Dogwood Park — Attraction in Knoxville

The best thing about this park is its obstacles. It has a tube to crawl through, 2 circles to jump through (one higher than the other), two up/down ramps (one steeper/higher than the other), a set of poles to jump over (or through, if your dog is really small), and 3 connected platforms of varying level to jump up on.

What I didn't like is that there is only one area vs. having separate areas for small/lg dogs. I have a 17 pound pug. Normally she is fine with the bigger dogs. In fact, her best friend at the last dog park we frequented before we moved was a Boxer. However, a lot of these dogs here were larger and QUITE active, which is fine, that's what a dog park is for, but not all dogs are that rambunctious. My dog almost got run over, as did I, several times by 3 or 4 dogs that were all stampeding after each other.

In addition, today, 1/18/2015, a ginormous black Great Dane-type dog came in the dpg park at one point, and within 15 seconds of being inside the gate (I'm not even exaggerating. 15 seconds.) it had picked a fight with another dog and wouldn't relent, and its owner had to come pull it off the other dog. And the dummy owner keeps her aggressive dog in the dog park! The female owner and her male human guest sat on one of the obstacles (a set of 3 platforms) with the Great Dane for the rest of their time there and took up all 3 platforms. Great jerk face, thanks for taking up one of the obstacles. No one would let their dogs go over there near the dog because it was a jerk, so that rendered a good chunk of the park useless. Granted, this is not the park's fault; however, the clientele of a place essentially makes or breaks the place. The majority of people and dogs I met were VERY nice here, but sometimes all it takes is one bad egg...

In conclusion, the park has neat obstacles. However, if you have a smaller dog, especially one that doesn't like being (nearly) trampled by rowdy larger dogs, you may want to go during an off-peak time.

I probably won't go back...

The dog area is pretty large but there is only one. There is not a separate small dog area that I was able to find. The only other issues I found is that people don't pick up after their dogs. I found plenty of piles walking the perimeter checking for breaks or spaces where my Boston Terrier puppy could potentially get out. Which leads me to my other issue. There were a few places she could easily get out if she wanted to. There is a fairly large area where there is a space under the fence that a small dog could get out or even some medium size dogs, if they really wanted to. I think this park is fine, even nice for dogs that aren't escape artists or eat poop. Just make sure you check your shoes and dog's paws...

The dog park needs work. The first thing is there is only to two benches, and one of them is so low to the ground that it is hard for older or disabled people to use it. The water is turn off to early and is turned on to late. The grass needs to be replaced in some of the areas it's nothing but red clay. One of the problem with the dog park is that there is not two of them, one for small dogs and one for big dogs. I have a Great Dane and a lot of people get nerves when my dog wants to play with their...