Hondo Dog Park — Attraction in Hillsboro

I would consider Hondo to be the intermediate choice for dog parks in the Orenco Station area - I consider PCC Rock Creek to be the best choice. The area is fairly well used, so it's likely your dog will at least have one other dog to play with there at any given time. Parking is somewhat limited, but there is overflow parking across the street at the stadium at Gate A. There's also the #47 Trimet bus and the free Hillsboro Link that have stops close by. The items that prevent me from viewing Hondo more favorably are:

1. The substantial gap between the small and large dog fence bothers me (I did report this to the city - and I'd encourage others to do so too)

2. Some owners on the small and large side are completely aloof/disinterested in watching their dogs, which is extremely irresponsible of them & potentially a liability if their dog hurts another badly enough. I've had 2 incidents in the small dog side where I've had to remove an attacking dog from my puppy & the owner has done nothing to help. I do know how to remove an attacking dog & am not afraid of doing so, but if you're not used to doing that, you'll be in trouble trying to get your dog away from an attacking one.

3. Some owners bring dogs completely unsuited for or are not allowed in a dog park - like a female dog in heat (that happened once to my knowledge so far), aggressive dogs, or visibly sick dogs.

4. The large dog area frequently has dogs that are aggressive and get into "semi-serious" fights with other dogs - meaning if they weren't broken up, there would've been injury to the dogs involved. I tried taking my puppy into the large dog area twice so far when it's less used & alas, on both occasions she's been bitten too hard by Huskies that don't have enough bite inhibition, so we have to stick to the small dog side. I would not recommend going to the large dog side unless your dog is at least 50 lbs and in good health (like not elderly or disabled) to be able to defend themselves from the larger dogs. If it matters to you, the majority of the large dogs are Huskies, German Shepherds, and American Staffordshire Terriers (aka...

It's a beautiful park, but a surprising lack of accountability within the community. The entire perimeter of the park is full of poop left on the ground, and the center where the majority of the action takes place has poop about every 10 feet or so. The last time I went, I saw a woman let a man know his dog had pooped (he watched his phone the entire time, then walked off when the dog was done), and instead of saying "ok thanks, I missed it" he called her The Investigator, and that she needed find out who all the other dogs are that pooped without being picked up. I wish I knew the rest of the conversation, but it took maybe 15 minutes of back and forth before he finally "attempted" to pick it up but we didn't see anything.

Not even ten minutes later, a different man was telling that same woman she can't guard the bowl for her dog for any amount of time. It couldn't have been very long, I didn't even see her doing it. There was something about the guy's dog being bowl aggressive, and the guy telling the woman she needed to bring her own water bowl if she didn't want dogs to "work it out". I don't know if it's a new thing, but I hadn't seen anyone upset over guarding a bowl for a minute, before.

This did not feel like a safe environment anymore, at that point. NO ONE should be harassed for letting someone know they missed their dog pooping, and NO ONE should feel entitled to not have to pick up after their dogs simply because "everyone else does it" reasoning. I'm also appalled at the number of people that use the, "let dogs work it out" method of socializing rather than training. Dogs that don't allow others to drink are dangerous to others on hot days, as well as dangerous in regard to causing fights.

I know a lot of dogs and owners have fun here, just keep in mind this is not a place of minding dogs and a sense of community. If your dog is timid, they will not have fun here on most days, and be sure to wear your rubber boots.

Oh, and bring your own water...

The park itself has many great amenities. There are multiple different fenced in areas with specific functions. One even has professional training platforms installed for public use. A smaller space for smaller dogs and an expansive large dog space. The large dog space offers a fenced-in walking trail along the perimeter surrounding a hilly green. There are multiple seating opportunities within each enclosed area and well manicured grounds overall.

The day I visited, the parking lot was almost at max capacity. I primarily visited the large dog space. Such an expansive space on a day where there were so many visitors, felt congested in some areas and overcrowded overall. The pet owners in attendance largely were not very attentive to their dogs and it was also very apparent that many of the dogs lacked basic training skills and did not heed the word “no” as a command. Given the raised terrain in the center, I can understand it may be difficult to know what your dog is getting into on the other side of the hill, out of view. But sitting on one side for the entire time you’re there isn’t going to help you supervise them. There were a few dogs that tried to pick fights with mine and other dogs at the park and one in particular that followed us around for the entire half hour we were there, whose owner was still unknown when I left.

As I was leaving, a huge fight between multiple dogs occurred and I had to lift mine over the fence and carefully maneuver between the gate to get out (because the dog following us was insistent that he leave also.)

Overall, the thought put into constructing this dog park deserves 5 stars. However, the owners and dogs in attendance on the day of my...