Salt Lake City's best dog parks, from Memory Grove's creek walks to Tanner Park's foothill swim hole.

Foothill off-leash trails, creek swims, and a dawn regulars culture

Brickyard Bark Park
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Brickyard Bark Park

Long fenced run on wood chips, regulars know each other

Park Finder

Find the right park in Salt Lake City.

Filter 16 parks by the things Google Maps can't tell you: fenced or open, reactive-friendly, shaded, double-gated, puppy-safe.

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Dog Owner's Guide

What to know before a dog park day in Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City's dog scene is built around the Wasatch foothills and a long list of designated off-leash areas inside city limits. The strongest picks are unfenced creek-and-trail parks for confident, recall-trained dogs, with fenced runs filling in the rest of the valley.

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  1. 01

    Rules

    Leash laws & off-leash rules

    Utah has no statewide leash law, so rules are set by each municipality.

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    Salt Lake City requires dogs leashed in public parks except inside designated off-leash areas, which include Memory Grove, Tanner Park, Parley's Historic Nature Park, Lindsey Gardens, Herman Franks, Fairmont, and Wasatch Hollow's grass section. Surrounding municipalities (Bountiful, Draper, Taylorsville, South Salt Lake, Park City) each set their own rules, and the fenced parks across the valley are the safest default outside SLC proper.

  2. 02

    Access

    Permits, licensing & fees

    Salt Lake City requires a city dog license for any dog over four months, with proof of current rabies.

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    There's no entry fee or extra permit at any city dog park or designated off-leash area. Surrounding cities (Bountiful, Draper, Park City) run their own license programs but don't gate park access.

  3. 03

    Health

    Vaccinations & requirements

    Rabies is required by Utah state law for any city dog license.

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    None of the off-leash areas check vaccinations at the gate, but standard boosters (DHPP, bordetella) are worth keeping current if your dog is mixing regularly with the regulars crowd at Herman Franks, Fairmont, or Tanner.

  4. 04

    Timing

    Climate & seasonality

    Summer is hot and dry, often pushing past 95 in July and August.

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    Early-morning windows and creek-side parks like Memory Grove and Tanner are the warm-weather plays. Winter brings real snow that sticks for days, but the off-leash trails stay open and the foothill parks are some of the best big-dog days of the year. Spring runoff makes the creeks fast and cold, and several preserves close trails when the water peaks.

  5. 05

    Geography

    Where to go, by neighborhood

    The east bench and foothills carry the off-leash trail parks: Memory Grove below the Capitol, Tanner and Parley's at the mouth of Parley's Canyon, Rotary Glen up Emigration.

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    Central SLC anchors the fenced runs at Herman Franks, Fairmont, and Lindsey Gardens. The west side of the valley adds the Cottonwood pair along the Jordan River, and the broader Wasatch Front extends to Brickyard in Bountiful, Lions in South Salt Lake, Millrace in Taylorsville, Dayland in Draper, and Willow Creek thirty miles east in Park City.

Park picks

Which park for which day.

When the day's already decided, here's the park.

  • Water day

    Tanner Park

    Mile-long off-leash trail down to a Parley's Creek swim hole that converts non-water dogs into committed splashers.

  • Hard run

    Parleys Historic Nature Park

    Sixty-eight off-leash acres along the creek with mountain-edge feel for a recall-trained dog with miles in the legs.

  • Meeting owners

    Herman Franks Dog Park

    Central-SLC fenced run with a regulars culture from sunup past sundown and a near-guaranteed playmate stop.

  • Small dog

    Fairmont Dog Park

    Sugar House park with mature shade, double gates, and a calm enough crowd that tiny-dog owners recommend it to other tiny-dog people.

  • Hot weather

    Memory Grove

    Off-leash creek walks below the State Capitol with City Creek waterfalls dogs splash through to cool down.

  • First visit

    Draper Dayland Dog Park

    Split large- and small-dog enclosures with creek-fed water and a Draper regulars crowd that keeps the place clean.

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