Duke Street Dog Park — Attraction in Alexandria

The Duke Street Dog Park is one of my puppy's favorite places. It's big and open. The entire area is fenced in by a tall fence. There's nice trees that provide shade, hiding places, and sticks.

There's no immediate parking, so only more dedicated dog owners make it to this dog park. Most of the owners are good about watching their dog/ picking up poo and whatnot.

There's lots of space, it's probably the biggest square feet of dog park in the area. There's a fair amount of grass, but the center is mulch. The dogs love running in the huge space, most of which can be seen from the center picnic tables where the humans hang out.

There's a few benches and picnic tables. They took out the nicest picnic table around the time they filled in the old mud holes. No more giant mud holes is a big plus.

Most people park at the library or the gas station.

Cons: no water source, but the city claims they will install one soon. Be sure you bring your own water. Water bowls are available for use. No water fountains. There's also only one big space, so sometimes small dogs come in and accidentally get trampled during a run. Most of the dogs who come to this dog park are medium to large. The area is just too big for most small dogs to get much use out off. There are exceptions of course.

There aren't any city provided lights, but locals have been putting in solar lights, so the place isn't completely dark...

This park is great! It's entirely fenced in, spacious, and has a mixture of grass and mulch. I've never had a problem with mud here, which is more than I can say for other dog parks. We've visited a handful of times and people seem quite attentive of their dogs and willing to intervene if the play gets a bit too rough.

There are a couple minor drawbacks. First, you'll have to park at either the library or Harris Teeter nearby. It's about a block or two walk, which might not be great if you're limited mobility. Second, there's no separate area for small dogs. If you have a big dog with high prey drive, this could be a big problem (unless your dog is muzzle-trained or has excellent recall). Third, there's no water access in the park, so be sure to bring your own for your pup.

In spite of those flaws, it's a great space with responsible owners that's worth...

Not safe dusk onward; zero lights. You could be attacked and the car passing by 20ft away wouldn't even see it. No facilities, water, nor bags. Not sure why anyone would rate this park very high, other than the fact that it's large. It does have a handful of picnic tables. I chose to come here because it was supposed to be accessible. Technically it is wheelchair accessible, as long as the wheelchair user doesn't want to see where they're going, nor have anywhere to wheel themselves out of the small paved entrance on wet days. I'm in a neck brace and really felt like a sitting duck, surrounded by pitch black wooded area. You wouldn't be able to hear anyone coming at you due to...