I’m going to admit up front that I am not a dog person. I understand the ire this statement is drawing at this very instant, but it’s the truth. I can’t deny it. However, I had a mild conversion this weekend thanks to Unleashed, a one-of-a-kind indoor dog park in southeast Dallas that opened a few months ago (and is due to expand nationwide, starting in Plano, soon). I would likely never have visited on my own (see above), but my cousin was in town with her two German short-haired pointers (GSPs, for those in the know) and needed a place for them to run around without imminent threat of heat stroke.

I’d heard about Unleashed from a dog-loving friend who regularly took her three pups there for playtime. My only experience with dog parks had been running past the White Rock doggie playground at Mockingbird Point, which has the misfortune of having poor drainage and no air-conditioning. I accompanied my cousin and the dogs grudgingly, even as she and my mother gushed over Unleashed’s charms: the staff remembers your dog’s name after one visit (!), the turf on which the dogs run is regularly drained and flushed for a sanitary surface (!), there’s more than 25,000 square feet of indoor space for off-leash romping (!), free wi-fi and a cafe for owners (!), a store stocked with dog stuff and dog-related people stuff complete with “wait” crates so Fido can chill while you shop (!). Yeah, yeah. Whatever.

But, despite my prejudice, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the massive complex. There’s a boarding and grooming area, the aforementioned store and cafe and, best of all, the sprawling swaths of turf upon which dogs of all size and type were engaged in a rapturous ballet of fetch, chase and butt-smelling. Owners can segregate their dogs by size, and each off-leash area is monitored by staff to prevent fights and puppy-making. I ended up sitting at a table inside the big-dog area watching the canine action for almost an hour. It was entertaining. (Apparently Katie Couric thinks so, too: an Unleashed staffer told me her camera crew had been there filming recently.)

I don’t think I’m ready for dog ownership anytime soon, but I think I could manage a return trip to this place. I mean, they do have treats for humans, too.