Pay to Play dog parks?

Dogster  takes up an issue we've addressed in the past: Should dog parks charge dog owners an annual fee?

According to a story in the Contra Costa Times, city officials in Novato (Marin County north of San Francisco) are looking to impose a $75-a-year fee on dog owners who use the year-old dog park. It's part of an effort to cut the city's $3 million deficit, but paid dog park membership also has been used throughout the country as a way of dealing with potential problem dogs or owners and making sure all rules are being observed.

Now $75 a year sounds a bit steep to me. But I've been intrigued by the notion of charging say $25 or $30 a year as a way to ensure more control of the park. But how do you really enforce such an arrangement?

Owners in Novato, as can be expected, have mixed opinions.

Margaret Nelson, a legal secretary who has a German shepherd/boxer mix, said she probably wouldn't be willing to pay the fee even though "I probably wouldn't have a social life without the dog park.

"It's just a bad idea," she said. "There's no way they should be doing this. Most dogs out there are rescue dogs, so we feel as if we're already doing a public service for the community. Now they want to penalize us. Why single us out?"

In other cases, the fees go to the nonprofit group overseeing the dog parks as opposed to municipalities. But perhaps a split fee would help both entities and encourage more cities to establish off-leash areas.

Our earlier post drew two opposing views from readers: "Awesome idea," wrote sanpedrodogs.

"Too much of a hassle to enforce," wrote 3Dogs2Arms.