Bin Chicken Park Dog Off Leash Area

Bin Chicken Park is the local nickname for the off-leash ovals at EE Gunn Reserve in Ormond, entered from the Tyrone Street side. The eastern ovals, the ones running along the railway line, are where dogs can go free, and they are big: full-size grass ovals, open to the sky, with enough room for a genuine run rather than a lap of a fenced yard.

The dog setup

This is not a fenced enclosure, it is a designated off-leash zone on shared sporting ovals, so the recall question comes first: dogs with reliable voice control will love it, nervous runners will not. Glen Eira Council's conditions apply. Dogs must stay within 50 metres and under effective control, wear a current registration tag, and stay on-lead within 20 metres of barbecues, picnic areas, the playground and any organised sport. The western oval, nearest Malane Street and Beatty Crescent, stays on-lead at all times, as do the fenced playground and cricket nets. Leash up whenever club or school sport is using the ovals.

Pepsi: the open oval is made for zoomies, but with no fence line to catch a wanderer, keep your eyes on the far edge.

Worth knowing

Council also sets aside evening off-leash windows on the baseball oval portions, Monday to Thursday from 8pm to 9pm and Friday from 5pm, though casual bookings and fixtures can shift them. Weekday mornings and Monday nights are the quiet times, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons draw the biggest crowds, and an early weekend visit beats the midday rush. Facilities are solid for an unfenced reserve: waste bins, shaded seating, picnic tables, electric barbecues and an accessible entrance and parking.

Getting there and parking

Come in off Tyrone Street, just off Grange Road, with street parking along the reserve edge. Ormond Station on the Frankston line is an easy walk, and buses run along both North Road and Grange Road, so arriving car-free is realistic.

While you're out there

The Ormond Provedore Cafe on North Road does coffee and dog-friendly footpath seating, and Mr Brightside Cafe keeps biscuits behind the counter a few minutes away. For a fenced alternative, McKinnon Reserve Dog Off Leash Area is the closest comparable space, and Hodgson Reserve covers the Bentleigh end.

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