Fido Freedom Park

In my adventures of driving on Saturday, I ventured out to the westside of town near Katy. I wanted to get an idea of what that area was like compared to Kingwood (northeast side), which I visited with our realtor, Patty, earlier in the day. I found yet another great, master planned community with some very wonderful homes, but more exciting than that, I found one of the bark parks in Harris County on my return trip. Instead of driving back in I-10, how I went to Katy, I drove through Cinco Ranch (master planned community) and ended up on Westheimer Parkway. Westheimer Parkway not only turns into Westheimer, the main east-west street south of the apartment, but it also takes a scenic route through George Bush Park. This park has a lot of trails, an equestrian center, and is more reserve-like than Memorial. Halfway through the park, I stummbled upon a bark park a.k.a dog park. There are three bark parks in Houston, and this one is the Millie Bush Bark Park.
What this means is that while all of the local parks are pet friendly, they are still required to be on a leash or you can get a ticket. Not at the bark park! There is a series of gates that you have to enter in order to get inside the dog freedom area that keep them in and don't allow them to run off. (Yes, there was a lab mix that was trying to get out while I was there. He managed to get though one gate into the corral area, but he couldn't get out.) You can see a bit of the corral area behind the "small dog park" sign in the picture below. And yes, there are two sections of the park: one for the small dogs (less than 20 pounds) and another that is open. I think Hallie will do better in the open section since she thinks she's a big, mean, ferocious 11-pound jack russell. (Let's not burst her bubble though!) There is a good amount of space here to let fido run around, chase other dogs, chase you, and even play fetch. During my visit, one pup even decided to play in the doggie pond. I would say this is, surprisingly, what Ginger would do. They will have to get a wash down before they're allowed back in the car to go home after running around and getting messy. For the next few months, at least, Millie Bush Bark Park as well as the others will become a place we visit with girls at least once a week. And I bet if they're on their best behavior, they might be able to give James those puppy dog eyes (Hallie is the worst about that!), and he'll take them for a mid-week treat.