Milwaukee's dog population is booming, but the areas for dogs to play, off leash, are few and far between. On any given day at any given time while walking my Beagle, Frutiger through the Riverwest neighborhood I encounter several fenced-in dogs and usually at least one other dog on a leash.

Most people comment that there's at least one dog for every household. When I lived on the East Side the same was nearly true. But according to the Residents for Off-Leash Milwaukee Parks (milwaukeedogparks.org) there are only five areas to release your pets to burn off some energy and all of them require at least a 15-minute drive outside the bounds of the City of Milwaukee. As a result I've never visited any of them.

Milwaukee residents, instead, are forced into makeshift, law-bending situations, converting partially fenced baseball fields, tennis courts, and secluded beach areas into areas where the dogs can explore the smells of nature and wrestle with their friends without getting tangled and strangled.

These situations can be stressful, as it require diligent and responsible dog handling and even in the quietest neighborhoods can still be highly dangerous. Despite rigorous training, Frutiger still doesn't understand the concept of "look both ways before you cross the street." Sometimes the problems occur not with the dogs, but with cranky neighbors, and city officials "just doing their job."

Having a sanctioned, legal, friendly area with no means for escape would take a lot of stress out of what should be an enjoyable activity.

I don't see any reason why we can't take small portions of some of Milwaukee's larger parks and have an area fenced off for such purposes. It doesn't have to be magnificent rolling hills or anything, though a decent looking fence would be nice. It basically just needs to be some small place off of the main park where the dogs can run more than two feet before they're thrown off their feet. New York City has at least one dog park attached to every park and even sometimes two (one for large and one for small dogs)!

Having a few dog parks sprinkled around the area would promote exercise, entertainment, and community for both the humans and animals and it'd also make life a whole lot more adorable. I'm curious to know what YOUR take on the situation is? Have you been dying for a dog park, or do you like your human parks the way they are?