Who Let the Dogs Out?
By James Krohe Jr.
"Build it and they will come," says Craig Foreman,
manager of park planning and development for the city of Fort
Collins, Colorado. "In packs."
Dog parks--dog runs, or off-leash areas, pooch
parks, paw parks--where canines can frolic under the supervision
of their owners, have gone from controversy to commonplace in
about 15 years. Today, these "tot lots for pets" have become standard
items in local inventories of recreation resources. The story
of how they came about marks a new chapter in the long social
relationship between dog and human.
The tale starts with the widespread adoption of
leash laws in the 1980s, a phenomenon that turned many dog owners
into law breakers--and planning activists. For many owners, running
dogs unleashed is a justifiable act of civil disobedience.
What is thought to be the nation's first officially
sanctioned dog park was opened by the city of Berkeley in 1983
in response to the appropriation of a city-owned vacant lot by
off-leash activists. Located within Ohlone Park and formally named
the Martha Scott Benedict Dog Park, it is popularly known as the
Ohlone Dog Park.
Introduction above reproduced
with permission of Planning magazine, copyright 2005 by the American
Planning Association.
