Report: Dog Parks 'Lead the Pack' in New Urban Parks

The Trust for Public Land's annual City Parks Facts report finds cities around the country are adding dog parks with the enthusiasm of a pack puppies.

1 minute read

April 26, 2016, 2:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Dog Park

Jon Hurd / Flickr

A press release from the Trust for Public Land (TPL) announces the leading trend in parks: "Off-leash dog parks led the pack in new urban parks, growing by 4 percent in 2015 and 89 percent since 2007, according to The Trust for Public Land's most recent data on the nation's 100 biggest city park systems across the country."

The findings are from TPL's annual "City Parks Facts" report, which complies park data for the 100 largest cities in the United States. The press release includes more data from the report, including aggregate spending on parks and information on other kinds of parks, like skate parks and community gardens.

The press release includes a quote from Brad Weston, president and chief merchant at San Diego-based pet specialty retailer, Petco, who says that pet ownership is up across all demographics.

The cities with the greatest number of dog parks per capita are Henderson, Nevada; Portland, Oregon; Norfolk, Virginia; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Madison, Wisconsin.

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