Chatfield dog park: passes, the ponds, and what to do about the coat after

Chatfield State Park's dog off-leash area is 69 acres, fenced all the way around, with two ponds and miles of paved and dirt trail inside it. It sits on the south side of the park near the Plum Creek entrance, in Littleton. You need two passes: a park pass for the car and a dog off-leash pass for the person holding the leash, which is $3 a day or $25 a year.

We're about 20 minutes away in Lone Tree, and pond days show up on our grooming table as damp undercoats and grass seed between the toes. The park details below come from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which runs Chatfield. Fees and closures change, so check CPW's Chatfield page before you drive over. The coat advice is ours.

Do you have to pay to go to Chatfield dog park?

Yes, twice. Every vehicle entering Chatfield needs a valid park pass, and the off-leash area needs its own pass on top of that.

You can buy the dog pass at the visitor center, the entrance station, or a self-service station, and the annual one online. Wear it where it shows, because CPW requires the pass to be visible on the handler, and a lost one costs $5 to replace. If you go more than eight times a year, the annual pass is the cheaper option.

Does Chatfield State Park allow dogs outside the off-leash area?

On a leash, almost everywhere. The swim beach is the exception. Off-leash running is only allowed inside the fenced area, and dogs have to stay leashed on the walk between your car and the gate.

Inside the fence the rules are short: no more than three dogs per handler, dogs stay under voice control, and you carry a leash and waste bags the whole time. The park is open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day.

Is Chatfield worth the drive over a neighborhood dog park?

For a dog that likes to swim or needs real distance, yes. A neighborhood dog park is a fenced yard where dogs mostly circle each other; Chatfield is big enough that you walk a loop while your dog runs, and the ponds give a retriever something to do besides wrestle. For a nervous dog the size cuts the other way, since there's more room to avoid other dogs but also more dogs arriving from every direction. If yours tends to hang back, try a weekday morning first. We wrote up the fenced dog parks in Highlands Ranch if you want something smaller and free.

After the ponds: drying a double coat

This is the part that goes wrong. A golden, a shepherd, or a husky that swims at Chatfield can feel dry on top an hour later while the undercoat is still wet against the skin, and warm damp skin under a thick coat is how hot spots start. Towel off at the car, then dry all the way down at home with a dryer on a cool setting, brushing as you go so air actually reaches the skin.

Doodles and poodle mixes have the opposite problem. Their coat dries, but it dries tight: curly hair that gets soaked and air dries without a brush-out shrinks into mats at the skin, usually behind the ears and in the armpits. Brush and comb it through while it dries. Our guide to keeping a doodle from matting covers the comb test.

Two more things worth a look before the dog gets back in the car. Check between the toes, inside the ears, and under the legs for grass awns, since foxtails and cheatgrass burrow and turn into a vet visit. And if CPW has an algae advisory posted for the ponds, keep your dog out of the water, and rinse with clean water if they go in anyway.

Rinse off on the way home

If you'd rather not wash a pond dog in your own bathtub, our self-wash stations in Lone Tree have raised tubs, warm water, shampoo, and high-velocity dryers, and we do the cleanup. No appointment needed; a single wash starts at $22. If you'd like us to handle it, a bath and brush starts at $45 for a dog up to 20 lb and includes the full brush-out and a dry to the skin.