Bone of contention

"It's been a tough issue initially to deal with, because there was a lot of anger on both sides," says Virginia Aiello of the Berkeley Parks and Recreation Commission.

The city of Baltimore has seen controversy, too. Without authorization, dog owners had commandeered an area of Robert E. Lee Park, says Connie A. Brown, associate director for parks. "We had some major drama. We wanted to fix up the place a bit. Clean up the soil, let it breathe, but we had people climbing the fence, going around it. Right now we have it open because [that causes] less drama."

Despite such skirmishes, many dog parks work well and are flourishing.

Fort Woof, a five-acre dog park in Fort Worth, Texas, opened in April, and has become one of the city's most-used parks. "There hasn't been an hour a day that someone isn't there," says Randle Harwood of Parks and Community Services. "On the weekends, there are 100 to 150 people there."

One reason Fort Woof's development has gone smoothly is that it's located in Gateway Park, eliminating the residential disagreements seen in other cities. The city also had policies in place before a dog park was even proposed. Problems there have been few.

"We thought we'd have more problems with dogs socializing, but there's only been a couple of little incidents, and those got resolved. It's very self-policing," said Mr. Harwood.

With interest levels high, dozens of new dog parks are currently being developed across the country. On Friday, Broward County, Fla., is getting ready to open its first county dog park at a cost of $460,000. Located inside Markham Park, the new, three-acre off-leash area is loaded with amenities, including walking paths, wash-down areas, and water fountains.

"It's reinvigorating interest in parks for people who might not have gone," says Bob Harbin, Broward County's parks and recreation director.

The off-leash trend is also sparking entrepreneurship.

In September, Jill Breen opened Adventure Hounds, Colorado's first private dog park, 25 minutes north of Denver. A half-day excursion for up to eight dogs costs $30 apiece. They are picked up and driven to the off-leash park, where they can romp in a huge sandbox and exercise on agility equipment. Owners like the fact that their pets can socialize in a small group.

"When you go to a public park, you don't know what will happen," says Ms. Breen. "I've been [where] there are aggressive dogs and ones that aren't spayed or neutered, and you don't know if the dogs have had their shots." A private park eliminates those worries for dog owners, she says.

For those who want to establish a public off-leash area, countering objections can be daunting, says Nancy Peterson of the Humane Society of the United States. "Dog owners feel, and rightly so, they are taxpayers also, and while some people use the park for jogging or soccer or tennis, dog owners' interest is having an area where their dogs can run freely. If you don't like dogs, now you can avoid them because they'll have an area that's just for them."

When launching Fort Woof, Harwood says the challenge was justifying a dog park when infrastructure at other parks needed attention, and money was short. In hindsight, though, he realized that Fort Woof is not a park for dogs, but rather a park for people with dogs.

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