Newton gets its first off leash dog park

Lee McIntyre sits at the back entrance of Cold Spring Park to make sure dog walkers adhere to a new set of leash-related rules.

By Ben Terris
Town Correspondent

Two signs mark the back entrance to Cold Spring Park in Newton. The first is a slightly rusting warning that all dogs must be on leashes, lest the owner wants to pay a $50 fine. The second, which was put up Tuesday, sends a slightly different message: “Dogs must be leashed until you reach the off-leash area” it says below a map of the park. With this sign comes Newton’s first legal dog park, at least for a nine month trial period.

Lee McIntyre, who helped spearhead this designation, spent the morning sitting in a lawn chair beside the new sign. He wanted to make sure that all users of the park were aware of the new rules.

“It took so long for us to get this park,” said McIntyre, who when not walking his two German Shepherds and Golden retriever is a writer, philosopher and part time teacher at Simmons College. “I just want to make sure that people follow the rules so we can keep it this way.”

The process toward turning Cold Spring Park into a legal dog park began in 2007 when the Board of Alderman voted to allow dogs to be off –leash in “designated areas.” At that time, there were no such places. So McIntyre and some of his fellow dog walkers, who dubbed themselves “Friends of Cold Spring Dog Park,” began a campaign to make their park an off-leash site.

By July of last year the Parks and Recreations committee allowed a field in Cold Spring Park to be a designated off-leash site as long as there was the appropriate signage. After McIntyre and others raised their own money to pay for these signs, the signage was finally put up this morning, making the place official. The dog park is now on a nine month trial period.

“We have had an underground illegal dog park here for years,” said McIntyre who estimated nearly 200 people walk their dogs at Cold Spring. “But to have it be official will really benefit everyone, and not just dog owners. Sure, the owners won’t be getting fined for taking their dogs off their leashes, but people without dogs will benefit too. Now that there is an official place to bring dogs, a place with a set of rules, it should really keep them from being places they shouldn’t be.”

Not all neighbors of the park are so excited. One man, who wished to remain anonymous, had this to say about the dog park:

“I’ve had dogs running around my property for years. I think instead of making it easier for dogs to run free in the neighborhood, they should make stricter laws to keep them in check.”