West Arvada Dog Park

This is a great park. I live near the railyard dog park downtown and it’s a treat to be able to take my dog to a place that has both grass and plants to roam on, as well as a HUGE space for her to run in. There are two sections of the park, but both are equally large and there seems to be no distinction between them other than a gate connecting the two. I’ve seen many owners walking around the path in each section. There is ample parking. The landscape has an incline and the paths can be rocky– Definitely wear appropriate shoes. I wouldn’t consider this park to be fully wheelchair accessible.

We walked and walked without stepping in dog crap once. The good folks, and dogs, that use the park do an excellent job keeping it clean and clutter free.

Huge, beautifully maintained dog park with a great trail around the perimeter… in an hour I can walk 3 miles with a good amount of incline and my dog probably runs 10 miles through the high grasses. Mostly really nice people and dogs… and I have never seen anyone not pick up after their dog. Highly recommend!

We’ve been taking our dogs to this park for several years now and it is by far our favorite. It is volunteer maintained, so don’t expect the native plants to be «mowed» in the spring or to always find the dispensers for poo-​bags to be filled. All the equipment, benches, dog bowls, fire hydrants and even some of the trees have been provided by volunteers and donations. To help improve the park, make a donation in the steel collection box near the southeast gate.
Bring your own bags and some water for your dog (volunteers regularly fill the dog bowls around the park early in the morning, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll be filled later in the day). The size of the place is what makes this park so great. We have two large dogs and they can run and really get some speed up and yet the entire thing is fenced. There are signs warning of cactus and snakes, but there aren’t any cactus and, well, snakes are possible because of its proximity to open space, but have never seen one.
The ground is rocky so wear sturdy shoes. The dogs don’t seem to care, though. I far prefer this type of terrain — it’s more natural and just seems «cleaner» than small, grassy dog parks. I’m sure some of that is due to the few generous-​hearted volunteers who pick up after other people’s dogs, however, please don’t give them any more work!
Go, enjoy, run, play, bark!

Wonderful space! Beautiful and spacious! Dog Loves It and so do I! One problem is that there is a guy there everytime I go who’s dog is not friendly and continuously bothers us and my dog especially. His dog is aggressive and will not stop. I have tried to avoid him and his dog but the dog keeps coming around and the owner does nothing to stop his dog. He thinks it’s funny. Be aware! His dog is an Australian cattle dog mix and the owner is late 50s early 60s. I have stopped going because of this gentleman. According to other frequent Park attendees they have experienced the same thing.

I like this dog park but it is just okay. It’s the closest to us but we have only gone twice.
It never seems to be mowed and is hard to get around with your dog anywhere but the designated trails around the perimeter. This makes it a little harder for us to play ball with our dog.
It definitely offers a lot of space as there are three sections to it. I’ve seen some agility equipment and like that it is fenced off in a private area but A) the grass is way too tall! and B) it’s outdated and not as great a variety of obstacles as Forsberg Iron Springs offers.
I think if this park was kept up better we would visit much more frequently than we do.

I have only been to one other dog park (Stapleton) and this one is incredible compared to that one! It is quite large, separated into 3 areas, and generally clean/​well kept. In the winter/​fall it can be really windy and in the summer there isn’t much (any?) shade– but these are the realities of the environment in the vicinity so no real complaints there. I’ve seen the dedicated volunteers filling up the water bowls and picking up for other people’s dogs (???)– so a big thank you to them for their hard work and time maintaining the park.

Absolutely awesome dog park. They have 3 separate areas where you can have your dogs play — even a little make-​shift agility course! We drive 30 minutes to this DP at 1 – 2 times a month — splitting time with the DP off of Sheridan and I70.

2012 Review #235:
We live within a couple miles of this dog park and it is nice to be so close by. We’ve used it a few times but I can’t say it’s my favorite.
The first time, there was some event by people who do some fundraising for this park and they put on a *lot* of pressure to donate. I didn’t since I didn’t even know if we liked this place yet. The areas have nice gated passes for entrances, and there is an obstacle area for «smaller» dogs. They don’t have many plastic dog poop bags available, nor trash cans, for how large the areas are. The water bowls are consistently gross; luckily Dunkmaster won’t drink out of public bowls but I wouldn’t let him drink out of these if he tried.
Although there is an obstacle area for small dogs, there isn’t a general run around area for small dogs, so they’re with pretty big dogs most of the time. For a brachycephalic dog like Dunkmaster, there is nowhere near enough shade so we often can’t stay for more than 15 minutes.
Also– there’s no grass. It’s all dirt so the dogs get very dusty. Again, no grass and no shade means one very quickly tired dog, which makes coming here hardly worth it. I’ll come in a pinch but it’s nothing to drive far for.

Very nice dog park. No road noise, nice views of the foothills, plenty of space, agility equipment, and it actually has some terrain (hills). For whatever reason, the dogs seemed better-​controlled and their humans more even-​tempered than in other Denver-​area dog parks.
As someone mentioned before, there is not much shade, and the area is pretty open, so if it’s hot or windy, it can be a bit rough. Just keep that in mind if you or your dog are sensitive to those sort of weather conditions.

The actual name posted for this park is:
Arvada West Dog Park
This is a rather large park that, in the winter, is not quite as lush as the pictures suggest (I’ll upload some for March ’11). It has great views, a good assortment of sitting benches scattered around, two (3?) different «levels» to the ground creating bowl-​like affect, a nice fence, and TWO circular small dog or training areas fenced inside the park.
If I lived closer I’m sure I would visit it every day. It got super windy in the later afternoon and some locals told me it tends to do that but this may (?) be seasonal or something other than a trend.
I loved the profusion of water bowls and the leash hanging area.
Meko loved everything! (but, she’s a puppy, so take this under that filter :)

My dog really likes it here. Watch out for snakes.

Huge and nice view. Smaller area for shy dogs. Huge.

I live 1 mile from the Berkeley Park Off –Leash Dog Area and have not been there in 5 years. Its loud, poopy, and some folks (not all) don’t really watch their dogs — they talk on the cell phone while their dog gets in a fight or takes a crap. So, I take my dog to a park 13, yes THIRTEEN, miles away.
Ralston Dog Park (aka West Arvada Dog Park) is our dog park of choice in the Denver metro area. The drive is quick — I70 to 58 to McIntyre to W. 64^th — and its well worth it. The views are fantastic of the foothills, the flatirons and the flattops in Golden. There is no water source, but many large bowls filled by the thoughtful patrons. This can be windy at times (one winter day it sounded like a freight train was above my head for about an hour), and in the midst of summer, the sun can be unforgiving, but overall, this park is killer.
This ain’t no city-​fied park. No mown grass (which I understand was one of the main complaints when it first opened) and lots of little rocks (golf to softball size) to trip up your pooch running at full steam. The group did a great job of removing the cactus, altho rarely one will pop up again. There is more than enough room in these 5 acres for all sorts of dogs and owners. As for me and my dog, we spend about the first 20 minutes playing fetch with the chucker and tennis ball, and then walk around the perimeter a few times on a well worn path. Many other dog owners and dogs hang out in the very social entry area that now sports an oversized picnic table (!) and chat and catch up.
We stopped going here for about a year due to the gas prices, but are now back. Today was our first time in 2009! Due to all the recent rain, the park is covered in lovely yellow and purple wildflowers and tall grass, about 12 inches high. We absolutely loved it, while I can imagine that might scare some smaller dog owners or city folk away. I will note that I was the only owner this morning that ventured into the center of the park’s tall grass in order to play fetch with my dog — and lots of other dogs then joined us and it was great!
Don’t be scared of the tall grass/​weeds/​wildflowers! They won’t bite — this is nature! In years past with the droughts, the lack of green made this a hot nasty dry park with brown stumpy weeds and grass that I can only imagine hurt some tender paws.
THUMBS UP!
(one more star could be garnered by moving the entire dog park and its scenery closer to my house. and no, that’s not very fair of me.)

First off, the sheer size of this place is pretty amazing. It’s nice to give the puppies a lot of room to run around. On the other hand, the last couple of times I’ve gone there the weeds in the center are so tall that only ¼ of the park is accessible. Also, this park is lacking any real grass, it’s more of the plains weed things. There weren’t very many dogs the times that I’ve gone also. Which is good an bad, if you want a large open area to walk around with your dogs unable to run away it’s a bonus, but they don’t have anyone to play with. :(They do have a little pen in the center for puppies and shy dogs, which seems safer but also eliminates the point of taking your dog to a dog park eg. socialization.
I suppose it’s an all right dog park, but I still am seeking for the perfect one.

This is my former neighborhood dog hangout– I lived in the area while the whole thing was being built. The current dog park is a fully fenced five acres, with convenient painted fire hydrants for those city dogs who’ve never seen grass before… but the real amenities are the fun people and the constant stream of well socialized dogs to be found here.
There are two smaller fenced off areas for small dogs or puppy socialization, and the main area does include some benches for humans and an area with water bowls– bring your own water, as it’s unsanitary to allow your pets to drink from standing water that other dogs have been drinking from. The gates are very neatly designed to prevent dog escapes or fights, with the first gate leading into an unleashing area, then the second gate opening into the full dog park– handy for unruly or young dogs.
Your pooches do need to be fully vaccinated and spayed/​neutered to enter the Ralston Dog Park, and a Rabies vaccination tag must be displayed on their collar at all times. These are basics for a responsible pet owner, and shouldn’t be too inconvenient; however, I will admit I have brought my intact male dog– he’s still waiting for mom to decide on a surgeon, because he has a retained testicle requiring abdominal neutering and mom is very protective– and nobody commented.
Most of the parkgoers seem very polite, always willing to lend a tennis ball if you’ve forgotten yours, and everyone is very good about bagging dog messes– which is important because this park does have tall grass, so pick it up or risk the karmic penalty of poo-​shoe!