Mason Mill Dog Park — Attraction in Decatur

Please note this review is for the fenced in dog area only and not the trails or surrounding park.

Second time visiting this park after a mediocre first time. Thought we’d give it a second try.

Pros: -it’s in a nice area of town and I would feel comfortable brining my dog there by myself -closest dog park by many miles if you live in the North Decatur/Toco hills area -convenient parking -large and small dog areas

Cons: the ground cover is bark instead of grass. Which is incredibly messy and quite frankly disgusting from a sanitary standpoint. -both dog areas are the same size and quite small. My 40lb doodle has just enough space to gain speed and then have to screech to a hault -due to the choice of ground cover and poor fencing job, a small dog could easily escape out from under the fence. It seems they have tried to fix that since my last visit by putting some sort of plastic barricades at the bottom of the fence (it’s not fixing the problem) -This last comment is something that can happen anywhere, but is something that was very apparent to me both times I’ve visited and is probably the number one reason I won’t be back. We visited on a Friday evening which I understand can be busy as far as dog parks go. The park was packed on the large dog side and most people were sitting around in lounge chairs drinking. We reluctantly entered the park on this side and headed towards the other end of the large dog area. We wanted to isolate ourselves and let our dog choose which dogs he wanted to interact with as opposed to being bombarded by the close to 20 dogs that were already present in the park. Most of the owners were irresponsible and not paying their dogs the proper attention. I heard a lot of aggressive barking and saw many owners in the middle of what were soon to be dog fights. However instead of removing their dogs from the situation the owners just sat back down. A medium sized pit bull began playing with our dog and then agressively growled at him. The owner was actually close by and proceeded to tell us that she’s ‘all talk’ and only sounds mean. Yea, neither myself nor my dog are dumb enough to believe you. Luckily my dog is well socialized and understands canine cues (unlike this other owner). He removed himself from the situation and came to sit with me. Not more than 10min later that same pit bull attacked a chihuahua. Nothing bloody, but the chihuahua and it’s owner looked terrified. This is just one example of the many uneducated and irresponsible owners present that night. PSA: the dog park is not for your social benefit as a human, it is for your dog’s benefit. You owe it to your dog and other dogs present at the park to educate yourself on canine behavior, to be attentive while visiting the park and to remove your dog from the park if they...

Im not a fan of dog park so my opinion is coming from that. This area can not be considered safe. The fence is not buried in the ground so any dog could get out easily. The wood chips as ground cover in very deep I'm guessing to try and make up for the fact the fence was not done properly. The wood chips are going to grow all types of nasty things that dog are going to pick up and come down with. No way to properly sanitize this area if and when this happens. As a person with a disability like me I can't walk on this substrate, so picking up after my dog or getting to the water all the way on the far side way from the gate is a horrible set up. Also it's a very low fence hight. As a person that was just visiting the area and going once was okay but would never use this as a place to let me dog out and play. They didn't even have bags to pick up which obviously some people took as they didn't need to pick up after their own dogs. As a long time dog owner and now a service dog hadler I would caution anyone wanting to...

I took my son's dog ("Doug") there to run around & play for a bit. The park itself was spacious & nice, but unfortunately I had a bad experience there. Doug was having a great time mingling with other dogs, then all of a sudden a much larger dog attacked him. I was horrified & I immediately ran over to him yelling at the big dog to get away from him. As I got closer, the big dog ran off. I was shocked & appalled that other people saw what was happening & nobody did anything to help. As I was checking on Doug to see if he was ok, I saw some guy standing there ' I asked, "is that one yours?" (meaning the one who had attacked Doug) and he nonchalantly replied, "Yeah, I don't know what his problem is, but he can be a little aggressive sometimes". Ummm... if you know that about him, then maybe he shouldn't be here?? Anyway, I took Doug home shortly after. I'm not at all blaming the park. The park was really nice, but just keep an eye on your furry friends while visiting, because not every dog there plays well...