How to use this site

SanFranciscoDogParks.com is a free directory of San Francisco and metro off-leash parks. Everything is a page you can open from the menu at the top. Here is what each one is for, in plain words.

The map (home page)

Turn on your location with the "closest park" button — the site will point you to the nearest off-leash park from where you're standing.
Filter the map with the chips below it: fenced, has water, shade, lit at night, room to run, small pens and more. Tap a chip to turn that filter on or off; parks that don't match fade out.
Each marker is one park. Tap it to open that park's page.

A park's page

Basics: address, city, status, and what you need to bring (pass, parking, paid entry). If a park is a pilot or still opening, it says so.
Amenities: water, shade, lights at night, fencing, bag dispensers. Anything we can't confirm says "not listed" instead of guessing.
Live weather plus a paw-heat / cold-paw check for the current temperature, so you know if the ground is safe for paws.
Vote or share the park, and save it to your treat bag so it stays handy.
Stamp my passport — ties into the Park Passport below.
Reviews: what people actually see there, plus a box to add your own (a moderator reviews it first).
Gear worth having — a small kit for park days. These are Amazon links; if you buy through them it helps pay for the site. The links work either way.

My treat bag (favorites)

Save parks you like on their page and they stay saved on the map for your next visit. Useful for the parks you actually use.

Park Passport

A friendly goal: visit and stamp every one of the 25 parks. You can stamp from the passport page or straight from a park's page. It's the honor system — the site asks where you are but records your stamp either way.

Progress badge counting up to 25: 🦴 First stamp, 🐕 Pack of five, 🔟 Double digits, 🦈 Park shark, 🚀 Full send, and 👑 Full pack for all 25.
Themed badges unlock by visiting certain kinds of parks: 💧 Water dog, 🌙 Night owl, 🥾 Trailblazer, 🏙 City slicker, 🎯 Small & mighty, 🗺 Big leap, 🎪 Pop-up pioneer, 🧭 Metro rover.
Leaderboard shows the top stamps on the site.
Share a card of your progress with your own nickname.

Which San Francisco dog park are you? (Quiz)

Answer a few questions and get matched with a real park that suits your vibe: 🐕 The Sprinter, 🦋 The Social Butterfly, 💧 The Water Dog, 🥾 The Trail Racer, or 🍃 The Quiet Soul. Your result links to the real parks that fit, and you can share a card. The result has its own web address, so you can send it to a friend.

Doggo (meet dogs)

Browse profiles of dogs that use these parks, add your own, and connect: paw a dog you'd like yours to meet, match, and chat in the built-in inbox. Anyone can block you back. Human-approved profiles only — nothing shows up until a moderator vets it, so the space stays friendly.

Guides

Curated shortlists so you don't have to dig: best parks for little dogs, best on hot days, best lit at night, most room to run, downtown, most-loved, and San Francisco vs metro.

Events (Calendar)

Upcoming San Francisco-area dog-friendly events, with a form to add one of your own. Event submissions are human-approved before they publish.

Everything else

Rules & etiquette — what keeps these parks open.
What to pack — the shortlist for park day.
Blog — longer notes and news.
Local sponsors — local businesses that help keep the site free.
FAQ — common questions.
About — where the data comes from and how honest we try to be.

Comfort & reading

Dark mode — flip the moon at the top to darken the site.
Bigger text — the "A" control in the top bar makes the text easier to read.
Print a park's page cleanly if you want a paper copy.

How this site stays free

It's supported by Google ads and by the Amazon gear links above. These show only after the accounts are set up. Nothing here sells your data, and there's no account or app to install.

Help keep it accurate

If a park's water is dry, the lights are out, or you found a park we missed, tell us: leave a review or a condition report on that park's page, or drop an event on the calendar. A human checks everything before it publishes, and the posted sign at each gate is always the real authority on today's conditions.

Owners / site maintainers

Running this site? The full maintenance guide is on the admin page — a separate readme for the people managing content, approvals and the money & ads settings.