Kingsman Field Dog Park

I used to go with my best friend to this park with his dog, Lincoln. I’m not a dog owner, just a friend of a dog, so my opinion may not be the best, but I think this is the best dog park in Capitol Hill East. It has a small dog park and a larger dog part. The other dogs seem friendly and it really brings together dog owners.

Ok. It is generally a nice park. People are mostly friendly and understanding. Small, and gravel is not my favorite but its DC so Im not going to get a field of dreams with Kevin Costner in the background.
The only thing that is so very annoying started to happen this summer. People are bringing those kiddie plastic pools so their dogs can play in it. Seems fine right? NOPE! people are leaving the pool full of water which then turns to murky grossness attracting bugs. Other people dump the water out but no where near the two drains. SO now we have a very muddy mid-​section of the park with stagnate water. And you guessed it, also attracting bugs and it grows green algae. Then imagine your dog running through that disgusting muck that other dogs have started to pee in (because their awesome dogs and can do that) and you get a new kind of bug you never seen b4 and gross dirt/​algae caked to your furry friend. So you absolutely have to wash you dog every time you go to the dog park. Which I am not about. But Im also not about dirt that smells like something Satan invented and couldnt stand it in hell so he sent it to this dog park to curse middle earth.
Fall, winter, spring is so nice; no pools. We use to go to the park everyday so she could tug and aggressively sniff butts (sorry to all about that) and now, in summer, I only bring my pup on Saturdays because bathing her daily is bad for her skin and i really hate what all that dirt does to the bath tub. It looks like I bathed and shaved Oscar the Grouch and Snuffaluffagus; Its bad.
SO people out there who are using the pool just dont or practice some common courtesy and use one of the drains that are provided. There are two! That is two more than DC representatives in Congress!!! I know they are not by the water fountain but you can fill out your Satan pool of water by the drain then just tip the water out directly into the drain. Mind-​blowing, I know. Please stop just dumping it on the rocky dirt its not ok. And bad for all of the dogs who only should be rolling in cat poop to piss their owners off, not man made dirt that can easily be avoided.
Thanks
oh and pick up your dog shit. I mean really, dont be a dick.

Good dog park with friendly people and friendly, playful dogs.
The surface is stone/​gravel, which I thought would be an issue because our dog doesn’t like wood chip parks, but the soft gravel is not an issue.
It is not very busy during the daytime from Monday to Friday.
It is divided into two sections — a smaller and a larger area, but this is not designated as a small dog /​big dog split.
There is a hose in the park to clean or cool down your pup.

This park would be great in the summer but I stopped by in the winter when it was a damn mud pit. I had to wash the dogs afterwards. It was good sized though with multiple runs. There is also two different water spigots for the dogs to drink water.

My pros and cons on this dog park:
Pros
— usually several other dogs there, so your dog is not alone
— I like the gravel, especially during wet days
— mostly nice other dog owners
Cons
— OMG there are so many uncollected dog turds. Really, who comes to a dog park and does not pick up? I usually pick up two or three other piles, as well as that of my dog. Sort of a «community poop» pick up. If you see owners ignoring their dog turds, call them out. Too many walkers here are on headphones or cell phones, so I think they unleash their dog and zone out…

I bring my dog here practically every day, and I don’t know what I would do without it to get rid of all his energy. Yes, it’s gravel, which gets gross and smelly especially when it rains, but what do you expect from a dog park? I do wish there was more shade but the young trees they planted don’t provide that much. Basically, my dog loves it, therefore I love it.

the park is just too small, and, as other posters have noted, provides the perfect set up for dog fights. my dog was attacked there. also, the gravel not conducive for paws! i couldn’t find the entrance as was yelled at by a very concerned citizen when i crossed the baseball field with her looking for the entrance. like yelled at for several minutes. thanks, lady.

1) The park stinks badly. The trash is VERY full and poop bags are all over. Clean the trash more often!
2) Too many people go there and sit back and just chat chat with other dog owners not giving much attention to their dogs (while they think dogs playing together on their own is fine but…)
3) I brought my dog her own ball for her to play and fetch but other dogs kept snatching them away from her and other dog owners did nothing because they were too busy chatting and chatting with each other except one woman who was just sitting on the bench doing nothing. Her dog kept snatching also but she kept throwing it trying to give it to me but her dog kept snatching it over and over. HELLO??? HAND IT TO ME or your dog would still keep stealing it.
4) Rock gravel all over. what the hell? This can hurt dogs’ paws.
I will never go back to this stinky place. Ugh!

I WANT to like Kingsman, but the truth is I’ve taken my dog there several times, and almost every time she’s gotten into a fight.
1) They have toys and balls, which is a cool idea in theory, but in practice it’s stupid. Some dogs are very possessive, and my dog playfully sneaks up on them and snatches their toy or ball = fight. I wish they didn’t provide toys or balls.
2) The gravel, as another poster said. Its’ hard on my dog’s paws, plus when we get back she’s covered in gray dust = bathtime.
3) Other owners… there’s one man with two aggressive pit bulls who brings them almost every day. WHY ARE YOU BRINGING YOUR UNNEUTERED DOG INTO THE PARK?! People have asked him not to bring them, but he still does.
I live just a few blocks away from Kingsman, but my dog and I always end up at the Congressional Cemetery (we’re members) or maybe at Stanton or Lincoln Park. We haven’t touched Kingsman in months.

Kingsman Dog Park is great for dogs and their people. As a new dog owner, the people at Kingsman were warm and welcoming to me. They’re my primary source for advice and recommendations — through the folks at Kingsman I found my wonderful vet and my favorite local pet supply store. People are generally good about monitoring their dogs and keeping them from getting too aggressive or bullied if the play gets out of hand. I appreciate the two separate enclosures so that it’s easy to separate dogs who shouldn’t be together.
And, the primary purpose of the park — to let the dogs run, safely, off-​leash — is ably accomplished. Well done, City of DC and Hill Hounds!

My dog was attacked and bit at this park by another dog on Monday night, April 18^th around 8pm. The owner of the other dog did not exchange contact information with me. If anyone knows any information about owners of a dog named Apple (dont know the breed — large black dog likely a mut), please contact me at 202−210−0868. Thanks!

So nice to finally have a dog park within walking distance! Although this park is smaller than the Shaw or Newark St. parks, it’s well thought out and probably the right size for the neighborhood. I also liked that it has a nice ring of grass surrounding the gravel, which makes the place feel more park-​like rather than just a bare gravel lot.
I noticed a couple of things:
–finding the entrance took some searching, since I live in SE and wasn’t really familiar with this area of the Hill… the city lists the address as 14/​Tennessee, but it’s really on D between 13^th and Tennessee.
–there is only one doggy waste can (with a separate trash can), which didn’t seem that big and may be prone to overflowing, but time will tell.
–the work on the adjacent basketball court has created a condition where a small portion of the park gets some standing water. Not a huge deal, but my dog loves to play in the mud and got way dirtier than he would’ve otherwise. I suspect, however, that this will be resolved in the coming weeks.

A welcome addition to the neighborhood! It opened 03/​25/​2011. Like the fact that they have a separate enclosed area for smaller dogs.