Fort Collins keeps it simple: four fenced dog parks inside community and neighbourhood parks, and a leash everywhere else.
Spring Canyon Community Park, at the far west end of Horsetooth Road against the foothills, is the headliner; the city's own page invites you to let your dog roam the fenced dog park there. Fossil Creek Community Park on South Lemay, just north of Trilby, has a fenced dog park with picnic tables inside the fence. Twin Silo, the newest community park, built around two grain silos on Ziegler Road in the southeast, puts its dog park near the east-side lot. Soft Gold Park on Hickory Street in north Fort Collins is the neighbourhood-scale option, a few blocks west of College Avenue.
The rule that governs all four is the same: Fort Collins allows dogs off leash only in fenced, signed dog park areas, and owners must pick up waste. The rest of each park, and every city trail including the Poudre River Trail, is leash-only. Dogs and cats four months and older need an annual city license, sold only through NOCO Humane at $17 a year for an altered dog.
Horsetooth Mountain Open Space west of town is not an off-leash alternative: Larimer County requires leashes at all times there and may impound loose dogs.
Fossil Creek Community Park, 5821 S Lemay Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80525
Fenced off-leash dog park with picnic tables inside Fossil Creek Community Park; dogs must be leashed elsewhere in the park and owners must pick up waste.
Soft Gold Park, 520 Hickory St, Fort Collins, CO 80524
Fenced off-leash dog park inside Soft Gold Park; dogs must be leashed elsewhere in the park and owners must pick up waste.
Spring Canyon Community Park, 2626 W Horsetooth Rd, Fort Collins, CO 80526
Fenced off-leash dog park inside Spring Canyon Community Park; city rules allow dogs off leash only in fenced, signed dog park areas and require owners to pick up waste.
Twin Silo Park, 5480 Ziegler Rd, Fort Collins, CO 80528
Fenced off-leash dog park inside Twin Silo Community Park; park near the east-side lot, and keep dogs leashed outside the fence.
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Only inside the fenced dog parks at Spring Canyon, Fossil Creek, Soft Gold and Twin Silo parks. City rules state that dogs are not allowed off leash in parks except in fenced, designated and signed dog park areas, and the same leash requirement applies on city trails.
Fort Collins requires an annual license for dogs and cats four months and older, $17 a year for an altered dog and $60 for an intact one, sold through NOCO Humane since the county clerk stopped issuing them. Carry proof of rabies vaccination as well.
No. Larimer County requires dogs to be on leash at all times throughout Horsetooth Mountain Open Space and says loose dogs may be impounded. At the reservoir campgrounds, leashes are limited to ten feet and dogs are kept off the swim beaches. An entrance permit is required.
