What better to venture into Boulder’s beautiful open spaces than with a furry friend. Boulder Open Spaces and Mountain Parks offers a sprawling 145 miles of trails to the avid hiker, and up to 90% of those trails are open to dogs. This includes the Chautauqua Meadow, Mt. Sanitas, NCAR trails, Bear Canyon, the Table Mesa Trails and much, much, more.

But, before heading into the great outdoors with your pooch, don’t forget to bring a leash and some doggie bags. While the Open Spaces and Mountain Parks welcome dogs, it is your responsibility as a pet guardian to keep you companion safe and to clean up after him or her. The Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks host a delicate and diverse ecosystem, and we must ensure that neither us, nor our furry friends, upset this ecosystem. This means keeping your dog on leash, and disposing of pet waste properly – not leaving it on the trail to be dealt with later.

If you feel you and you canine can master the basics, look into Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Voice and Sight Tag Program. The Voice and Sight Program allows dogs to walk without a leash on the Open Space trails. Once your dog is trained to be under your complete voice and sight control, you can enroll in a Voice and Sight Class online at: https://bouldercolorado.gov/osmp/voice-and-sight.

If not, you and your furry friend can still enjoy nearly all the trails around Boulder on leash.

 

Photo credit: Sherrie Stille