Lake Crago Dog Park — Attraction in Lakeland

This review is just to correct a nearly completely false review posted by a crazy woman who really should not have dogs.

A few weeks back, myself and my SO came to the park, it's actually a wonderful park and we have been going every two weeks since August. When we got there, there were two people already there, sat on the bench about halfway across the park from the entry, they had two dogs with them and we went into the leasing area to let our dogs loose and waited around 5 or 6 minutes for these people to get up and come get their dog who was now guarding the gate and stopping us from entering. (Note the park rules state very clearly that you need to be with your dog at ALL times, with leash ready) So we were waiting for them to get their dog and after that time they were still decidedly ignoring their dog and remaining on their bench. So we figured their dog must be friendly since they didn't seem to care about it guarding the entrance of the park and we let our dogs in, the two older dogs trotted past their dog into the park and started to wander, while my youngest who is just over a year old got spooked by their dog hopping in front of him to sniff, they sniffed eachother for a few seconds before their dog growled playfully. Then both dogs at EXACTLY the same time, jumped back on their hind legs and went at eachother (My dog never at any point 'threw their dog into the ground') They only fought for a few seconds before I already had grabbed my dog by the harness since I was standing right there. My dogs mouth was off their dog and I had hold of his mouth so he could not open it again just in case. Their dog however still had mine by the harness and i didnt want to get bitted by trying to remove her mouth. The owners of the other dog finally got up off the bench (It's a miracle! They CAN walk!) And came half jogging over. The whole time, both of them literally Screaming a stream of expletives at me and my SO, along the lines of "oh my F-word God, get your F-word animal off my dog" at which point the woman started kicking and hitting my dog as she stated, keeping in mind my dog was not even holding her dog anymore. And continuing to scream at us while her boyfriend worked to get their dogs mouth off mines harness. When they were apart the man took their dog around 20 feet away from us while she continued to scream, at this point TELLING us we need to take our dog and leave, so we did just that. As we got to the gate she started shouting again about how she is now calling the police (Okay?... to report the animal abuse you just commited?) And continued shouting at us to get the F-word out of there. So we left. We will not be returning, I just wanted to post the parts she had left out and warn everyone to watch out in case their dog tries to play with her territorial dog and she decides to attack your dog like...

My fiancé and I have 2 dogs and have been coming to this park 4 days a week for 2 months. Today, roughly around 1:40, a couple showed up with 3 dogs that looked to be pit bull and boxer mixed (not entirely sure) 2 were all brown short hair maybe 40 lbs and the other was a silver grey same short hair and 40ish lbs. We love pit bulls and have never had a problem, but just giving an accurate description for the future dog park visitors.The owners were a female very heavy set dark hair and the man was tall and average weight with glasses and a face piercing. We were the only ones out there at the time and when they entered the first gate they stood inside the small fence for a long enough time that my fiancé felt suspicious. After about 5 minutes they decided to let their dogs in the gate. About a minute at the most after the dogs were happily sniffing one another, one of the dogs grabbed my dog Maggie by the neck and started to sling her to the ground. Fortunately, our dogs collar was thin I enough and in the way so there was no blood shed. We ran from the benches screaming for them to get their animal off of our dog and with myself, my fiancé, and the couple, we managed to break them off after we had repeatedly kicked and hit the dog to let go of Maggie (our dog). Before I could call animal control, they decided to run to their car, which was a bright blue chevy colbalt, and speed off. They did not even bother to stay and check if our dog was ok. I don't know if anyone else has had an issue with them. We love the park and will continue to come out here, but we just wanted to warn others to be on...

This is a beautifully large area of your pets to be off-leash. They have water access, and tons of area for your pet to run and play. My dogs absolutely love it here. A couple of things that you need to know before visiting though:

Every pet is NOT vaccinated. Every pet is NOT spay/neutered. Every pet is NOT friendly. Every owner is NOT friendly. Every owner is NOT diligent/mindful of their pet or pet’s behavior.

I say these things because it’s important to know that you have to keep a close eye on your animal. Many people bring their pets to the park, even when they shouldn’t! As a responsible pet owner, you’ll have to be extra vigilant in watching and protecting your animal. Not just from the other pets, but also from the pet owners that are careless...