By Staff Reports
(Oahu)– Dogs in Makiki now have new, shady park space to enjoy with the official opening of an off-leash dog park in Punahou Square!
Following a request for an off-leash dog park from the Makiki-Tantalus Neighborhood Board #10, City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) staff identified the roughly half-acre park on the corner of Punahou Street and Wilder Avenue as an ideal location for the facility.
Now a portion of the park is home to the City’s 11th off-leash dog park, with much of the ‘Ewa (western) end of the park fenced for canine use under the shade of a large Moreton Bay Fig tree. The construction of that fencing cost nearly $57,000, with contracted work conducted by Allied Security Fence and additional support from DPR’s in-house plumbers, masons, and maintenance workers.
“It is thrilling to offer new space for pooches and their kahu, especially amidst a bustling neighborhood such as Makiki,” said DPR Director Laura H. Thielen. “We really appreciate the patience of the Makiki community while we worked to create this new area for our canine companions. The opening of this new facility comes at a time when we are looking to expand our inventory of dog parks across the island. In April we announced an effort to make more on-leash dog areas in our City parks with assistance from our Neighborhood Boards. We received some excellent feedback from about half of those boards, and will announce the first round of new leashed dog parks in the beginning of 2026.”
The Punahou Square Off-leash Dog Park will be closed Tuesday mornings for maintenance. The City’s last off-leash dog park was opened at Kahua O Waikalua Neighborhood Park in Kāne‘ohe on December 18, 2024.
For more information about DPR’s dog parks, both on and off-leash, visit bit.ly/OahuDogParks
If you need an auxiliary aid/service, other accommodations due to a disability, or an interpreter for a language other than English in reference to this announcement, please contact the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation at (808) 768-3003 on weekdays from 7:45 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. or email parks@honolulu.gov at least three business days before the scheduled event. Without sufficient advanced notice, it may not be possible to fulfill requests.