Urbana Dog Park (Private/Members Only) — Attraction in Urbana

The Urbana Dog Park is wonderful! I love coming here with my dog. The facilities are wonderful. There are two parts of this park. One is a smaller, sectioned off area that is designated for smaller dogs or for dogs that need a smaller area. It includes one dog bag station and a water pump and bucket. The other part of the dog park is huge. There are large patches of tall grass for dogs to frolic through, many large, mature trees in the middle of the park to provide shade, two dog bag stations, and multiple buckets available to fill with water from the second water pump. Generally speaking, the participants of the dog park are well meaning and kind to each other. There are some dogs that don’t belong at the dog park, but that is not the fault of the dog park. Although I have never seen an official employee of the park district at the dog park, the participants do quite a good job at maintaining the facilities and each other. I recommend coming here with you dog, but beware...

I'm a frequent visitor to the park. My pup lover to run around and socialize. There is a good variety of terrain: low grass, large trees, mulch, high grass, small trees. 99% of the dogs we have encountered are very friendly. A very small number play too rough, but we just go into the separate enclosed area (usually for smaller dogs, but typically unoccupied) until that dog leaves or enough other ones come. The parking lot could use a bit of work as far as holes go, so drive slowly for the sake of your suspension. There is a hose (which is somewhat hard to operate) and water fountain turned on when the weather is nice. In the winter, I bring a water bottle and bowl and usually end up sharing with other dogs. Sometimes, I bike out here with my dog; it's a bit hard to get to by bike due to somewhat high speed traffic in the area but as long as it's not rush hour...

Fantastic park. Buckets of water scattered throughout, free doggy bags placed in three different areas so you never have to rush too far to grab one when you realize you left yours in your other pants. Lots of good shaded areas and benches so whatever part of the park your dog likes there's a place for you to take a breather. Really huge area to roam; my husky doesn't like the big dog pile play times and there's enough room for her to comfortably...