Sand Point Dog Park – a review
Two weekends ago we went to Sand Point Dog Park . Sadn Point used to be our local dog park, 8 years ago, when we just had Moree. What I remembered about it from that time was that there were lots of gates, many of which were in disrepair, that Moree was always searching for and finding a way out of.
At the time, it boasted the only dog beach in the area, though, so it was always popular. It may still technically be the only dog beach, but Marymoor has river access, so its not the only spot dogs can get in the water.
Quite a bit has changed at Sand Point. One, I’m pretty certain the park is bigger- at least it seemed quite a bit bigger than what I remembered from 8+ years ago. They have added a small dog area, but even though both of my dogs are technically small, they don’t play like it, so we didn’t go in there.
They’ve added a nice water station right in the front of the park- complete with hoses for rinsing off your dog whose been playing in Lake Washington, and a covered picnic area. There’s also a good water spot and covered area along the path to the beach (which was much longer than I remembered it). However, there’s not a lot of good shade, so on a hot Saturday afternoon, it didn’t take much for dogs to get tired out.
Sand Point is not the “taking your dog for a walk without a leash” park that Marymoor is, though the path from the scrum area to the beach certainly makes it feel that way. But its not quite the “lots of different places for dogs to play” park that Grandview is. There are 2 different play areas, and some walking paths. In that sense, it most closely resembles the West Seattle Dog Park- though its much bigger. And the dog beach, while small, is great fun for dogs who like to get wet. (Larry had no interest in the water. June only wanted to wade.)
My biggest issue with Sand Point was that the scrum was right at the entrance. At both West Seattle and Grandview , the scrum area is a little ways away from where dogs come in. This gives them a chance to run a bit before encountering other dogs, and mostly assures that there’s plenty of room to move around when strange dogs meet each other.
At Sand Point, the air lock gates open right to the area where dogs are getting hosed down and people are sitting in the covered picnic area. That means dogs coming in are often accosted by strange dogs before they can be let off leash, and when they might feel there’s not enough room to run (or that they have to protect their families). It can also make it difficult for people trying to leave the park.
Still, if I still lived in that area of town, I’d be happy to have such a nice large park to take my dogs to.