ohmidog!

The idea of designating off leash hours for dogs in parks seems to be catching on in Massachussetts, where a handful of towns have turned to the practice in an effort to resolve the conflict between those who like to  let their dogs run freely and those who complain about it.

The town of Weston, Mass – which is currently wrestling with whether to limit off-leash dogs — may wind up taking a lesson from Wellesley, Mass., the Boston Globe reports. In Wellesley, designated off leash hours at Perrin Park seem to be working, local officials said.

The conflict in Wellesley came to a head last fall when neighbors and parents complained of uncleaned dog waste and packs of dogs running wildly and interrupting games. The town briefly banned off-leash dogs in Perrin, creating an outcry among dog lovers. Now, off-leash dogs are relegated to early morning and evening hours when the fields are not in use.

“It seems to be working pretty well so far,” aid Janet Hartke Bowser, executive director of Wellesley’s Natural Resources Commission, which oversees the dog rules. “In general, compliance has been good.”

Several other municipalities have instituted off-leash hours, are considering them, or are giving them a trial run, like the experiment we told you about last month in Newton, Mass.

In addition, Brookline launched a program in 2006 that limits accessibility to off-leash dogs 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.

Here in Baltimore, several residents proposed the city consider trying off-leash hours in a meeting with City Councilman Ed Reisinger in Riverside Park last week. The meeting was held after an outcry over the city instituting $1,000 fines for off-leash dogs. Reisinger seemed to put little stock in the suggestion, and said creating more dog parks was the solution, but a group of dog owners in Riverside is still trying to push the idea. They, and the city, might be well served by looking at Wellesley.