To the editor:

Did you know that as of mid-2022, nearly 2,000 dogs were registered with the town of Barrington? I learned this via an open records request. And there are undoubtedly many more dogs in town that do not carry Barrington tags. I am one of thousands of dog owners in town, with a properly licensed pooch.

These thousands of dogs come in sizes from tiny to huge. All of them need to burn energy for their health and well-being, not to mention the sanity of their owners. These dogs live in thousands of households in town.

Larger and more athletic dogs need to be able to run. In most cases, they can run far faster than their owners. As I write this, there is no public place in town where a dog owner can legally walk their dog off-leash, except for the dog park at Haines Park, which will be closed soon for months. For non-dog owners, a dog park is quite a different exercise experience than a vigorous walk of a few miles.

There was recently a regrettable—and wrong—incident in which a dog owner allegedly walked his dog on a Barrington ball field and argued with a coach who wanted him off the field. As a result of this encounter, the town council is considering enacting further restrictions on where and how dog owners can exercise their pets.

Legislation based on the wrong actions of a small number of people is reactive. Some people in town do bad things, and usually, the council does not rush to pass an ordinance. For example, there are awful dog owners who bag their dogs’ droppings and leave the bags along the side of the road. As a responsible dog owner, this sets me off. Should the council vote to ban all dog walking along the road because some owners can’t be bothered to dispose of their dogs’ droppings? If we do that, let’s also ban the drivers who litter the streets with empty beer bottles.

Should we ban all teen drivers from our roads because every couple of years, there is a terrible vehicular tragedy? Should we re-ban liquor stores from our town because some folks get drunk and then drive?

Barrington should provide dog owners a place where well-behaved dogs can move off-leash with their owners. The beach is an incredible place for this. How about marking a section of beach well north of Town Beach where dogs can be off-leash? It would be helpful to be able to park near this area.

Many dogs' best exercise is swimming. A law enforcement officer told my friend that the only way his dog could swim in the bay was if it was on a leash. This is outrageous, silly, and dangerous. It exemplifies how our town’s reactive dog policies have led to a ridiculous situation.

We have excellent walking trails. How about identifying a specific time of day when it is OK for well-behaved dogs to walk off-leash on a particular trail? There are many ways to provide the thousands of responsible dogs and owners among us with quality activities.

Most dogs and dog owners need to move. The town should provide places for us to do so, no differently than it provides athletic facilities for public use.

Ken Block 

Barrington