Brookline Avenue Playground

love this park. fenced, clean, has a water fountain.

this offleash program is bomb and i love that it is a no kids zone, which is hard to find in public parks and necessary when you have a young dog, but i hate that you have to register in advance and it isn’t open year round.

I was walking my greyhound early one Saturday morning and met up with another woman walking her dog. She suggested that I take a look at this place to let my greyhound run around, as she had owned greyhounds in the past.
So, on a quiet Sunday around 5 PM, I walked from Fenway to this park to check the place out. I had initially figured I’d just go take a look, see if it was really closed-​in, see the rules posted, etc, but since there was literally no one there, we broke the rules. We broke the rules, went in, and checked it out.
Now, since I recently adopted my dog, I didn’t even know if he wanted to run. And, if he did want to run, I was going to go online and pay the membership. When I adopted him from the shelter, he had no interest in running around the play area, but I figured maybe because it was far too small.
Well, I’m glad I got a chance to see if he would be interested in running around a huge play yard. I wasn’t surprised that he had no interest in running, but was only interested in finding the exit gate, which he did. So, after 3 minutes of sampling out this playground (and breaking the rules,) we continued on our merry walk.
But this yard was ENORMOUS! And gorgeous!

I loved it! Brookline has a lot of green areas which is great for my dog. A lot of the other dog parks I’ve been to have off leash, but they aren’t completely gated and it’s disappointing because my pup loves chasing cars so we can’t enjoy those places. Brookline Ave playground is our saving grace! It’s big enough to tire my dog out, and no matter what time we go there are always plenty of other dogs there for mine to play with. The only reason it’s 4 stars instead of 5 is because it shares a gate with a kids’ playground and screaming kids = barking dogs. There are trees that provide shade for us owners and benches too. Also, a water fountain for thirsty dogs and parents alike. Couldn’t ask for more

My wife and I love this park! Our pups have come here since they were old enough to interact with other dogs; just as soon as they got all their shots, we were here. And the first time I came with them, it was like doggie heaven. There were about 30 other dogs and their owners in a large grassy enclosed and tree lined field. Amazeballs!
The Green Dog program recently enforced a pretty expensive pay for the year program: $ 50 for each dog if you live in Brookline and $ 100 a dog if you live outside. Yeah we plucked down $ 200.00 for our fuzzies to run their butts off but this is a great park with great owners too. Very attentive and nice folks. I’ve been to other parks where the owners don’t care that their dog is misbehaving.
Here are my gripes: we pay $ 200 a year for this park and it’s only open from dawn until 1pm. And if there’s a sports group that paid for a permit, they trump us. Again I pay $ 200 a year for this service and the softball team overrides my dogs?!? Really, not right.
Also, I’m not sure what my $ 200 truly goes to. There is a Park Ranger who comes to make sure that all the dogs have paid to play but that’s about all she does. Lame. There is no poop pick up, no water and no place to sit. So what am I paying for exactly?
But even with those issues I have with the Brookline Green Dog program, we will continue to use this park. Since our pups have come here all their lives, we consider it ours now anyway!

I love this dog park for many reasons…
*Off leash hours
*Fenced in, so it’s safe
*Lots of room to run and play
*Water fountain (only just finally turned on in May, but at least there is one!)
*Generally good owners and good dogs come here (most likely because it’s under the official Brookline Green Dog Park Program, which you have to pay $ 50 a year for, which I personally think is worth it for the park’s upkeep)
*Open dawn to dusk in the winter, and till 1pm in the spring/​summer, which is not completely ideal, but better than others that close at 9am.
Things that bug me…
*Closed all of March and most of April to let the grass grow (which I totally get, but it still sucks!)
*Sometimes randomly closed for the weather. even with the grass grown in, they sometimes close it if its raining. which is kind of ridiculous. they do have a hotline you can call to check and see whether the parks are open, but sometimes it is not accurate
It is nice to have a place for my dogs to come play with others dogs, and I’ll definitely keep coming back.

Cool dog park that is convenient to my work and has plenty of parking when I drive over from the house.
I love that it is fenced in as my dogs are sort of well behaved until there is a distraction they deem more interesting than me calling them. Such as squirrels, birds, food and basically anything else that moves. The park is very large and seems to attract a lot of dogs. The best part is that most of the people who come are pretty laid back and actually let the dogs play. I also have yet to encounter someone who didn’t fairly deal with their dog when it was causing issues.
The downsides are the lack of water available in the park. This wasn’t issue all winter as my dogs understand that snow=water, but now that its all melted away that option is out. I also wish it stayed open past 1PM in non-​winter hours. Also be aware it is closed a lot in March and April due to mud in an attempt to let the grass grow back.

I’m from Orlando, where you can generally find a well-​maintained dog park within a mile, so I’m a bit spoiled. What this park is lacking in amenities it makes up for in size.
It’s weird to have to lug your own water, and there are no bags, but everyone is more than happy to share if the occasion arises.
Another guest told me all about how one woman’s dog got through the gate and ran into traffic for hours. So, with my guy who really likes cars, I’m very nervous when he starts sniffing around the fence.
The park itself feels very big for a dog park. Completely fenced in. Keep aware of the gates, and keep an eye on your dog.
PLEASE DO NOT GIVE OTHER DOGS TREATS. Some dogs have special diets and weird allergies. Some idiot shared Goldfish Crackers with my dog the last time I was there, although she apologized when I caught it.
I go at dawn on Saturdays, which seems to be the ideal time. Traditionally, the later you go, the more apt you’ll be to run into less-​than-​observant dog owners. We get a little time to ourselves, and everyone else shows up within 20 minutes for both of us to socialize. :]
Everyone is super friendly, and at an early hour in the winter, keeps a close eye on their dog.

As long as your schedule is flexible Brookline Avenue Playground is a great place for pups to play. The biggest plus for me is the fact that this area is fully fenced, as my dog tends to be just fine and then all of the sudden SQUIRREL!!! The dog owners for the most part are welcoming and excited to meet your dog. This area does double as a baseball field so the hours in the summertime are dawn-​1PM. I say go! Give it a try because socialization is great for you and your dog.

Large and fully fenced in = great. So far all the dog-​owners that I have met have been really nice, attentive and friendly. Everyone shares in the ball-​tossing and head-​scratching. If your the type of dog owner who doesn’t mind sharing the ball toss or having pups run through your legs like a gateway then you should come visit. If you want to talk on your cell phone the whole time while your dog barks and bites other dogs then you should probably stay home.

This is a decent dog park. One warning, stay far away from the big woman who owns one of those large-​poodle dogs… she put bow-​ties on her dog’s ears, that’s how you’ll know them. Her dog is very aggressive, and what’s worse is that she denies this and accuses other friendly & non-​aggressive dogs of misbehaving towards her dog. Luckily, I’ve never had an issue with her, but have witnessed her threaten other dog owners at this park frequently. She threatens them by saying she’ll call the police if they do not leave the park when she asks. She tries to get other ppl at the park to agree with her by yelling loudly and not making an sense. One time, she tried to claim that a tiny Jack Russell was terrorizing her dog, when I know for a fact that this dog didn’t even get near her dog.
Just remember, stay away from the fat-​crazy lady who forces her giant poodle dog to wear bow-​ties on it’s ears!!!
Other than that… like a lot of dog owners, you have the people that don’t pay attention to their dogs, owners who are overly sensitive about their dogs, and the normal-​good dog owners. It’s a decent park if you compare it to others around the city.

This park is huge, and fully fenced in — an ideal setting for a dog park. The limited hours are fine — however, the past three times we’ve been there with our dog (well before 1:00PM), there has been a softball game going on. I recently witnessed a confrontation — which was brought on in part by my dog running into the outfield in chase of another dog, and inadvertantly interfering with a play.
The players claimed that they had a permit to play there at that time, and said that all the dogs had to be put on leash. Of course, the signs on the park clearly state that as part of Brookline’s Green Dog program, it is an off-​leash dog park during those same hours. More than one of the owners argued for awhile, then most people left (we think we overheard that the softball game was being played by Brookline police officers).
What a shame that dog owners in Brookline can’t fully enjoy this park, and that the town can’t schedule these other organized activities after 1:00PM or otherwise post when they are scheduled to occur, to avoid conflicts. Some I’m sure don’t mind being limited to a small corner of the park, as they don’t have dogs that require a lot of exercise — but mine does, so I won’t be returning. Dedicated dog parks like Peters Park in the South End, while not as expansive or green, give our pup the socialization and workout he needs without the limitations — or drama.

Not sure this was the best place for me to bring my dog. It appears to be better as a sports field then a dog park. Recently there has been an uptick on patroling the area so you better make sure if you come to follow the rules otherwise you are bound to get a ticket. It is also important to follow the rules about when the park is closed be it for wet grounds or sports events. I think there are probably better places to bring your dog if it needs exercise and I will continue my searching.

My black labrador retriever looooves to retrieve the ball over, and over, and over. I have to monitor him in the summer because he easily gets overheated. Brookline Ave. has very little shade. Also, it tends to be wet and muddy. So my clever dog heads straight over to he big muddy puddle near Brookline Ave. and lies down in it. Dirty, panting dog is not my favorite companion for the car ride home or on the «T». When I can get him over to the Cleveland Circle reservoir in Brighton, he has a nice swim and is refreshed and exhausted. They don’t have posted dog hours (which means I go any time) and they have two stations with dog poop bags and trash bins, so I presume dogs are welcome there.

When my dog was spotted herding other dogs at our usual park today, it dawned on me that I needed to find him a spot with more space to run. He’s also very easily distracted and needs to be in a fenced in park… enter Brookline Avenue Playground.
I doubt we’ll get there much in the warmer weather when it is an off-​leash park only before 1 pm, but for the winter months, dogs have free reign of this large space all day.
It’s right on Brookline Ave, which means street parking is readily accessible. There is also a water fountain, but I didn’t see any poop bag stations– good thing we brought our own.
It wasn’t too crowded in the late afternoon today, but the couple of owners I did meet were cool. There is definitely space for dogs and owners to do their own thing, or for the dogs to play together.

This playground doubles as a dog park from dawn-​1pm April-​November, and dawn to dusk during the winter. Which means that you can take your pooch to the dog park even if you don’t get your act together until after 1 during the cold months, which is pretty uncommon. This large (4 acres) fenced park provides lots of room for the dogs to run and play, and the crowd is generally very cool. Younger and more urban (I don’t mean anything by that, just that they live in the city) than at the other parks in Brookline, with larger dogs generally. There are a lot of them too, this park seems to be very popular. There was one bratty little dog who kept starting with the other dogs, whose owner was equally bratty and wearing ridiculous sunglasses. But for the amount of dogs and owners present, one pair of douches isn’t bad. On the weekends, parking is easy since there is a daycare right next to the park. During the week you have to work a little harder to find a spot on Brookline Ave. or one of the side streets. But, as with any of these dual use spaces, sometimes there are soccer games or whatever going on during the off-​leash hours. But my dog loves soccer, doesn’t yours?