info@boogity.ca
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Barkwood Forest

A private, fenced dog park exclusively for social dogs

Barkwood forest is an off-leash dog park created by Boogity Dog Walking because we wanted a space where all the dogs we ran into are friendly and social dogs. We wanted our dogs to have a space where, no matter who they meet, we could feel relaxed and confident in the knowledge that the other dogs is a friend and not aggressive or temperamental.

Now we are bringing that experience to dog owners across Ottawa. Our park is on Fernbank Road in Stittsville, a 20 minute drive from Kanata and Barrhaven, and allows Barkwood members to walk their social and friendly dogs themselves on our gorgeous 100 acres of dog park paradise including plowed trails all winter long.

Barkwood is open to members daily from dawn until dusk 7 days per week, 365 days per year.

Want to learn more about what Barkwood Forest has to offer?

Choose one of the options below!

How it Works
About the Park
Member Login
Sign Waiver

Join our Mailing List for Open House Scheduling

If you are interested in attending an Open House please add your email to our Barkwood Mailing List by entering your email below and we will contact you with upcoming times and dates. Please check your spam filter if you haven’t received anything within 24 hours.  

How it Works

To become a Barkwood Member you must first attend one of our free Open House walks. This will give you the opportunity to see our park, our trails and learn about the safety features of the park that keep all our pups safe. We run these regularly. Please join our Mailing List to hear about our next one or send us a message using the contact box below if you have specific questions.

The walk is 45 minutes with your dog and any other dogs and owners interested in becoming members that week.

This walk will be lead by one of our Dog Socialization Assessment experts where we will meet your dog and see how they interact with the other dogs on the walk as well as confirm they have the off-leash recall skills needed to walk safely in such a large space. A few notes on this process:

  • Since we don’t know your dog yet, we will ask that they stay leashed until we ask you to let them off.
  • We try our best not to make the results of the assessment public. That said, if we feel we are unable to complete the walk with your dog present you may be asked to leave mid-way through. We will do this as discreetly as possible.
  • A note on puppies: For most breeds we find that under a year old they will stick with their owner. If you have a puppy but haven’t tried off leash walking yet, we encourage you to still reach out and we can discuss with you if a tour is right for your dog at this time. If they don’t pass, we will send you home with some advice on what to work on with your dog and where to do that work.  Then you can come back and pass at a future tour.

Once your dog is accepted we will inform you of all of the policies and procedures in place to ensure that only Barkwood members are on the property at all times.

You will get your materials to allow entrance to the park and learn about our reporting system to inform us of any unauthorized users or any dogs behaviours you don’t believe are acceptable so you can help out our staff who patrol the park to ensure we keep it exclusive to Barkwood members and social dogs.

Pricing:

Full memberships are $65/month for one dog and $20 for any additional dogs. These can be used during any daylight hours.

Weekend Only memberships are $50/month ($15 per additional dog). These can be used on Saturday and Sunday as well as all Statutory Holidays.

Gift Memberships are available for a 3-month membership at either Full or Weekend pricing, paid up-front, with a 10% discount. The Gift Membership will be refunded if the dog does not pass the assessment during their tour.

All dogs must pass the socialization screening to be allowed onto the property. Prices are subject to HST.

Please note, while you’ll want to share this experience with all your dog owning friends, we only allow screened dogs to be on the property. Non-member humans are allowed to walk with a member but non-member dogs must be screened before they can join. We encourage you to tell your friends about our next Open House and we’d be happy to screen their dog for membership.

“I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees”

– Henry David Thoreau

About the Park

Barkwood forest is 100 acres of fenced forest and field land. It has the following dog-friendly features:     

Get back to nature with your dog on 100 acres of gorgeous Canadian greenspace. Former farmland at the turn of the last century, Barkwood’s fencing encloses towering evergreen forests, sunny fields, and gentle rolling hills. The dense trees keep you safe from windchill in the winter, while the open fields let your dog bask in the sun in the summer. 

Marked trails guide you in a loop through shady woods and sun-soaked meadows. Bring your fav hot bevy and breathe in clean, fresh air while your dog romps, explores, and greets other fun-lovin’ buddies. The main trail takes roughly 40 minutes to complete at a brisk pace, or 60 minutes at a leisurely stroll, but connecting trails easily allow you to do half or triple that distance without repeating a path.

While there are natural roots and rocks along the way, the terrain is largely flat and relatively easy to walk. Whether your dog loves to zip and zoom at top speed, play and wrestle with friends, or catch up on the sights and smells, Barkwood has it all.

Barkwood Forest has very little long grass which is where ticks like to live. Though all dogs should be treated for ticks, we have found very few ticks in our forest. We chose the terrain of the forest partially for this reason and hope you’ll enjoy a tick-free experience.

Barkwood provides garbages at the parking lot and in the back woods for waste disposal. We ask that you pick up after your dog while walking at Barkwood Forest so we can keep the poop off our paths.

Barkwood also has a washing station complete with shampoo for those times your dog is a little too muddy to jump right into the car. Also great for a little drink after a long walk. There is a shoe brush there for humans too who may have stepped in something they don’t want to take home.

Barkwoods trails are plowed and packed down in the winter by an ATV which runs the trails after every significant snowfall so that you aren’t walking in deep snow.

In order to keep your dog safe during loading/unloading from your vehicle, we employ an ‘airlock system’ in our parking lot. This means you will open one gate to get into the parking lot and a second gate to get into the park. This ensures there is never a direct line from the park to the road. Training will be provided on how to use this system during open house walks.

The final benefit of our forest is the community that our members create. You’ll meet other dog owners like yourself who believe in providing a high quality, social experience for their dog. Members who are willing to go the extra mile to ensure their dog’s success in socialization. What better people could there be to enjoy your morning or evening dog walk with?