I moved to the Seven Cities from Seattle where the battle for off-leash dog parks was fought and won more than a decade ago.

After long and often acrimonious public debates, the city and surrounding King County, established a network of off-leash dog parks that have since become models for urban canine diversions, some as large as 40 acres.

Open park spaces used by people with common interests and goals build community. Whether the community is sports teams, families in playgrounds or dog walkers, the parks serve as safe, non-threatening gathering places for like-minded pursuits. People with common interests who interact develop communities.

The apocalyptic claims of those opposed to Seattle off-leash areas – that packs of rabid dogs would savage senior citizens, that the paths would be buried in dog shit, that dogs would be ripping each other to shreds – never materialized. Citizens formed committees and email lists to maintain and improve the parks and to take political action if their parks were threatened.

So even before I moved to Norfolk, I checked out the city’s web site for off-leash parks. My rescued dog Py has always been off-leash, where allowed, so I was pleased to see that Norfolk has a dozen designated off-leash parks.

My first surprise was that the local off-leash parks that I visited aren’t fenced, as Seattle parks are. While I trust Py to listen to me, I know that all bets are off if she sees a squirrel. Even so, after several futile trips to parks in heavy traffic areas, I found Brambleton Park.

Brambleton Park, although unfenced, is surrounded by low-traffic residential streets. It is my favorite Norfolk City off-leash dog park. Never heard of it? That’s OK. Nobody has. It’s a small two city block square area near NSU surrounding a rainwater run-off reservoir. The man-made lake is fed by pumps which drain the Virginia Beach Blvd underpass just east of Tidewater Rd. The lake is home to Canada geese, ducks, herons, muskrats, squirrels and other urban wildlife.

I walked my dog in this park almost daily for three years and never met another dog or dog walker. Although my dog often stunk like a skunk after bathing in the swamp, she loved being able to run free and swim when she felt like it.

I was astounded at the amount of litter in the park. If someone were caught littering in a Seattle park, ten designer-clad joggers would hold him suspended until he picked up the litter with his teeth. Littering just isn’t done. On at least three occasions, I brought large green garbage bags with me to Brambleton Park. Each time, I could easily fill a huge bag before I’d gone half-way around the lake.

Even more mind-boggling was the realization that the locals were more amenable to users dumping litter – soda and beer cans, used condoms, papers, plastic bags, discarded fried chicken, and all sorts of other crap – than they were to someone walking a dog.

One day, as Py and I walked around the park, a morbidly obese man in a brown suit, with a matching vest and loosened tie, shouted at me from his front yard across the street from the park.

“Why are you walking your dog here?” he said. “Do you live here?”

“Well, it’s a city dog park.”

“This park’s for people who live around here. Walk your dog at the park by your house. We don’t want no dog shit in our park.”

“This a public park. I pick up my dog’s shit. But your problem is with the City, they made this a dog park, so get used to it.”

He stomped inside. I don’t think he’d expected resistance. He looked as if he were used to rolling over people.

About a week later, on a sunny afternoon, a well-dressed woman in a minivan stopped alongside the park and honked her horn so I walked up to her car.

“Do you need some help?” I asked, as her window slid down.

“I’m the chairwoman of the local community organization and I want to warn you that we were talking about you at our last meeting.”

“Talking about me?”

“Yes. You and your dog. The police were at the meeting and they’ve been put on the alert for you.”

“I’m flattered,” I said. “But why?”

“You walk your dog here without a leash. The neighbors have complained.”

“But it’s an off-leash dog park.”

“I’m just warning you,” she said. “The police are keeping an eye on you. If they catch you, they’ll cite you, so you better walk your dog someplace else.” She stomped on the gas and the minivan lurched away.

Two days later, a Norfolk Police cruiser cruised to a stop alongside the park. The officer signaled me to approach.

“We’ve had some complaints about you walking your dog without a leash,” she said.

“So?”

“You’re going to have to use a leash or we’ll call animal control.”

“You know, this is an off-leash park?” I asked.

“Off-leash park or not, your dog’s got to be on a leash.”

Whoa. I felt like I was going to be ticketed for running a green light.

Since I’d been forewarned by the chairlady, I’d printed out the section of the City of Norfolk website with details about Brambleton Park and the off-leash park rules.

I put my dog in the car and retrieved the printouts for the police officer, along with Py’s Norfolk City dog license, rabies certificate, microchip number, and proof of spay/neuter.

“I never knew this,” the police officer said, reviewing the info. “They should put up a sign.”

“There is a sign,” I said, pointing to the 12×18 inch Off-leash Park sign, planted on a wobbly steel post in some high grass at the far corner of the park.

“Well, the residents have been complaining, so I had to check it out,” she said.

“That’s just their way of being friendly,” I explained.

Two days later, when I returned to my car, a different cop was walking around it, writing down my license plate number and peering into the car.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

“This your car?” he said. “What’s it doin’ parked here?”

“Yeah, it’s my car. I was walking my dog.”

“Oh, you’re the dog walking guy?” he said. “I heard about you.”

“I’m famous,” I said.

“OK, no problem,” he said, and drove off.

In the long run, a friendly, well-maintained, system of fenced, off-leash dog parks creates a sense of community. They may not be a tourist attraction, at first, and it may be hard to calculate the exact financial benefit to the community, but they are clearly a benefit that local governments and community associations should support. Here is a map of Norfolk off-leash parks.

If you’ve had better or other experiences with off leash parks in this area, please comment.