Baron Cameron Park — Attraction in Virginia

Before I entered the small park someone said my children might get knocked down by big dogs so to please watch them. I placed them a bench until they got excited and wanted to play because they after all are children. I had someone tell me my child's scarf was making their dog nervous. Then someone said "There are plenty of playgrounds for your children, and not a lot of dog parks for my dog, my dog is a herding dog." I explained my dog and my children's dog is a herding dog too and that my children were not bothered by her dog. She then said "My dog is bothered by your children." Then someone told me that children under eight years old are not allowed in that park. Why didn't they say that in the first place? My four year old was so upset he had to leave. I will never go back there again. We are very comfortable socializing are children and dogs at a dog park as that was part of our routine where we used to live. I am so embarrassed for these people who think they are adults and have no social skills. I understand dogs fairly well I believe, because I have tried to, and read many dog psychology books. My children were not making any dogs nervous but excited to play. I look for tails wagging, how still a dog is, I listen to them, and look at body language. These people are idiots thinking they are doing great socializing their dogs when in reality they need to learn how to...

I thought this dog park sucked. I was looking forward to it with my 9 month old black lab puppy. There were not that many people there but there were some owners that did not pay attention to their dogs. One mixed breed dog kept chasing my dog around and biting its neck and the woman owner ineffectively ran after him with a squirt bottle and then released him again multiple times. An old man on a bench lectured me on training my dog because it jumped up on its knee. I train my dog all the time and she is getting great at some things but still can get excited. She is a puppy man. He did not look like a happy person anyway. There were too many people here that looked like they were looking for something wrong in other people instead of playing with their dogs. The best behavior I saw actually came from a husky owner whose dog had just started to attack another dog, and he called him, got control of him, and walked him around on a leash for the rest of their visit. It is okay to make some mistakes. I guess it is how you deal with them that can make a difference in a good and bad dog park. I felt zero sense of community here, which is what I was told by a friend it had in the first place and was the reason for my visit. He moved years ago though, so maybe this is not accurate anymore. It could have just been a bad day but I am not going back to find out...

My family loves the dog park at this location. It's definitely the best around. Our dog goes every day, we've been going for the past six years or so, and we've never had an instance of a truly aggressive dog there.

Any dog will give a warning or defend itself if it's above its threshold, and that could be anything from the number of dogs in the area to the activity level. There are some scuffles here and there, which is to be expected in a public area with off-leash dogs that don't necessarily know each other. Your average dog lover knows very little about behavior and body language.

As far as the park itself goes, the footing is decent (albeit a little dusty, but definitely better than other parks). There's not too much in the way of aesthetics, but it's a place for animals to play, not a picturesque landscape for us humans to ogle at. They have waste bag dispensers and a water pump.

My only "real" complaint is that I've noticed an overwhelming odor of urine in the walk-in area. I contribute that to the barrier on the fence being peed on consistently over time and being unable to be thoroughly washed.

Overall a great dog park environment, lovely dogs more often than not, and typically friendly and attentive handlers with very few negative experiences (although some are hilarious in hindsight because some folks can be ridiculous on the...