West Side Off-Leash Dog Area

I’ve brought my dog here several times, its not the greatest location for a dog park or the nicest looking but its close enough for my dog and I can walk to. It’s near the Queensbough bridge, right in the heart of a crazy intersection. I never see dogs around so I don’t come often. I wish I had more to say about this dog park, but that’s just it, not much else to say.

Review #700 is going to be all about the dog. My wacky, spazzy dog cannot be let off the leash around other dogs, but she loves to chase her tennis balls. This dog park has a few drawbacks for people with normal and well-​adjusted pets: it’s in the middle of a traffic interchange for the Queensborough Bridge, is mostly a big gravel hill, and requires crossing a footbridge to get there. Unfortunately for people in the neighbourhood, this replaced what was previously a more pleasant park, which was razed when they redesigned and rebuilt the roads and on-​ramps to the bridge a few years ago, and threw the off-​leash area into the middle. Now, most other people seem to avoid this dog park. Fortunately for me and my furry problem child, I can usually have the place to myself for a while to give her a good workout.
In addition, there is only one entrance gate, which makes it easy for me to keep an eye out for anyone who does come along and wants to use the park; I always leash the dog and give way to the other person when that happens. (In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have to do this, but despite whatever her early socialization was, this dog needs to run regularly, so we do the best we can with what we’ve got to work with.)
The gravel and chain link fence and poop mines make the place frankly look a little ghetto-​barren. The tiny trees don’t throw much shade in the summer, but there are a couple of benches and a water tap (turned off in winter). I also love that from the top of the hill, you get a panoramic view of the Fraser River and bridges and clouds. And as for the traffic, every so often my dog likes to run along the fence to chase the cars and trucks. Hey, whatever burns off the energy.
My very favourite part of this weird, ugly, unloved dog park? The happy panting in the backseat on the way home.