Montgomery County Bark Park Dayton — Attraction in Vandalia

This is our favorite dog park in the area, and we come from Miami county down to Montgomery county just to use it. There are four sections of the park... One large area, the "hill", which has a looping walking path, is split into two sections by a fence. One side has a pavilion at the top of the hill, with a picnic table and bench, a garbage can and poop bags, and water buckets for your dog to drink from. The other side has benches, water buckets, poop bags, and a garbage can near the entrance at the bottom of the hill, but no shade, and a tree farther up the hill that many people like to sit under for shade. At the bottom of the hill there is a dog agility course with ramps, hoops, tunnels, and jumping obstacles, closed off with its own water buckets, trash and bags. And lastly, there is a flat section of the dog park, usually for smaller dogs but sometimes the only section open to the public, with several benches, a picnic table, water buckets, trash, and bags. This side usually has a puddle or two, especially near the stream.

When it is open and nice weather, this park is hopping with dogs of all different breeds and sizes, and families of all ages. People are very friendly and tend to form a group that will walk along the walking path together with their dogs and chat. The dogs love this pack mentality, and my own dog will go find and join the "pack" as soon as she's off leash. Many people are regulars, and you and your dog will soon see familiar faces and make friends. Most people follow the rules and are knowledgeable about dogs and able to give advice or help with training. It's a great place to socialize your dog to both people and other dogs. For me this is one of the most fulfilling, free experiences you can have. Meet new people and your community, meet tiny puppies and friendly great Danes, gorgeous huskies, corgis, Dalmatians, poodles, you name it! Most people are happy to let you pet their dog and to pet yours too, and if you're friendly enough, you might find yourself swarmed by dogs who want to give you kisses. People bring toys and treats, kids and friends, and all sorts of nifty dog gadgets. It's heaven for extroverts and dog lovers! I'm so sad that it's closed and has been since March this year. We would come even in the worst of weather because our dog loved it regardless and still begs to get in the car to go to the park every time we go outside. It's great for your physical, mental, emotional, and...

My dog has been here only twice. I went two days in a row. The first day my dog enjoyed himself and made some doggie friends, which was nice. I have concerns about the cleanliness of this dog park. There's random buckets of water for dogs to drink out of and it looked like they hadn't been dumped all day or were maybe left overnight because dozens of mosquito larvae were in multiple buckets. With heartworm being a huge risk as well as West Nile virus and equine encephalitis, leaving buckets of standing water is not a good idea. It's ironic that I saw at least three billboards stating the dangers of standing water within a couple miles of this dog park. Most of the people and dogs seemed friendly, but multiple people didn't take their dogs out of the park when they started to hump my dog although the park requires them to do that. I went back just yesterday and the buckets were still nasty and two gates seem to have broken overnight. The gate towards the back of the agility area opened into the smaller of the fields. A guy had a reactive/aggressive dog in the agility area while I was in the smaller fenced area and only noticed after he had left that this dog could've came over any time. One of the gates leading into the main park was broken and was very difficult to open. The park provides paths which is nice for disabled people to be able to come with their dogs, but disabled people and older people with dogs wouldn't be able to open the broken gate leading into the main park as it is very heavy. This park could use a little more...

We took our pup here and he loved it! Most of the other dog owners were respectful and their dogs were very well behaved and it's right next door to the Animal Resource Center, so reporting a vicious dog in the park is really easy. There was an incident when we were there where a larger dog (Lab mix) attacked a smaller dog (terrier mix) and the owner of the bigger dog was well aware of the issues with hers, but brought him anyway, unleashed and unmuzzled and also refused to clean up after her animals. He had tried attacking ours when he entered the enclosure but we were quick to separate them and leash our dog until they left the area we were in. Even after this interaction, she refused to leash her dog and continued to allow him to run free until he attacked the small, older dog. I think a park attendant who works for ARC would be a very good idea for issues like this. All in all, just be very mindful of the other people and their animals and don't assume everyone who goes here is...