“Times have changed. Dogs don’t have owners, they have families,” according to the current issue of Parks and Recreation magazine. This changing attitude has spurred a national movement for community dog parks where unleashed pets under supervision can exercise and play with other dogs.

In Gorham, a group of dog owners is working to gain support for a local dog park. Recently Joanne Lannin and Rik O’Neal met with Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak to discuss the process of securing a location and preparing a proposal to bring before the Town Council.

“We are just in the first phase of this, and we need to organize,” O’Neal said. “Now we are taking our dogs all the way to Portland to run.”

According to Paraschak, the dog park could be a cooperative venture between the town and volunteers. “Town-owned land might be available,” he said, “but questions of current or future uses would need to be considered.” Because he “can’t employ someone full time to pick up dog poop,” those using the park would have to take responsibility for monitoring it.

Paraschak is supportive of the idea, but emphasized that proposers would need to develop a realistic budget before it could be brought before the Town Council for approval. This might involve raising private funds for fencing and perhaps for the site itself.

Gorham residents have been exercising their dogs at the fenced-in Gorham Middle School athletic fields, but the Recreation Department recently removed the pedestrian gates to discourage dogs off leash because dog waste was becoming a health hazard.

Kim Ballard, a dog owner, acknowledged that while most people clean up after their pets, she has stopped taking her dog Agnes there. “What we need,” she said, “is a convenient enclosed area with parking. We hope to get business donations and volunteers to help keep it clean and trash-free. We don’t want it to be a burden for the taxpayers.”

There are dog parks in Westbrook and Portland. Standish is in the process of establishing one on a portion of the town-owned Memorial Park. Jan Derice, Director of Parks and Recreation, is working with a group of 300 members who received a $25,000 grant from Pet Safe. She believes that “it is becoming a community obligation to have a dog park.”

Cindy Hazelton, Gorham’s Recreation Department Director, said that finding a location is the first step and that would determine much of what comes next. She said it was “awesome that a citizen’s group is involved, but this is uncharted territory.”