Every day, Andrea Cunningham drives Grover, her 3-year-old wirehaired pointing griffon, four miles roundtrip to Fuller Dog Park in northeast Denver — even though she lives just blocks from Cheesman Park.

She makes the trek to avoid getting ticketed for an unleashed dog, but she hopes Denver will expand its offerings of dog-friendly outdoor spaces.

“I drive four miles a day just to walk my dog, and I would be really happy to walk five blocks a day instead,” said Cunningham, 59.

Denver has doubled its number of dog parks in the last decade, but that hasn’t satisfied demand yet. Many neighborhoods are located farther from the off-leash havens, so plenty of dog owners still opt to let their canines run free at nearby city parks — an increasingly risky activity as park rangers have issued more citations for violating the leash law in recent years, city data shows.

The metro area’s growth has been accompanied by a rise in apartment living, with open space not always easily accessible to renters with pets. Local dog owners who spoke to The Denver Post offered a mix of potential solutions, from better government regulation to the implementation of off-leash hours at regular parks and the creation of more areas for their animals to play.

Among dog owners dissatisfied with existing metro dog parks is Westminster resident Jessica Johnson, who prefers larger spaces than what the typical site offers.

“They’re very small or very dirty,” said Johnson, 38, who has a 2-year-old Bernese mountain dog, Fender. She referred to dog parks as “another place that can also breed disease.”

The suburbs have some larger dog-friendly expanses, including Cherry Creek Reservoir and the Westminster Hills Open Space. The 420-acre off-leash site in Westminster is at the center of a community controversy, as the city government debates whether to reduce its size significantly to preserve the landscape.

In the city, Denver Parks and Recreation now has 16 city dog parks, up from just eight in 2014. Several are located downtown, but the options dwindle in some of the city’s more densely populated neighborhoods east and southeast of central Denver.

But not all owners believe the answer is adding more dog parks.

“It’s a tough one, right?” said Brooke Garcia, 38, a registered veterinary technician who lives in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. She owns a 3-year-old Shetland sheepdog named Scotch. “I don’t think the way that (dog parks) exist today are healthy and safe for anyone,” largely because of the potential for aggression between dogs.

But Denver canine lovers who are pushing for more parks aren’t alone in their desire, with interest rising nationally.

The Trust for Public Land issues annual rankings of cities based on their parks, amenities and access. Denver ranked No. 31 on its latest list of top cities for dog parks per capita. The cities with the best dog park access were Boise, Idaho, followed by Portland, Oregon, and Norfolk, Virginia.

Denver still offers the most access among major Colorado cities in the rankings, beating out Colorado Springs, which came in 39th, and Aurora, which was 78th.

Denver Parks and Recreation spokesperson Yolanda Quesada said her department “is committed to expanding our dog parks to allow a safe place for Denver residents to take their dogs, with a goal of having every resident living within a two-mile radius or less of a dog park.”

She pointed to the recent completion of the Sanderson Gulch Dog Park in south Denver’s Ruby Hill neighborhood.

Another dog park in Highland, northwest of downtown, is being designed, while the vision plan for Sunken Gardens Park in the Lincoln Park neighborhood south of downtown includes a dog park, Quesada said. The Athmar Park neighborhood’s Vanderbilt Park was also tagged as a potential site.

“I honestly don’t see an easy answer”

In the meantime, some Denverites are misusing public spaces as impromptu off-leash dog parks.

On a sunny Thursday afternoon in late March, Washington Park bustled with activity during the lunch hour from noon to 1 p.m. More than 60 dogs accompanied their owners on leads, trotting along the jogging trails and sniffing the plants.

In an open green space, a red sign installed by the city warned visitors that dogs must be leashed at all times, with violators subject to citations. Several parkgoers disregarded the notice.

One man tossed a frisbee to his Australian shepherd. Near the parking area, a French bulldog puppy chased after a tennis ball as its owner wielded a ball launcher.

“They should all be on a leash,” said Linda Hoeksema, as she trailed behind Gus, her 11-year-old Shih tzu-poodle mix, toward the edge of Grasmere Lake. Because of his age, she worries that he can’t run away quickly from risky situations.

Denver’s park rangers usually try to educate owners before using “their discretion when deciding if a citation is warranted,” Quesada said.

Rangers consider if a pet’s behavior is negatively affecting others, if numerous complaints were made and if resources in the area sustained damage. For off-leash violations, citations start at $100 and rise to $999 for several offenses.

The number of off-leash citations has increased over the last three years, with 167 recorded in 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic was still underway, according to Denver Parks and Recreation. Last year, that number skyrocketed to 908.

Through March 19, the city has already issued 563 citations so far this year.

People walking through Washington Park shared a range of opinions about unleashed dogs. Some were ambivalent — not caring so long as pets were well-behaved. Others feared potential attacks.

The latter is a relatively common occurrence, with 143 dog-on-person bites reported to the city this year, as of March 21.

Denver Animal Protection recorded 825 bites last year and 738 in 2022, said Tammy Vigil, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Health and Environment. Data for dog-on-dog bites was unavailable because those aren’t required to be reported.

Need exists, but “where do you put them?”

Washington Park, University Park, Garland Park and Cook Park all fall within Denver City Councilman Paul Kashmann’s southeast district, and some of his constituents object to off-leash dogs running around the parks.

“It’s obvious we need more dog parks, but where do you put them?” Kashmann said. “Trying to retrofit a landlocked city where we’re built curb to curb is awfully challenging.”

In 2022, the city hosted a community meeting to propose a dog park at Veterans Park within his district. The site would have backed up to residential fences.

“Some people don’t mind. A whole bunch of people did, and that didn’t fly,” Kashmann said.

Neighborhood advocates — some envisioning dog parks as noisy, dusty patches — don’t always embrace them. So, dog owners are left to compete with other residents for limited outdoor space.

“People are struggling for more places to play soccer games and lacrosse games and pickleball,” Kashmann said. “I honestly don’t see an easy answer.”

For now, dog lovers are embracing alternatives.

For Cunningham’s part, she said she would support Denver following New York City’s lead by allowing dogs to run off leash in regular parks at designated times. In select areas, NYC’s dogs can roam in the early morning from park opening until 9 a.m., and at night from 9 p.m. until close.

Misty Deal, a certified professional dog trainer at her business, Good Dogs Stay, warns her clients against dog parks, she said, because they’re “just a free-for-all” for bad behavior.

Instead, the Littleton resident holds her off-leash training sessions using Sniffspot, a service that allows users to rent out their backyards as private dog parks. Deal, 45, suggested that tighter oversight of existing parks’ rules might entice some owners back.

In the Denver area, “we would have enough dog parks to accommodate all of those dogs if there was some regulation over the dog parks,” she said.

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