The Town of Weston has recently introduced a Dog Log that will provide Town Officials with feedback about user experience on Weston’s Conservation land and trails as it pertains to dog-related interactions. As it reads on the town website: “This information will help us to better understand the level of compliance with Weston’s Dog By-law, to see if any patterns emerge regarding dog-related interactions, and to determine how well our dog policies are working. “If you have a dog-related experience you wish to share — whether good, bad, or neutral — please share it on the Dog Log.“

You can also report actual dog “logs” or unattended, abandoned and lost dog poop. No dog poop left behind, folks. Be a part of the change you want to see. As trite as all these expressions are, the Owl has been aware of rumblings of folks wishing to severely restrict access to one Conservation property in Weston that has historically attracted dogs and people from all over the Boston area. Why? Not because Weston hates visitors, but because the canine-owning ones have left so much crap abandoned there, and the stomping of human feet have prejudiced local flora (tree roots do not love packed dirt), that the radical could happen. Let’s hope that reform, a dog log and a concerted community effort (and I mean the community of users of all Conservation land) can turn it around. Quickly.

In spite of unofficial rumblings, there are no plans to change the trail-use policy or dog by-law currently in place.

If anyone has lost track of the Weston dog by-law, it can be reviewed here. It is a stunning four pages long, and there may have been some changes to the commercial dog-walking policies recently–please, if you are a commercial dog walker, get full information from Town Hall.

Please also note that the Emergency Management Team has required all dogs to be leashed after 10 am on all public land. This is Covid-related emergency policy–and Weston is joined by most neighboring towns in requiring it (actually, most require leashing all day, every day under Covid).