Dog walking in Riverside

East Riverside

East Riverside is an open community with few residential homes and lots of open fields and rolling hills. The most popular is Memorial Park, an area that provides a gorgeous shaded space with open fields and places to picnic. The park is dog-friendly to leashed pups and has multiple gazebos, picnic pavilions, and shaded space to have a picnic in the grass. Dogs can enjoy features like water fountains, trash bins, clean-up stations, and benches. The neighborhood is also connected to the Mad River Trail, a multi-use trail for walkers and bikers that follows along the river. The path is made from concrete and extends a little over 4 miles along the river, providing trash bins and benches to humans and leashed pups.

Wright Patterson

The neighborhood of Wright Patterson is a quiet residential area with lots of shade and trees. There are multiple places to play here, such as a group of ballfields along Chapel Lane. The ballfields have a public parking area, but have no name, although there is plenty of space to play with Fido. These 4 fenced-in baseball fields connect to each other and paved trails that lead to a playground and a pool. Dogs can play in the open areas or in the fenced-in fields, but must be cleaned up after. Be sure to bring your own clean-up bags and water.

Shellabarger Park

The neighborhood of Shellabarger Park is right on the southern end of the city, and filled with packed residential homes. Right on the border of the neighborhood is Shellabarger Park, a park that shares its name with the neighborhood and features 40 acres of open space. Encircling the open field is a 1.2-mile paved trail that is dog-friendly. Fido has room to play, run or walk on the trail, and can enjoy other features like basketball courts, a playground, a pavilion, and shaded sitting areas. Remember to not only leash up Fido, but bring your own clean-up bags and water for your pup since the park only has benches and trash bins available.

North Riverside

North Riverside is a forested area, filled with dense woods and rows of residential homes with lots of shade. Also surrounded by trees is the Mel Fenton Recreation Complex, offering lots of privacy to park-goers. The dog-friendly area has enclosed tennis courts and basketball courts, along with a soccer field, and open space around in. Pups are welcome in the park and can play safely in the fenced-in courts as long as no teams are playing, although you'll need to bring water. Down the street is the Forest Ridge Gazebo and Field, a pretty area with a gazebo and shade to relax under. There's open space to play in and a paved walkway, and the best part is pups don't need to be on a leash inside the area.

Springfield

The neighborhood of Springfield is a rural neighborhood in Dayton, and home to Eastwood MetroPark, a 35-acre park that surrounds Eastwood Park and Mad River. The park has over 2 miles of walking trails that connect to multiple features like open space, fishing piers, boat launches, natural beaches, a playground, picnic areas, pavilions, and restrooms. The park is dog-friendly to leashed pups, and provides them plenty of space to play in and miles of paths to walk on. Additional features include water fountains, clean-up stations, trash bins, and benches.