Cherry Creek ​Dog Of​f Leash Area (DOLA) — Attraction in Centennial

This off leash dog park located within Cherry Creek State Park is a life saver for owners of energetic dogs. As soon as our pup was up to date on vaccines and cleared by the vet to visit we have started visiting here in a regular basis.

Important facts:

This is part of the state park system, you will need to purchase a day pass (if you driving and want to park at the main entrance and you are not walking in from other parts of the park).

Having an Annual Pass makes entry faster and easier when an attendant is on duty. There is a self serve (paper not electronic) kiosk. Cash or check recommended.

You can pay $2.00 for a day visit to the dog park or $20.00 for an annual pass that is good for 1 year from the date of purchase. In theory you could be asked to show your dog park pass, do keep it with you. We went for the year option and have laminated ours. It's good for your whole family and up to 3 dogs. The fee is minimal and helps support dog park maintenance including regular waste pick and disposal, grounds care, etc.,

There are public bathrooms at the entry point. There is also a water fountain for humans and one for dogs right inside the gates.

There are plenty of doggy waste stations all over the trails and trash cans so no excuses not to pick up the poop and happily most people do, even when their dogs go off trail.

This place is steadily busy at most times of day but long car lines form on the weekends as people must wait for parking spaces to open up, usually in the morning when it is still cool. Arrive before 8 on Sundays to avoid really long wait times. We haven't tried Saturdays yet!

Week day mornings are less packed but still steady.

The park offers glimpses of the mountains and they made some great access points to the river/creek including one that is wheel chair accessible--awesome! Before I had my dog I was a bit bemused that so much effort had been put into setting up all the stairs and rocks and such to the water, now I'm grateful. There is shade and water when it is hot and the dogs love splashing about.

Some people keep a very watchful eye on their dogs, others don't. Be prepared for a wide variety of approaches and personalities. Our pup has been socialized at doggy day care and does well with the wide range of sizes and temperaments despite being small. Just be aware of your dog and what it needs.

Bigger kids seem okay here, many play in the water with the dogs, but, the dogs can get very excited in their running and chasing. I have not been knocked over but I've been run into, bumped, and jumped up on so anyone visiting should not be afraid of dogs.

If you carry treats, balls, or other doggy things, be prepared for canine interest, aka licking, sniffing, and bumping from dogs other than your own.

Water shoes are a great idea if you don't want to get out of the water at each entry point and just want to follow your dog up or downstream. I like to walk counter clockwise so my dog gets wet early and is drier by the time we finish the larger loop. The walk around the outside loop is about 2.6 Miles including to and from the parking lot plus in and out of the water areas a few times. There are plenty of options for shorter loops or doubling, too.

The paths are gravel and clear/obvious. There are at least 4 other entry points from the main park into the dog area. The occasional runner and biket does go through as well (with or without dogs). Great place for walking the dog and pushing a stroller with decent wheels if families want to get out of the house with the their dog.

Overall a wonderful place to spend 45 minutes or a couple if hours enjoying nature and...

I give the size of this park and the stream pups can play in 5 stars, but I give a 3-star rating because of aggressive dogs and negligent owners.

I have a 1 year old Golden Retriever — He is a typical Golden: happy-go-lucky, completely non-aggressive (he’s actually quite passive), and loves EVERYONE. However, him and I have had our fair share of scary and upsetting experiences here.

Examples: One time I had him on a leash when we were walking out of the park, and a random dog ran up behind us, pinned him down, and started tearing at his skin totally unprovoked. He ended up with a bloody eye and other marks on his body, but the owner didn’t do a single thing about it. He just said, “I’ve never seen him like this before.” However, not even 2 minutes later, he was attacking someone else’s dog. Still, the owner didn’t remove his dog from the park.

Another time, a Chihuahua bit him in the face when he went to greet her. The owner laughed and said, “I’m sorry, she’s a bit territorial of her space”. Okay, well we’re at a dog park designed for socializing and playing. Why do you even have her here if she’s not friendly?

And just yesterday, a dog cornered us as we were walking along a trail and wouldn’t let us go anywhere. He stood there bearing teeth, snapping, and barking in our faces which was really scary. The owner stayed at a distance and kept calling their dog, which wasn’t working, and didn’t have the courtesy to walk over and remove him from the situation or apologize.

My boyfriend and I continue to go because these instances were widely spread out over 8 months, plus we bought the year pass (it expires in February), but I don’t think we’ll go again after our time is up.

It’s unfortunate that people and their poorly trained canine companions can ruin what should be a fun experience for others. I love the park; it’s GREAT for exercise and puppy playtime. But the thing is, I don’t trust anyone’s judgement as far as the temperament of their fur babies are concerned. Nor do I trust that people will handle it properly if something goes awry.

Please do not bring your dog here if they have an uneasy temperament; It’s not fair for...

It was bath day for my 2 standard poodles. I thought I would let them go to the Cherry Creek Off Leash Dog Park before their bath. Unlike other dog parks, you have to pay a daily or annual fee to access this dog park. The daily fee with parking is $13.00. We paid the fee and entered the park

According to the maps inside the park, the outer perimeter trail is ~ 2.5 miles. On the northeast side of the trail, the park dredged 2 drainage ditches below the fence line. One of the drainage is at least 3 feet high and is just 20 feet off the trail. In other words, there are 2 escape routes from the park and my dogs found one of them and left the park. I was right next to them, but when given the chance, standard poodles are hunters and love to run. My dogs ran east out of the park toward Parker Road. I was at least a half mile from the entrance. When I made my way to the entrance, the Park Ranger who sold me my day pass was entering the park to walk his dog, I reported my dog’s escape and complained about the gaps in the fence. He could not have cared less.

I left to find my dogs. I could not find them. From their tracker, I saw that they reentered the park. I drove back to the park. At that time, the line to enter the park reached Chambers Road. I drove up to the gate and asked that same ranger if I could bypass the line because my dogs had returned to the park. He refused to allow me to jump the line and said, “I have been a dog trainer for decades, your dogs can wait.” While I was waiting in line to reenter the park, I saw on my dog’s tracker that they left the park a second time. I exited the line and drove north on Parker Road. When I next saw them, both dogs were running on Parker Road. I ultimately found my dogs but they could have easily been hit by a car on Parker Road.

Who wants to risk this? The park is negligently maintained and is not suitable for its intended purpose: an...