Dog parks are wonderful places–big dogs, little dogs, weird dogs, dog owners, weird dog owners, grass, poop, slobbery tennis balls, dirt–you really just can’t get much better than that, right?

Well, I guess not, but there are some down-sides, especially at the smaller parks.

 I’ve been to a couple so called “dog parks,” and they were the size of large patio–definitely missing the “park” part of the dog park. Well this past weekend, Cali and I checked out a park that really lives up the name “Dog Park.” It’s a place called Fiesta Island and it’s located in Mission Bay in San Diego.

We’ve got quite a few dog parks out here in SD, even a few beaches. Dog Beach in particular is a great place, but Fiesta Island tops even that one for us. It has beaches, hills, trails, rocks, and even more beaches. It’s pretty much this large island of sand in the middle of the bay and there is one, one-way road going around the whole thing.

The whole place is supposedly leash-free and not fenced, and there are some restricted areas that people or dogs can’t go, but there is a specific dog-park fenced area on the southwest side of the island.

We stuck to the somewhat fenced dog-park part and it was still awesome. We walked around for over an hour and never doubled back on our tracks once. There was a good 20-25 minutes where we didn’t even see another dog or person. And the views around Mission Bay were of course gorgeous. Quite a change from the typical dog park out this way.

Definitely bring water for your pup, as there are no water fountains. And beware in the summer, because they often hold different events out there and it can get quite crowded on the weekends from what I hear. But if you want a great place for a quiet, non-typical dog park, check it out for sure.

While writing this post, I unfortunately just found some articles saying that the City of San Diego has some not-so-dog-friendly plans for the island. Not cool in my view, but to check out the details visit www.FIDOsd.com–it’s the Fiesta Island Dog Owners Web site and they are fighting to save at least some of the island for dogs.

Good on ’em for standing up for the dogs!