Aug 26, 2026

NOLA City Bark: The Permit-Only Dog Park in City Park

You cannot walk into New Orleans' main dog park. Permits, vaccination proof, a heartworm test and a weight rule for the small side, all published by City Park.

Luis ZamoraCo-founder of PetCompass; Dog Dad to Banzo and Tuck

New Orleans, Louisiana11 min readThings to Do

You cannot walk into New Orleans' main dog park. You have to join it first.

NOLA City Bark, inside City Park, is gated and permit-only. The park's own page puts it without hedging: "NOLA City Bark is a permit-only dog park. You and your dog(s) must have a permit to enter the dog park. NO exceptions will be made."

That sentence is doing real work. In most cities a dog park is a gate you push open. Here it is a membership with a vaccination requirement, an age minimum, a spay-neuter requirement, a heartworm test and an annual fee. If you have just moved to New Orleans and you are looking for somewhere to let a dog off the lead, this is the main answer, and it needs planning rather than a spontaneous Saturday.

The essentials


Where	10 Magnolia Drive, New Orleans, LA 70124
Size	4.6 acres
Access	Permit only, gated
Hours	Wednesday to Monday, 5:30am to 9pm. Tuesdays, 3pm to 9pm
Phone	504-483-9380 on the park page; 504-483-9377 on the rules PDF
On site	Restrooms. No food or drinks allowed
Children	None under 8 permitted, at any time

Those hours are quoted from City Park's own NOLA City Bark page, which renders the ranges with dashes our house style does not print; we have substituted the word "to" and are telling you so. The substance is unchanged.

The Tuesday anomaly is worth noting on its own. Six days a week the gates open before six in the morning. On Tuesday they do not open until three in the afternoon. If Tuesday morning is your window, this park is not your answer that day.

What a permit costs

Annual, and priced per household rather than per dog after the first.

Permit	Price
1 Dog Annual Membership	$85, described as $7.09 per month
2 Dog Annual Membership	$125, described as $5.21 per dog per month
3 Dog Annual Membership	$150, described as $4.17 per dog per month
2-Week Temporary Permit	$25

Plus a discount worth knowing about: "Friends of City Park Members receive $5 off NOLA City Bark permits."

The two-week temporary permit at $25 is the interesting line. It exists, which means a visitor staying a fortnight has a legitimate route in. It is also expensive per day compared to the annual, which tells you the pricing assumes most users are locals.

There is also a free option for a specific group. Verbatim: "City Park is proud to support local foster families by offering free one-month foster permits. These permits provide foster dogs with access to a safe and engaging space where they can exercise, socialize, build confidence, and thrive while waiting for their forever homes."

If you are fostering through a local rescue, ask about that before you pay for anything.

What your dog has to be

Four conditions, all of them checked at application rather than at the gate.

At least six months old. No puppies.

Spayed or neutered. No exceptions listed. Note the interaction with the city's own rules here: Orleans Parish requires dogs over six months to be altered or to hold an intact dog permit, and City Park's dog park does not accept the permit as an alternative. An intact dog can be legal in New Orleans and still be barred from City Bark. Our explainer on spaying and neutering your pet covers the decision itself.

Heartworm negative. This is unusual and it is not a formality in Louisiana. Heartworm is endemic on the Gulf Coast, and the Louisiana SPCA maintains a whole page on heartworm disease and treats prevention as a standing part of care. A negative test is a real gate, not a box tick.

Current on rabies, DHLPP and Bordetella. Three vaccines, named. "Proof of vaccination is required when applying for a permit." The rules document adds that dogs "must be collared with current rabies tags" and that proof is required "for initial permit and renewal applications", so this is an annual document exercise rather than a one-off.

If you are assembling those records, our pet health and vaccination tracker is built for it, and our pet vaccination schedules guide covers what DHLPP and Bordetella actually protect against.

The rules once you are inside

City Park publishes a two-page rules and safety document for the dog park. It is more detailed than most, and several of its rules are not the ones you would guess.

Three dogs per household, maximum, inside the fence at once. Verbatim: "Limit of three dogs per household at one time within the fenced dog park area." Which matches the fact that the permit tiers stop at three.

You stay inside the fence, holding a leash. Verbatim: "Owners/handlers must remain inside of fenced area, with leash in hand, and within view and voice control of their dogs at all times." Leash in hand is a specific instruction. Not clipped to your belt, not in the car.

The double gate has an order of operations. Verbatim: "Dogs must be kept on a leash until inside the double-gated entry. Enter the first gate with the leash on and remove it prior to entering the second gate. Do the reverse when leaving." That is the single most useful sentence in the document for a first-time visitor, and it is the thing people get wrong. A dog that walks calmly through a gate on a slack lead makes it easy; our notes on how to leash train a dog cover getting there.

The small dog park has a weight rule and a stronger recommendation. Verbatim: "Only small (under 25 lbs.) or special needs dogs are allowed to use the small dog park. For safety reasons, it is strongly advised that dogs weighing less than 15 lbs. remain in the small dog park." So 25 pounds is the ceiling for entry and 15 pounds is the threshold below which staying is advised.

The permit holder has to be the person who brings the dog. Verbatim: "Dog park permits are only issued to adults 18 years of age or older. The permit holder must be the person to accompany the dog to the park." You cannot send your teenager with your permit.

Children under 8 are barred entirely. Between 8 and 18 they must be accompanied by an adult member and, verbatim, "should not engage with others' dogs unless permission is granted by the owner."

The first sign of aggression means you leave. Verbatim: "Owners must remove their dog immediately from the dog park at the first sign of aggressive behavior."

You fill in the holes. Verbatim: "the owner/handler is responsible for destruction caused by their dog, which includes the responsibility of filling in any holes the dog digs while in the park."

What you may not bring in

The prohibited list is long and some of it will surprise you.

Collars. Spike, choke, electric and prong collars are all banned inside the fence. If that is your walking collar, bring a flat one to swap into.

Food of any kind. Dog treats, rawhide chews, human food and glass containers are all prohibited. The park page repeats it as "No Food or Drinks Allowed". So no training treats, which changes how you handle recall in there.

Most toys. Verbatim: "Dog toys with the exception of balls or Frisbees." A ball or a frisbee is fine. A rope tug or a squeaky is not.

Wheels and gear. Footballs, baseballs, soccer balls, rugby balls and volleyballs, bicycles, rollerblades, skateboards, drones, strollers and scooters.

The obvious. Tobacco, vapour products, alcohol, illegal drugs, weapons and firearms.

There is also a clothing rule, which reads: "Clothing that contains discriminatory or inflammatory language against a protected group/class." Worth a mention only because it tells you the document is a real code of conduct rather than boilerplate.

The keycard is being replaced

The City Bark page carries a transition notice. Verbatim in part: "Beginning July 28, you'll be able to access NOLA City Bark using either: A digital-access pass on your smartphone, or A printed pass from home", and "we will be installing new gate scanners on July 28 that will only read the new access passes."

The notice does not state a year. We are not going to guess one. What it tells you is that the park is moving from physical keycards to digital passes issued through a City Park Portal account, that existing memberships have been transferred to that portal, and that first-time portal users need to set a password via the reset link before they can see their pass.

If you already hold a City Bark permit and have not logged into the portal, that is the thing to do before your next visit rather than at the gate. If you are applying for the first time, expect the pass to arrive digitally.

If something goes wrong

The rules document sets out an incident procedure, and it is specific enough to be worth carrying in your head.

The non-injury guidance first: try non-physical intervention before you touch two fighting dogs. Verbatim options given are "Clap and yell or blow a shrill whistle", "Spray the dogs with a citronella spray that is safe for dogs" and "Spray with a hose if one is handy". Then, if that fails after roughly three seconds, both owners approach together and lift from the back legs "at the very top just under the hips". And the warning that matters most: "DO NOT grab your dog by the collar."

Then, after any fight: "LEAVE THE PARK. Put both dogs on leashes after the fight and leave."

If there is injury, the document gives four steps and a number for each stage. Exchange contact information if it is safe to do so, note the time, date, breed and owner contact, leave immediately, and then report it. Verbatim: "Report the incident to the City Bark office by calling 504-483-9377 or emailing [email protected]. Outside of business hours contact City Park Police at 504-421-9307." And for serious injury: "In the case of grievous injury to yourself or pet, contact 911 to give report to New Orleans Animal Control."

Note that 911 for an animal emergency is also what the Louisiana SPCA instructs on its Animal Control FAQ, so the two authorities agree on that point.

The phone number conflict

We have to flag this, because both numbers come from City Park itself.

The City Bark page lists 504-483-9380.

The rules and safety PDF, hosted on the same domain, lists 504-483-9377, twice, once for keycard problems and once for incident reports.

We are not going to tell you which is current, because we do not know. Try the page number first, since a web page is easier to update than a PDF, and fall back to the PDF number. The email address [email protected] appears on the PDF for both purposes and is a reasonable third route.

The rest of City Park, with a dog

Worth knowing before you drive out there, because the dog park is not the only thing you can do and the surrounding rules are stricter than most visitors expect.

City Park's park rules and policies state: "Pets must remain on leash at all times and in possession by the owner. Owners must pick up after their pets and properly dispose of waste. Pets are only allowed in open areas and the NOLA City Bark dog park."

That final clause is the one to read twice. In a park the Conservancy describes as "over 1,300 acres", dogs are limited to open areas and the dog park. Attractions are out. Park hours are 5am to 10pm daily. Swimming or wading in the lagoons is prohibited, and glass containers are banned park-wide.

Our notes on dog park etiquette cover the behaviour side, which matters more in a gated park where everyone has paid to be there. And if you are visiting the city rather than living in it, our New Orleans hotel directory and our roundup of pet-friendly hotels in New Orleans will get you a base within reach of Magnolia Drive.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a permit for NOLA City Bark? Yes. City Park states that NOLA City Bark is a permit-only dog park, that you and your dogs must have a permit to enter, and that no exceptions will be made.

How much does NOLA City Bark cost? $85 a year for one dog, $125 for two, $150 for three, or $25 for a two-week temporary permit. Friends of City Park members get $5 off.

What are NOLA City Bark's hours? Wednesday through Monday, 5:30am to 9pm. Tuesdays, 3pm to 9pm.

What vaccinations does NOLA City Bark require? Rabies, DHLPP and Bordetella, all current, with proof required at application and renewal. Dogs must also be collared with current rabies tags.

Does my dog need to be spayed or neutered for NOLA City Bark? Yes. Dogs must be spayed or neutered, at least six months old and heartworm negative.

Can I bring treats to NOLA City Bark? No. Dog treats, rawhide chews, human food and glass containers are all prohibited inside the fenced area, and the park page states no food or drinks are allowed.

Sources

Fees, hours and access methods change. Check City Park's page before you drive out.