Taking the bite out of dog-park conflicts

Attempting to groom a better image of dogs among the general public, the Maynard Dog Owners Group is heading to the local farmers market to hand out doggie treats and teach children how to play safely with those who eat the treats.

This bit of puppy PR is happening even as debates over dog controls and off-leash options have flared this year in a number of area communities, including Arlington, Newton, Wellesley and Weston.

“We’re trying to raise the issue of dog safety, and we are talking about safe off-leash options for dogs in our towns,’’ said Lexington resident Bette Yip, a certified dog trainer who will teach the safety classes for the Maynard Dog Owners Group.

The nonprofit organization is bringing Yip to the Main Street farmers market on Aug. 1 for two 20-minute workshops, scheduled for 10 and 11 a.m., to help children identify when a dog wants attention and when it’s best to stay away.

At a recent installment of the weekly market, members of the group plied passersby with homemade dog biscuits.

The impetus for the organization, says president Lisa Lines, is to secure permission to use 1 acre of a 13-acre town parcel - previously a landfill - along Waltham Street for a fenced-in, leash-free dog park.

The proposal stalled in February when the Board of Selectmen declined to move forward with the idea. Through their new outreach efforts, Lines said, the group’s members hope to lay a foundation of support to introduce the idea again.

The strategy is to bring experiences of positive dog-human interactions to the town.

“The main thing is that we’re, as a group, promoting responsible dog ownership,’’ she said. “And one of the things we can do is offer various educational events around dog behavior.’’

Yip’s workshops, which are her first formal children’s events outside her Arlington-based dog-training and photography business, use role-playing exercises in which children play the roles of dogs, owners, children, and parents. In other exercises, they use stuffed animals and photos, she said.

“A key component to everything I want children to pick up is learning to read canine body language,’’ Yip said.

That is, a stiff-bodied dog with pinned-back ears is likely to be unapproachable, she said. White of the eyes equals fear, as does lots of lip licking, and a fearful dog can be unpredictable.

Yip will also direct kids to look to a dog’s tail, observing whether it is between the animal’s legs or straight up in the air. Both bespeak a canine best left alone.

“I also want to emphasize that it’s not just about a child’s ‘right’ to go pet a dog,’’ said Yip.

Meaning, once a child has permission from a parent and an OK from the pet’s owner, the next step is to “ask the dog . . . offering the dog’’ a closed hand to sniff first, Yip said. “If they shy away at all,’’ she said, the dog is “saying ‘no thank you.’ ’’

Misreading a dog’s disposition, Yip said, can lead to a decidedly less agreeable encounter.

The state’s Bureau of Animal Health, under the Department of Agricultural Resources, estimates that dogs bite an average of 1,500 people in Massachusetts each year.

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in 2007 - the most recent year for which figures are available - the nationwide number of bite-related injuries requiring medical attention in hospital emergency rooms was 309,638.

While the number of children bitten nationwide per year seems to be decreasing, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the children who are bitten require medical attention more often than adults do.

Thus, the workshop.

“People can teach their children how to behave around dogs,’’ Lines said. “This is to help head off potential issues at the pass.’’

Among the area’s recent conflicts over dog behavior and control, a pilot program in Arlington to allow off-leash dogs in many public parks and fields during limited hours was narrowly defeated at Town Meeting in May.

Residents of Weston, which has no leash law, voted this spring to impose limits on dogs being allowed off-leash in response to an influx of pet owners and professional dog-walkers from across the region using the town’s Cat Rock Park.

Wellesley briefly banned off-leash dogs in Perrin Park, creating an outcry among owners. But a compromise was reached allowing dogs to run off leash at the park during early morning and evening hours, when the playing fields are generally not in use.

In Newton, the city’s only off-leash area opened in March on a trial basis in Cold Spring Park, but it quickly sparked complaints that dog owners were taking over the neighborhood, making parking difficult, and letting their pets run through people’s yards. At a hearing Monday night, the Parks and Recreation Commission reviewed the pilot program and then voted to postpone any decision on the dog park’s fate - or discussing the possibility of two additional off-leash areas - until September.

“We obviously did not do this thing right,’’ said commission member Walter Bernheimer. “This is an experiment, and we’ve struggled with the one we’ve had open, but experiments are only useful if we learn things from it. . . . To me, one thing I’ve learned is that it’s obvious we can’t just have one; we either need to have many or none at all.’’

Dr. Monica Mansfield, a Medway-based veterinarian and spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association, said she views off-leash parks as potentially positive for dogs, but that perhaps humans overemphasize their importance.

“In terms of dog psychology, any play is great,’’ Mansfield said. “But it doesn’t have to be off-leash play. Socialization with other dogs is fantastic. However, it doesn’t have to be in this type of park situation.’’

John Curran, Maynard’s town administrator, said the town’s decision regarding the Maynard Dog Owners Group’s proposal in part turned on upkeep.

“A lot of it came down to who would maintain the park,’’ Curran said. “I wouldn’t say they would never consider it in the future, but it did not turn into a top priority for that site.’’

Since passing on the group’s first proposal in February, Maynard has considered installing solar panels on the parcel - an idea now stalled due to economic factors.

Meanwhile, Lines hopes her group can reintroduce the dog park concept with more public support.

“I think the location is ideal,’’ Lines said. “It would be a privately funded park, and we would raise the funds.’’