H.O.T. Dog Park

I’m so happy this park exists. I took my dog here today for the first time and he loved it. Big open space with trees, water for the dogs, plenty of benches, and even an obstacle course. Also a nice place to chat with friendly people. As Waco’s only public dog park, I’m so grateful to the generous couple that built and maintain it.

Great place for me and my girlfriend’s dog to get tired. Nice people and big space. The only issue is that there is one woman that comes regularly with a dog that is not friendly at all. She doesn’t care, but it bit my dog, making him scream and Unilocal,and she called it playing. She’s a very large woman that throws the tennis ball with her dog, so if you see her there, just beware.

Worth the bit of drive from Woodway. My fur babies loved it and most people are good about cleaning up after their dogs. Didn’t like that my kids couldn’t go in with me but other than that it’s awesome!

my dog absolutely loves coming here. Two smaller areas, one at the front and one way at the back. one large park for the dogs to play. There are plenty of hills and trees for shade and exercise. Walking paths on the perimeter of the park. Many benches for people to rest on, dog bag stations scattered throughout for poop cleanup. If you come often there are plenty of regulars everyone I’ve met is friendly. It can get crowded towards the end of the workday (like 5pm and after) and sometimes on weekends. But then again I’ve been here at these times and nobody is there so it’s a toss-​up.
This is a no frills dog park but still a great place for your pet to run around, play, and socialize.

Having just moved from Dallas, where there is a dog park within a 10 mile radius of anyone … I was shocked to learn this is Waco’s only one. As the other reviewer mentioned, the area is vast. A lot of room for your dogs to run and play with a great mix of sun & shade.
There are certainly room for improvements: (1) To get to the «small dog» park, you have to take them through the «large dog» park off-​leash, which is a cause for concern. (2) Dog fountains are currently dirty tubs hooked up to a water spigot. It gets the job done, but do you really want your dogs drinking out of a bin that Lassie just jumped in? (3) Interesting landscaping and cosmetic improvements could be added in to beautify the area. Even simple things, like a place to hang dog leashes would go a long way.
All in all, it’s hard to complain. I learned from a couple locals that the City of Waco has refused to sponsor a dog park, so the veterinary clinic next door to the park basically established this as a service to the community, putting up fences and providing the land. Kudos to those individuals and the clinic for taking on this wonderful project.
I do wonder, though, why Baylor or the City of Waco would not sponsor the formation of a park, with there being as many animals as there are that belong to working adults, families and college students. Heck … I could simply open my backyard up and turn on the water hose, and would have done as much as those organizations had in the past 100 years. Really a shame.
Getting back to the original point: the H.O.T. Dog Park is a no frills place, but with lots of ground to play and opportunities for you and your dogs to socialize with others. It’s nice to see good natured folks go to bat for the betterment of their community.

We were incredibly impressed with this off-​leash dog park. It’s HUGE! Fully fenced, lots of varied terrain to give the pups an exhausting work out, and a good walking path around the park for us humans. In the back, there is a separately enclosed area (also enormous) for small dogs under 25 pounds. It has its own walking path.
We drove up from Austin and met others who drove down from DFW. I heard another person suggest this would be a good place to stop and exercise your dogs on a trip between the cities, and I wholeheartedly agree. It’s less than 10 minutes off of I-​35, and easy to find. Plenty of parking too.
There were a total of 12 – 20 dogs at 11 a.m. on a Saturday, including the three in our group. I can’t emphasize how spacious this park is. If you are familiar with the Norwood Park in Austin (I-​35 and Riverside), this one is easily twice as large. Lots of room for the dogs to find friends to socialize with, and get away (if necessary) from those they don’t jive with.
The park is fully fenced. There are water dishes and dunk tubs for the dogs, plus scoop bag stations and benches. The front area is sunny and back area is shady.
The signs ask that you not bring in toys or treats. There were several balls and Frisbees (plus lots of great sticks!) for those who like to play fetch.
The rules state all dogs must be off leash, and most folks hang their leashes at the entry gate. We were dealing with newly rescued pups who are not yet reliable on recall, so we let our dogs loose but brought our leashes into the park, and were glad that we did. The park is so large that it was difficult to catch pups on the run when time to go. We walked our dogs out on leash, and that didn’t seem to cause any worry, among humans or canines.
Very happy to have found this spot. It’s right down the road from Cameron Park as well as a small park on the east side of the Brazos River. We set up a picnic by the boat dock on the smaller park. Overall a fantastic afternoon, and great dog day!