Dog wars waning in Wellesley
By Erica Noonan, Globe Staff
The town of Weston -- which is currently wresting with whether to limit off-leash dogs -- may wind up taking a lesson from Wellesley.
A compromise regarding off-leash dogs at Perrin Park, a popular open space abutting youth playing fields, seems to be working well, local officials said.
The conflict came to a head last fall when neighbors and parents complained of uncleaned dog waste and packs of dogs running wildly and interrupting games.
"Sometimes it takes only one upsetting experience with a dog for a parent to get upset and very sensitive about dogs," said Janet Hartke Bowser, executive director of Wellesley's Natural Resources Commission, which oversees the dog rules.
The town briefly banned off-leash dogs in Perrin, creating an outcry among dog lovers. Now, off-leash dogs (which are permitted off-leash in most of the town's other recreational areas) are relegated to early morning and evening hours when the fields are generally not in use.
"It seems to be working pretty well so far," Bowser said. "In general, compliance has been good."
As the numbers of dogs licensed by Wellesley has increased by about 100 per year -- now at 2,722 for about 9,000 households in town -- so has the use of the fields for year-round youth sports.
The situation appears to have been a wake-up call for both the pro-and-anti-off-leash dog groups in town. Two incumbent members of the commission were unsucessfully challenged this year by opponents of the dog controls.
"It's about protecting everyone's ability to use the land," she said.
Local communities have dealt with dog vs human complaints in various ways. Wellesley already prohibits anyone -- local or out-of-town -- from walking more than three dogs at a time.
Brookline launched a program in 2006 that limits everyone to no more than three off-leash dogs at once, and limits accessibility to the mornings and evenings in most of the city's 14 public parks. Arlington is planning a similar pilot program, where residents would pay $40 and non-residents $100 to walk their dogs off-leash in town parks.
Even in more rural western suburban communities like Maynard and Hudson, dog owners are banning together to encourage good behavior among off-leash dogs.
MayDOG, a non-profit formed by the region's dog owners, is helping coordinate off-leash obedience training classes and advocating for a new fenced-in dog park at the site of a former landfill on Waltham Street in Maynard.
Society needs to come to a compromise so that humans and dogs can co-exist peacefully, said Jim Neely, a professional dog walker from Quincy, who takes his canine charges -- hailing mostly from Brookline and Boston -- to various western suburban parks including Cat Rock in Weston and Cold Spring Park in Newton.
"I can understand their concern over people making money on public land,'' he said. "But if they charge a fee, then I would feel like I would really have to come every day to get my money's worth. Is that really what they want?"
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