newest leash free area. This area features a fully fenced with 1.3 metre fence and double gates, dog agility equipment, seating and drinking water for dogs."
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| Double Gated entry with good signage. Problem is, who reads it? I certainly didn't stop to read it as it is too wordy. |
There were two entrances to this park, and both were double gated. The gates were a good height, and there were several areas of seating on different sides of the park.
The signage was bright and new, but unfortunately, who would stop to read all of the rules and regulations?
At the far end was the agility equipment, such as the beam, the A frame, some jumps, a tunnel, and of course - the weave poles. Poo bag dispensers were at either set of gates, but unfortunately, both were empty. Whilst we had our own poo bags, other owners didn't, and so we shared a few.
A lack of poo bags seems to be a common theme at many of the parks we have visited in the past.
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| The agility section at the far end of the park. |
Piper met a few dogs - Chip (a six month old Maltese), and Darwin (a very energetic older Beagle). During our time there, three larger dogs came in, and then came a hurricane, in the shape of a beautiful Staffy called Tyson!
All behaved well, although Tyson was a bit of a handful, not helped by the fact that his owner wasn't watching what he was doing.
Dr Liz's Rating - 6/10
"Access not all that easy"
Piper's Rating - 7/10
"It was interesting and fun"
Warrigal Run (Dog Off Leash Area)
A 35 minute drive from the Allen Street Reserve is Sydney's largest "off leash" area, called Warrigal Run, which is part of the Bungarribee Park, where owners can go for a long walk with their pets on the leash too to enjoy the parklands.
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| Dogs had a choice of going to the off leash area, or a leashed walk through the parklands. |
Wow - how big was this area! It was big!
It was double gated, but without any latches. Whilst there was signage there, it was again small, and who stops to read it? The fence was flimsy and not high enough. I wish I got a video of it but we saw a Labrador escape over it (fortunately not hurt).
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| Entry was double gated with push gates. |
There were four sets of double gates at each corner of the park, and two large covers for shade. Around the boundary were many areas of seating, which was great! One could find a corner to sit and watch their pet's play, away from the main group of dogs if they chose to.
There were two garbage bins, but strangely, only one poo bag dispenser bag, and boy was it a big one. There were four rolls of poo dispensing bags, and there were plenty there. Halleluja!
This where there is a problem - say your dog pooped in the far corner, how likely would it be that you would walk all the way down for a bag, go back to get the poop, and then back to the bin? Unfortunately, not very likely, methinks! And sadly, I did witness this very thing happen.
There was a combined water fountain which drained into a water bowl for the dogs - again, only one of them there. This area is very very new, and the trees are still very small (not enough for any shelter or any protection for any scared ones. There were no other activities for dogs, with some owners deciding to bring their own.
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| What a clever idea - a combined water fountain for us, and water bowl for our furr-friends. |
Piper had fun though - she could stretch out and run and run - freely, and safely. And that is what an off leash park is all about - an area where our pets can run to their little hearts content, and we know that they will be safe.
Tegan made a valid point - if this one was closer to home, she would be very happy to drive there for Piper to play.
Our Rating 7/10
"Whilst the area was large, the poor fencing was always a worry"
Piper's Rating 9/10
"I could run and run and run.... it was awesome"
Do you have any great dog parks that you attend with your dog? I would love to hear what you like and don't like about them.
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Hopefully, local councillors are reading this, and hanging their head in shame over the paucity of dog resources in Wollongong. Hopefully, we can inspire change for our beautiful area!
