Nice place and great location. Rather poor drainage. I was there several days after it rained and…read moreyou can see in the picture there are big pools of rainwater.

On our way to Santa Cruz and needed to make a pit stop for the dogs. We found this place on yelp…read more As soon as we pulled up we realized that this was not for us. Wood chips and weeds. A terrible combination for dogs. So we left and went next door to sky park. See review under skypark

The dog park itself is great. Cleaned often, well maintained, and large…read more There is a fun crew of dogs and owners that come on the weekday evenings. We try to pop in once a week. Unfortunately this dog park has a disproportionate number of inconsiderate owners compared to other parks in the Monterey Bay. Many unfixed, unvaccinated, untrained, and aggressive dogs that will attack or hump your dog repeatedly. I came with a friend last summer and both our dogs picked up a respiratory/eye infection. Because of this, you'll often find people walk their dogs on the track instead of using the dog park. I usually do this unless I recognize the dogs at the park.

I've been going to this park with my German Shepherds for about a month now. I've never had any…read moreissues with aggressive dogs in other parks like Gilroy or Morgan Hill. There is a large portion of dogs in this park which are not spayed or neutered. For the last week I've had nothing but trouble with other dogs attacking my dogs. Today I had a person upon my arrival warn me that their female was not friendly with other females. If you have to warn someone about your dog then you don't belong in a dog park. Sure enough the dog attacked one of my dogs. If your dog isn't fixed it is not a good idea to bring them to a dog park. The chances of altercations increase. I won't be going back to this park any longer. I'll drive the extra time to go to Gilroy which has a much better quality of non-aggressive dogs.

Branciforte Dog Park opened a couple years ago…read more This is a good little quiet dog park that is completely fenced with a solid , double gate. It only has one "all dog" section. Plenty of room, good parking, bags and trash provided. No water fountain so bring your own water. Hours are sunup to sundown. Some chairs provided no doubt by patrons, a picnic table, has wood chips as ground covering. Very close to town. DeLaveaga Park is right next door, but they are separate parks. There are some tunnels for the dogs but I find they just attract those who want to mark their territory. It's a good stretch your legs place and then easy to leave since the dog is done since few other dogs come to play here. Another park close by that is also run by Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation is Pacheco Dog Park which is similar but more dogs go there and it has water. We have been here maybe 10 times in a couple years. We have been to 73 dog parks in 6 years. I like it here for what I'm after on that side of town.

This park had a 5 star rating so I decided to stop by here with my dogs. It's kind of a sad muddy…read morefenced in area. Nearby Grant Park has a similarly sized dog area that's nicer. I'm sure it's fine?

This dog park is right down the street from the freeway entrance. So we made a final stop before…read morethe long ride home. It's a small neighborhood dog park.its one side for both large and small dogs. There's no water or poopie bags. But there were some friendly dogs to play with. the fence is low so I think that some dogs could easily jump the fence.

you may be pleasantly surprised by this location. theres beautiful grass, giant redwood trees,…read morepicnic benches, bike track, playgrounds, basketball courts, bathrooms and a grassy dog park. It's shady and clean. The only thing is that there is no separate small dog and large dog parks. Everyone mingles together. We had nothing but friendly engagements while at this venue today.

We came to Santa Cruz for lunch. We needed a place to let…read moreour dogs run around for a bit. This is a large neighborhood dog park. It is not a separated by a large and small dog side . The positive is it had poopie bags,and water. Also plenty of pooper scoopers. The negatives are it's hard dirt and rocks. Also along the fence line it's completely covered with over grown weeds. My dogs ran around for a while. We were there for a while,but nobody showed up. Maybe that's a sign that it's not a good neighbor park. It was only 11am on a Sunday. My neighbor dog park would be crowded on a Sunday.

This park is workable but without grass it's a less than fantastic. I know, we're in a drought and…read moreI should just be happy with their cedar chip,hamster paradise, but I'm not. And tell ya what: this place doesn't have a large dog park and a small dog park. No. The little dogs dominate. There's more Corgis here than theres is bird poo in a cuckoo clock! But Athonia will allow it!

although not officially a dog park, it is fully gated on all four sides and people just bring the…read moredogs here. There's a shaded picnic bench area with one picnic table. This is got to be one of the larger places in town that you can let dogs run free. But what's cool is this park has this interesting geometric shape... like that of a rhombus intersecting, a trapezoid, but three dimensional! it's special because all sides have a corresponding parallel sides!! Amazing! But it makes one think: what does this nonstandard shape do in the dog park when that dog park also contains a vortex? You don't have to be a 5 star michelan-rated shaman to know that a parallel rhombus introduces areas of stagnant chi! What happens when there's stagnant chi? That's right! A chi-nado!!! make sure your dog is adequately waited down lest the vortex swoop them up like some Wizard of Oz s&!t !! chin-up. we will get thru this!

Too many large dogs not voice controlled by their owners…read more Only 2 concrete picnic benches to sit

BEAUTIFUL PARK! Newly renovated. Great space. NO complaints about this physical park.. but…read more. terrible owners. 5-10 pound dogs getting absolutely trampled by 70+ pound dogs in the large dog section because the owners are so irresponsible. Huge sign that signs 30 LBS ONLY in the large side too.. its every single time ive come here its been so many small dogs with big dogs (and the small dogs are nipping and barking because they're scared) and the owners have no respect. Also "because of covid" everyone has VERY unsocialized dogs here. My dog has been snapped on multiple times for no reason because owners havent socialized their aggressive dogs and decide to take them to the off leash park. and he is literally the sweetest boy, he COWARDS when dogs are aggressive. again, ive been going to parks with my boy for 8 months 3 times a werk and it has always been great experiences. BUT THIS PARK only has very irresponsible owners here and i have been here around 10+ times, never had a good experience. It is disappointing because i live right down the street.

I'm disappointed with people! the dog park has small dogs for a reason on one side not all dogs get…read morealong with extremely small yapping barking small dogs I've had to leave the park twice now because the other people Will not leave I find this very unfair but if my dog hurt their dog I look like the bad guy what am I to do?? this sounds like my dog don't get along with Little dogs but he does just not barking ones

Mitchell's Cove Beach is the only off-leash beach for pups in Santa Cruz! Yay for that this exists…read more Long story short: it's a short stretch of beach along the cove. And it has potential but when we visited in September, it was covered in seaweed with seaweed flies/kelp flies all over, making it difficult to navigate and enjoy. Hopefully it was a time of year or time of day issue...or maybe it's the nature of the cove. We read a handful of other reviews about the seaweed too (I get it, it's the ocean. But still, we've been to many other off-leash beaches that feel cleaner). We'll give it another try when we visit Santa Cruz again. Location: It's about 1.0-1.5 mile from the boardwalk/pier. We walked over and it was a pleasant walk through the neighborhoods. Parking: I believe that there are a few spots on West Cliff Drive. Entrance: You walk down a few steep flights of steps to get there from West Cliff Drive.

Shout out to Adam (parking meter guy) from the City of Santa Cruz for directing me to a beach where…read moreI could take my dog. Located about a mile and a half from the Boardwalk, Michell's Cove Beach is accessible from highway 1. It's a moderately steep walk down the stairs to the beach so consider the shape you and your dog are in to get back up to the road. Mugdha K is correct the beach is filled with seaweed, but we found an area that was clean and clear of seaweed. This was Lola's second time to a dog beach, and she had a blast digging holes in the sand, rolling in the sand and chasing the waves. I live 48 miles from the beach, so this is a special treat to bring my dog Lola to Santa Cruz and find a place for dogs on the beach.