Such a lucky blessing to have the fantastic Fred Anderson Park in the friendly South Loop. Have met…read moreso many wonderful neighbors and their adorable dogs to become friends with over the last few years since moving here. Park was voted as one of the top five dog parks in Chicago and you can definitely see why. Spacious areas dividing large versus smaller dogs is a huge win to ease owners' anxieties over possible fights. Each section has comfortable and plentiful places to sit/relax. Each side also has working water fountains during the summer, which the dogs absolutely love playing in. Also gives a refreshing ambience during the hot days. Surrounded by plush trees, give one instant vacation vibes. Next to the dog areas is a wonderful performing area for live music and other family activities. Chicago Women's Park manages this park well - always maintained and tidy. They even provide complementary poop bags.

This is a really nice dog park in the South Loop area. It is spacious and relatively clean. I bring…read moremy dog here a few times a week for him to stretch his legs. I love that there is a small dog section that is separate from where the big dogs play. However, it does not feel like an afterthought. It is still spacious and nicely appointed. There's a pretty strong community feel here. Everyone is friendly and if you're consistent, you'll see familiar faces. I'm really thankful to have something like this in the area.

Came here on a Saturday morning and there was a variety of big and lil dogs playing around. There…read moreare 2 double gated entrances on either side of park. It is cement and dirt. A few benches and picnic tables present for seating but some owners allow their dogs to jump up on them. I didn't see any available poop bags but there are trash cans. It's a decent park, a little walk from Michigan ave and any close parking.

This place is great. It's a big enough place for my dog to run around and is really close to my…read moreapartment. My dog loves coming here and mingling with all of the other dogs. There are a ton of regulars that come here and for the most part are very friendly. My dog begs me every day to come to the park and already has the route memorized. We have been going there for a month.

Very cute park and perfect for dogs to run and around and play. I loved all the tulips and the big…read moreopen grass field. There's also a fenced in dog park where my boyfriend sat for an hour watching the dogs run around. It's right near restaurants and a grocery store, which is convenient. If we were locals this would be the spot to go to!

Wonderful park for the neighborhood kids. It's well contained so you can see where your children go…read morewithout losing track of them.

Chicagoland is pretty good about saving some space for nice little neighborhood parks. We helped…read morefriends set up a Sunday morning kids' birthday party at Prairie District Park, a block north of Cermak, two blocks east of Michigan, kitty-corner from Suntrust Basketball Arena. Well, we always said "kitty"-corner. Some say "caddy", or "catty", or "cater", and it's claimed to be from "quatre" describing opposite corners of a 4-spot square. I might as well get it over-with and admit we grew up calling every overgrown lot a prairie! It's a 14000-square-foot fenced park. About 3/4 of it is a separately fenced kids play area with several 4-seat tables, encircled by a bricked walkway with five more 4-seat tables, separate from a smaller fenced dog-park with it's own paved walkways. The two "inner" parks each have their own gates, so only the walkway has a gate directly out to the street, a thoughtful safety feature. We got there about 9am, too late for the limited street-parking on the front and side of the park, and people who lived too far to walk here found just-enough parking nearby around the neighborhood. We took over two of the tables, one for gifts and one for snacks. There's a rumor of a Starbucks in the hotel across the street, but we brought our own easy-to-handle bottle of cold-brew. Our dozen-or-so mostly 5 and 6-year-olds played for a couple of hours on the swing and climbers and slides, and screamed on the "Dad you're making it too fast" spin-it-yourself 3 or 4-child merry-go-round carousel. They all dressed for the fountain splash-pad! Perfect in the morning during a 90° heat-wave! The parents of one child (we didnt know) from the neighborhood brought an electric car, and their child shared little rides along the bricked walkway. A number of us enjoyed watching the dogs "next door" through the fence, and in fact the dogs were all friendly and quiet! We closed with a home-hade piñata of treats held-high because there really was no strong tree or structure in the walkway to support it. A lovely morning in a fun park in a friendly neighborhood. That's the report from Chicago, "the Paris of the prairies" :-)

Good place to bring dogs in the West Loop. It actually is located in Mary Bartleme Park and is just…read moreone of its features. West Loop Dog Park is pretty simple. A fenced area. There's a fountain to get water. A few cool things here. It has a couple of kiddie pools for the dogs to splash around it. That's cool literally. Also has some poop bags on hand. The park is pretty clean and free of poop piles like at so many other dog parks. Chill place that's not that busy. It's a small part of the surrounding park. This area is well maintained it seems.

Not our favorite, but it does the trick on a hot day…read more This little park off of Peoria has pretty low paw traffic except for before and after the normal 9-5 work day. When it is populated with pups the owners are nice and responsible for the most part. There's no poop bags and as I mentioned, it is pretty tiny space but there's a kiddie pool to cool off in and parking is usually pretty easy to find. There's better places in town, but if you're within walking distance it's a pretty good choice.

Basic small ass dog park in South Loop. Indiana & 16th isn't much. Just a fenced off area with room…read morefor only a few dogs or so. Also isn't really that clean. This is convenient for those who live by here. A lot could be better. It's best for the small dogs. The space in here seriously is limited. Also it's not that clean. The owners don't pick up after their dogs enough to be honest. An open area next to here would be good to expand it for the big dogs to go. This would be a simple thing to do it seems. Crappy place figuratively and literally. It's a pretty bare bones dog park. There's no fountains or those kinds of things.

I think calling this a dog park is pretty generous. It is really more of a small, concrete dog run…read more I have a 25 pound dog and it got tight in there when 2 other large dogs showed up. I wasn't super impressed with this area - it is all concrete and just really tiny. However, it was very clean and had secure gates.

We brought our dog here for a first time swim. Our guy is not friendly and very nervous of new…read morepeople- Laurie handled him perfectly, and he enjoyed his swim with her. I love that they make sure the dogs are prepared before they allow them to swim alone. They set them up to be safe and successful. Making an appointment was super easy. I left a message, and they called back shortly after. The second time, I left a message with times that would work, and Laurie called back to confirm what she had.

I'm deeply disappointed by my recent experience with Doggy Paddle, despite the fact that there are…read morethings they do well. The instructors who actually swim with the dogs are consistently lovely, kind, and attentive (Julian especially), and the facilities are clean and well maintained. Unfortunately, the customer service and administrative processes completely undermine those positives. Last August, after my friend's dog Maverick passed away, she contacted Doggy Paddle to transfer his remaining swims to me as a goodwill gesture in his memory (he swam there regularly for several years). Doggy Paddle accepted the transfer -- they requested and received my dog's vet records the same day. However, I never received any confirmation via email or text showing how many swims were transferred, what type they were, or when they expired. There is also no online portal or way for customers to check their balance or expiration dates. Over the following months, Doggy Paddle emailed me multiple times asking for a fecal test, which reasonably implied the swims were active. At no point did anyone mention an expiration date or warn that the swims were nearing expiration. When I attempted to schedule a swim this month, I was told the transferred swims had expired and that I needed to purchase a new package. Apparently, the swims my friend had purchased had expired one year after purchase, on January 1, 2026. When I called to discuss this, they acknowledged there had been no communication on their part to confirm the package was transferred or to share terms/conditions, but repeatedly stated that it was my responsibility to ask or my friend's responsibility to tell me the expiration date, and that expiration dates do not reset upon transfer. They refused to make any exception or accommodation and said there was "nothing they could do." Sorry, but asking my grieving friend when her passed dog's swim packages expired wasn't a priority. This should have been on Doggy Paddle to communicate to the customer at time of transfer. They'd already earned the money from the previous sale; they lost nothing by extending the expiration date a little longer. I requested that they extend the expiration by four weeks and we'd come swim during that time, and they said no. Scheduling itself is also unnecessarily frustrating. You can only book via text or email, which often becomes a long back-and-forth, and there is no transparency about available times -- you can't see a schedule, only ask and wait for someone to tell you what's open. Holding customers to expiration policies that were never disclosed, combined with limited scheduling access and no account visibility, is extremely frustrating. The lack of empathy given the context -- a transfer following a dog's death -- made the experience even more disappointing. It's unfortunate, because the staff and facility are unique in Chicago. My dog loves swimming and we relied on Doggy Paddle during rehab, but I will not go again. This was a senseless policy to hold the line on given the circumstances.

Best dog park! Gets filled with dogs which I love! All dogs seem to be super friendly and playful!…read moreDefinitely a must if you have a Dog/Pup

This is our favorite dog park! Not only does legend get along well with all the dogs and they are…read moretypically not bullies but the layout is just nice and spacious with plenty of room for him to run. It's also nice that it's next to a park where we can take him for a walk.

Cool place to relax with your pooch! Lively scenery and sounds of nature. Lovely water and birds…read moreeverywhere

This dog park has definitely seen better days, but we still enjoyed it. There was nothing…read moredangerous, it could just use some updating/love. Contrary to what others have noted, there is not free parking here but there is a lot right next to the park. You still have to go through the gate at the front parking lot to get there and it's Metropolis so they charge how long you parked there by your license plate. We were there less than an hour and it was $4. There were only a few other dogs and owners during our visit and everyone was nice/respectful. My dog and I have done an agility class before, so we had fun trying some of the different obstacles set up. Its a nice idea to have everything in the park made up of recycled materials too - very unique. I wish there was an easy way to donate since I think it's a community-run park - maybe add a Venmo QR code sign? Seems like the park could use some help but maybe it just hasn't been refreshed yet for the upcoming summer season. Either way, love the location right in Jackson Park so we were able to also walk around some of the trails.

A year of movement!…read more Over the years of participating in different events, I have come to realize that I don't have to be as fast as the person next to me. In front of me, or even behind me. I do have to move, and it starts with a single step. The host kept announcing on the microphone; "your race, your pace". Just the motivation I needed. I mean standing in one spot waiting for your corral to start while FREEZING in the Chi made a lot of people not even want to start. When it was finally our turn, they announced that we should be careful due to high winds. Did I already mention it was cold? The wind gave me the boost I needed to improve my pace especially by the water. If the Shamrock Shuffle is something you have been thinking about, all levels are welcome. There was a 1 mile walk the day before and yes, you do earn a medal. The day of there is a 2 mile walk and the 8K. You CAN do it. Please register early as it does sell out.

Grant Park is a large, 319-acre public space in Chicago's Loop community area…read more It is home to Buckingham Fountain, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum Campus & Millennium Park. It is referred to as Chicago's "front yard," it is the large overarching park in the city's central business district. The manicured rose gardens were impressive. There were many trees walking, running, biking & sitting on shady benches taking in the beautiful day. Boats & the lighthouse on Lake Michigan were visible. There were clean stocked public restrooms.