By: Mike Koury | Southfield Sun | Published October 15, 2025
SOUTHFIELD — The opening of Southfield’s first dog park is on the horizon.
The Dog Park at Lahser Woods will hold its official ribbon cutting and grand opening at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, at Lahser Woods Park.
The dog park is located within Lahser Woods Park at 27577 Lahser Road and features two separate areas for pups, one for large dogs that’s 1.5 acres and one for small pups under 25 pounds that’s 1.3 acres. There also are solar-lit walking paths, new security cameras and an expanded parking lot with electric vehicle charging stations coming soon.
The project was funded through a $100,000 Community Park & Trail Capital Grant from Oakland County Parks.
City officials said that the dog park has been a request for years, and they’re excited to be able to finally have one in Southfield.
“There’s dog parks all around communities, but I think it was really important that folks have an opportunity to express wants and desires, and so this was definitely on our list of projects going forward,” Parks and Recreation Department Director Terry Fields said. “We’re just really fortunate to be able to provide this kind of amenity for our folks.”
Fields said the park also has solar-lit bollards, and they will be planting trees in the future. The park neighbors Park House Southfield Senior Living, a pet-friendly senior apartment community, Stevenson Elementary School and the Young Israel of Southfield synagogue.
“It’s really something that has benefited the community and some of our neighboring organizations and faith-based organizations as well,” she said. “We’re excited. Council’s excited. They wanted to make this happen as well.”
Mayor Ken Siver is happy with the park’s location in Lahser Woods Park, which he felt had been underutilized, and with the addition of the walking path.
“The park has a great walking path in it so you could let your dog play in either the large or small dog play area, and you can go out walking in the park,” he said.
At this time, applications to join the dog park only are open to residents. Before visiting the park, each dog must have a valid dog license from the city of Southfield and updated vaccinations.
“Until we see how the public responds, it’s residents only,” Siver said. “Possibly in the future, it will be open to other residents.”
After an application has been verified, the owner must pay a fee of $45 for the year for one dog and $10 for any additional dog. Each household can register up to three.
For more information on the dog park and to get a license, visit cityofsouthfield.com/departments/parks-recreation/dog-park-lahser-woods.
Fields said future plans for the dog park include taking donations for National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month and hosting dog-related giveaways and vaccination clinics.
“We want to encourage all of our folks to get their dog license and vaccination so that they can come and register for the dog park, but also, even if they’re not going to be using the dog park, just to really keep our folks and our animals safe,” she said. “So, we’ll have some vaccination clinics going forward and you’ll see some special events out there that will be something that we haven’t been able to do before, dog-related.”