For anyone out there that is a true dog lover who wants your canine companion to socialize, fraternize, and enjoy the most contained freedom possible, there is no shortage of places to take your four legged partners. While most dog parks, particular in my area, offer fenced areas, above average parking, and safety, there is a couple that we think just stand higher than the others.
We have a 5 year old lemon beagle that is just as much human as she is dog. She’s jolly, energetic, and very social. However, at 40lbs we need a dog park that doesn’t segregate between 40lbs and under or 40lbs and over play yards. Oftentimes, she is too big for small dogs and we get frowned upon if we try to take her with the big dogs. Timber Creek Park in Gloucester Township, NJ (camdencounty.com) has a very large (easily 5 acres) fenced in dog park within the main park. With no limits on sizes, it provides easy access for my beagle to find a pack and get to running with all kinds of pups of any shapes or sizes. It’s wooded and has dirt paths that run the perimeter of the yard as well as paths that run through the centers to make the walks shorter if need be. With the wooded area being very well maintained, it’s always shady and clean.
Timber Creek Park on the whole is very large, having multiple paths, fields, trails, amphitheater, and play grounds. The dog park itself has many different gated entrances that lead to different areas of the park. In fact, if your pooch is a swimmer, there’s even a path that leads to a pond designed to play swim and fetch in! Going through the park is easy and while in the fenced area dogs can roam free, this park is very family friendly, allowing dogs to go anywhere in the park. No longer do you have to choose to either let the kids play or to let Fido play. We even take our 4 year old son in the dog area with us to walk while the dogs do their thing. Of course it is posted children MUST be accompanied and I can’t stress enough to use your better judgment with your kids! If they are skittish with other dogs, it’s probably not a good idea to take them into the dog area!
It really is a park that you can make a day out of with the whole family. There are picnic tables throughout, public restrooms adjacent to a very large parking lot, covered pavilions, wooded trails, ponds fit for puppy swimming, a field with a half mile track around it perfect for kite flying and Frisbee throwing. You might even bump into a horse or two on a nice weather day!
If you prefer a smaller park for your smaller or shy pup, you may want to check out Washington Lake Park in Sewell, NJ (washington.nj.us). While the park itself is huge beyond words, the dog park is relatively small and does separate the big dogs from the little dogs. It is wooded so it’s nice and shady, but you can’t walk you canine family members anywhere else in the park, only to and from the dog park. There is one gate to both exit and enter for both yards and a very convenient parking lot towards the back of the park that leads straight to the dog area.
We actually really enjoy this park as a family, but we can’t go with our beagle because we can’t take here anywhere but in the dog park. And, while it’s very clean and well maintained it is a little smaller for us and it’s very strict on allowing children in the dog area. We prefer having the option to walk with while the dogs run and roam. Again, if you want a place for small critters or someplace that you can mainly sit and watch the dogs in action – then this is your park to go to!
The bottom line is that both parks offer something for most dog owners. If you want to incorporate your whole family then we would definitely suggest Timber Creek Park. If you want something smaller and a little less active head to Washington Lake Park instead.
