Dog Park USA.com is pleased to announce that a new Dog Park Finder iPhone application is being designed. Since DogParkUSA.com has the most complete listing of dog parks, we thought it would be a great way to share our knowledge with many others. All of the great ratings and reviews will be available too.

We hope to get this app out soon, and we will give more updates as we progress.

We are glad to report that two new parks in Columbus, Ohio (the Three Creeks Dog Park and Wheeler Memorial Dog Park) have recently opened.

Also in Houston, Texas the Bay Area Dog Park has opened.

It is always good to see more and more cities adding dog friendly play areas and parks for us to use.

The K9 Korral has been noticed to be the greenest dog park around. Read about how they are 100% green at Mother Nature Network. Find directions and descriptions at the dog park page.

Many new dog parks are coming to Houston, Texas in the next few months. At least 6 new parks will be opening this Spring and Summer that go along with the other 20 that are in the area already.

We hope all you playful canines have a great time in your new play areas.

 Bellevue residents are getting there second dog park at Jewell Park. Most people are just starting to learn about the first dog park that was opened last year in the nearby LaPlatte area. The new dog park will be opening in phases and the first phase will be done this month, December 2008. It is time to get out and have some fun in Nebraska with your dog. The area seems to have quite a few secret leash-less dog spots to choose from.

Idaho is getting two new dog parks.

The Nampa Dog Park is slated to open in summer 2009 if all goes as planned. They have a 6 acre piece of land set aside and locals are collecting donations to get the best dog park they can.

Couer d'Alene dog park and new animal shelter has been approved. Let us know if there is more information on when this dog park will be built and open. Sounds like the county really needs the new animal shelter as well.

This was one of Rhupert's first trips to the dog park.  The very first trip I did not take a camera because I wanted free hands just in case.  But he did great.  He ran around to about 30 people and met everyone in his ADHD style and greeted all the dogs and played some.  I took him in the small dog area and took Dory as well.  He did take a little kids toy truck and run off with it; I am not sure why a child had a toy truck at the dog park but Rhupert just dropped it after a minute and the kid was laughing at him anyway.  At Fontana there are less dogs and ton

This is Dory on a high tide day at the Mitchel Cove dog beach in Santa Cruz, CA.  There were lots of puddles and tide pools to look at, and rocks to climb.  Dory had a good time sniffing and being at the beach.  "Beach" is definitely becoming one of her favorite words.  The dogs are allowed off leash at this beach at certain times but there is no gated entry so Dory is always on leash because of her bird chasing fetish.  This dog beach really could use some signage with the name of the beach as well as some dog rules.  The dog beach about a mile away just close

We took Dory to the Miyuki Dog Park in San Jose, CA.  She seemed to like it here.  It is all new artificial turf and crushed gravel.  There is a doggie drinking fountain, benches, and trees.  Dory likes going to new places to sniff but she usually does not play the first time at a new place and sometimes just follows me around.  There were only about 10 other dogs there and she was not interested in any of them, probably because she did not know them.

The Aptos Polo Grounds park in Santa Cruz County is mostly tanbark and some dirt.  There are really nice dogs and people that come here to play.  The dogs seem to really enjoy themselves.  Surf City coffee shop between the dog park and freeway that has a fenced dog area as well, so it is a nice stop along the way.

The Scotts Valley Dog park is a very large dog park in a nice community.  This dog park is 100% tanbark; I was told it was donated by local tree trimming companies.  This works well since the area is known for large amounts of rain and the tanbark makes the park useable year round.  My dog has taken some time to get use to the tanbark and much prefers dirt and mud.  But I prefer less mud.

The Mitchell's Cove Dog Beach has some weird rules and hours but is the only off leash beach currently in miles!  It is nearly impossible to find as it is just a stairwell leading down to the beach and I am not even sure it has a sign stating “Mitchell’s beach” much less dog rules or hours.  It tends to have a lot of dead seaweed lying around.  Sometimes it is nice and other times it smells.  I think dog lovers should take some action to clean up this b

This downtown San Jose park was hard to find.  It is off of N. First Street and buried under a freeway overpass in the middle of a high-rise apartment complex (we have actually seen this kind of setup before).  The city boasts that this is a dry place to play even in the rain.  I wonder how the gravel gets washed to keep the smell down without the rain?   It was a small neighborhood style dog park also not in the best part of the city but everyone needs to exercise their dog.  The mural made it quite pretty for such a small area.

The Delmas park is down town San Jose.  I stopped by here once, it was a long strip of dirt and trees with not a lot of parking and maybe not the safest place to be in the city if you don't know you way around.  I am sure the dogs love it and it gives the people of the neighborhood a place to exercise their dogs. Now that we have moved to Santa Cruz, we don't spend much time in San Jose dog parks, besides maybe Butcher Park and Fontana Park.

Butcher dog park in west San Jose opened in 2007 and features a new type of Astroturf.  It is beautiful and new and looks like a golf course.  I had to make a double take to tell if it was real sod or not.  Unfortunately my dog does not like to walk on it as much as real grass.  This park is smaller and tends to be full, people bring their lawn chairs and camp out for the day.  The small dog area may have up to 30 dogs all running around in the lawn area.

The Fontana dog park is in the Almaden Valley district of San Jose, and is 100% dirt last I was there.  They have gone through several ideas for turf and tried to re-sod on several occasions.  It is one of the only dog parks down in this southern area of the city.  The dogs that come here are spoiled, usually very well behaved.

The Los Gatos Creek dog park was built by the county and another small city in the area.  It was a big deal when it opened because it is along a walking and biking path so joggers and walkers can stop in with their dogs conveniently.  The cost of parking is high ($6 per visit), free parking many blocks away, and the dog park is the same as the city run parks that are free.  This dog park is mostly grass/dirt depending on the season.

Saratoga Creek Dog Park is run by San Jose City and has just been updated.  It was previously all dirt but now has Astroturf and a watering system.  This park is great in the summer because it has mature trees for shade and the people are friendly.  Some of them bring lawn chairs to share.  We have visited here quite a few times.  Just beware of the rescued greyhounds, they tend to be rough with small dogs (see the greyhound rescue sites for

The Las Palmas park is run by Sunnyvale, the dog park is rather large and 100% dirt.  It does not smell the best when entering and can get quite muddy.  The rest of Las Palmas park is beautiful and sometimes we just opt to walk on leash in the large grass fields outside the dog area.  I have had trouble with some of the dogs that visit this park being too aggressive (some type of husky mixes), also. These pictures are from this last summer.

The Reed Street park is one of our favorite dog parks and is run by the city of Santa Clara and was developed and opened in 2006. It took forever to gain county approval, conduct the soil samples and build the facility, but it is one of the areas best with its grassy hills and walking track.