Martin Dog Park — Attraction in Southern Pines

BEWARE of the HUMANS: Yes, this is a really beautiful park, and in theory it sounds great that you can have your dog OFF leash, But the issue is not the dogs, it is some of the dog owners. They have zero respect for other people or their dogs. If you have a dog that you cannot control on command then it should NOT be off leash. Please be considerate of others. My dog loves the park and he loves other dogs and people too, he is very sweet and friendly. He is also a small dog (12 pounds) on more than one occasion when I have taken him there other dogs (not always a big dog) will get way too aggressive with him and the owner just stands there!! Oblivious! I will say that MOST people I have met there are great!! They control and pay attention to their dogs, but then you have that very small percentage that ruins the whole experience because they have zero courtesy for others. Today I was there with my little guy and he was having a blast with about 5 other dogs that were there. Some were small like him but a couple were bigger dogs but they were well-behaved and listened to their humans. This one lady came with this BIG (very beautiful dog) I even spoke to her (grandson?) and he told me the dog was a Malamute Shepard mix. The dog seemed friendly and playful. But he was jumping on and being very rowdy with the smaller dogs and I could tell other people were not happy about it. So I thought this was probably a good time to leave. As I start to leave with my little dog this very large dog totally attacked my dog, had him pinned down, my dog was yelping and scared. The owners finally pulled their dog off my dog (but first they just yelled at their dog from a distance) and I picked up my dog and looked him over to make sure he was not hurt. Now wouldn't you think the woman who owned the big dog would apologize? Put her dog back on leash and come to see if my dog was ok? Nope. Instead she just said "My dog didn't bite yours" Umm First of all you do not know that, and secondly your dog is A LOT bigger than mine and could easily break a bone. She did not care. I then said "Your dog needs to stay on leash if it cannot listen" Of course this trailer trash flipped out. So, the park is great, the dogs are great, some of the owners....... not so much. Just be...

My first experience with an 'off-leash' dog park. I was fascinated by how well not only the dogs but the owners got along. There are two main areas that we used. The first was the open park area on a rise in the middle. There is a watering station that encourages you to take an empty jug home and bring it with you the next visit. There are benches that are mostly shaded from the sun and the dogs can play in the middle area, but tended to stay around the owners and in the tree line on my visits.

The second area is a stream that the dogs can get down into and play in the water. This stream was clear and appeared clean and the dogs were having a blast. With about a dozen dogs there on a HOT Saturday at the end of June, this was paradise. Our recent rescue was 10 days out of the shelter and made friends quickly. He enjoyed running at top speed, but wasn't into jumping into the water. He would just wade in. The only caution I would have is that our boy didn't know us well enough and wanted to go home with another dog's owner! She was kind enough to walk with us to the car where our boy jumped right in with us. I can't think of a better experience.

Make sure to give the dogs a chance to dry off after they've played...

The grounds themselves are very nice. Large and spacious with lots of places for the dogs to run around (trails in the woods, creeks to jump in and open areas for them to play).

As with every dog park, it's the dog owners that make or break it. And unfortunately, this one has some BAD ones. I was on a road trip and came here solely for the large open space for my dog to run around. We went first thing in the morning and within 5 minutes of being there 2 dogs beelined for my dog (who was minding her own business sniffing away) and attacked her. This was not rough play - they straight up attacked her. The dog owners (two older men) had to pry their dogs off mine because they wouldn't listen to them. The owners laughed it off and said their dogs were the welcome committee. I assume these are regulars and this is a regular occurrence.

We will never be back. Dog owners - do better. If your dog is aggressive then book a sniff spot so they can go run around. Do not bring them to dog parks where you know other...