Ross Reserve Dog Off Leash Area

Ross Reserve on Lightwood Road is a big multi-use reserve in Noble Park with a fenced off-leash dog area tucked inside it, alongside sports fields, an all-abilities playground and a skate park. The fenced run gives dogs room to properly stretch out, and the wider reserve has enough facilities to make a morning of it.

Leash status

Dogs can only run free inside the fenced enclosure itself; everywhere else in Ross Reserve they stay on-lead under City of Greater Dandenong rules. Keep at least 10 metres clear of playgrounds, barbecue areas and any sports field with a game or training on, bin your bags, and leash up and leave if a dog gets aggressive.

The dog setup

The fenced run is long and straight, with double-gate entry points at both ends so you can slip in without an escape artist slipping out. Part of the run sits under the Skyrail structure, which throws useful shade on hot afternoons and drizzle cover in winter. Surfaces are grass and gravel, and it can turn to mud after sustained rain, so bring a towel in the wet months.

Pepsi: with the skate park, playground and soccer fields all sharing one reserve, weekday evenings get busy. A mid-morning weekday visit is the calm version.

Getting there and parking

The reserve sits off Princes Highway via Heatherton Road, with parking near the soccer fields and playground. Noble Park station is walkable, a few blocks through residential streets under the Skyrail line. Buses along the highway also get you close if you are coming without a car.

Worth knowing

Public toilets, picnic shelters and barbecues sit in the wider reserve, and the all-abilities playground makes it an easy split visit with kids and dogs. The dog run itself is more functional than landscaped: expect benches and bins rather than gardens, and no dedicated small-dog separation.

Close by with the dogs

Fotheringham Reserve is the other Noble Park off-leash option if the run is crowded. The Tirhatuan Park Fenced Dog Park in Dandenong North and the Springvale Reserve Fenced Dog Park are both short drives. Cafe Vita et Flores in Springvale does a dog-friendly coffee stop, and Quest Dandenong is the handy pet friendly stay if you are visiting Melbourne's southeast with a dog.

More options are on the Victoria dog parks guide and the Noble Park destination page.