How we verify

The rule is simple: a value is published only when the authority that runs the park states it, and it always carries the link. Everything else is left blank and labelled.

The four rules

• 1. One authority per city. The parks department, or its official GIS layer — never another directory, never a review site, never Google Maps.
• 2. One source per field. Fencing, water, shade, separate areas, surface, hours and size are captured separately because the authority usually states them in different places.
• 3. Silence is data. If the authority does not publish an attribute, the field stays empty and is flagged on the park page. Adding a plausible value would make this directory worth as little as the ones it replaces.
• 4. Dates are visible. Each city records the date its data was read, and any field coming from an older field survey shows the survey date, because stale data is a hazard for a dog owner.

Also true of this directory

• Parks run by another city or county are not listed as if they belonged to this one.
• Commercial facilities (dog bars, daycares, members-only parks) are not off-leash areas and are excluded.
• Where the authority's own sources disagree — page prose versus the published list versus the GIS layer — we publish the list and document the disagreement instead of choosing silently.

Sources per city

Last verification run: 2026-09-18.