But the Cambridge Water Department, which oversees the park, wants to ban nonresident pooches from roaming off leash and plans to outfit Cambridge canines with bright red medallions, so the rangers who patrol the park can see which dogs belong and which do not.Cambridge already officially allows off-leash dogs in Fresh Pond Park, but the Water Department feels that there are so many running around now and pooping that the water supply is getting contaminated.
Since off-leash and on-leash dogs both poop equal quantities, their solution is to cut down on the number of dogs in the park by not allowing the out-of-town dogs from going off-leash. Officially-sanctioned, off-leash dog areas in parks are so uncommon that they are magnets attracting dog owners from a much larger region. At least some people in Allston believe that this is what happened in Ringer Park a couple of years ago, although it was never officially-sanctioned as an off-leash dog area. (A Yahoo!Group called "Ringer Dog Park" was formed circa 2003.)
Boston hasn't officially allowed "Dog Recreation Spaces" (the official term) until a City Ordinance (11.10-2) passed by the Council two years ago provided the mechanism for neighborhood groups to apply for, construct, and maintain them.
The South End has the first such park, Peters Park, created under this new Boston City Ordinance. The park has been allowed to be used as a dog recreation space for a number of years; the dog owners there applied to convert it to official status under the ordinance, which required a number of improvements. It cost around a quarter million bucks. Reading on the topic:
11/14/04: Puppy playpens? Council mullsmethod to create canine havens
10/21/05: They say the place is going to the dogs
1/30/07: Tails wag for first sanctioned dog park
3/4/07: Tails wag the park, now set for fancy fences, close watch
