Dogs of Our Lives: Wyman Park
The dog crowd at Wyman Park Dell has its act together.
Not only do they hold their own happy hour on Fridays -- enjoying what I'm sure are refreshing non-alcoholic beverages (alcoholic ones, like dogs off leashes, would be illegal.)
They have a voluminous mailing list of all the dogs and owners that frequent the park.
They chip in and dog-sit for each other when somebody has to leave town.
And they even have their own website (which you can find here), complete with their own unofficial map -- to the right, designed by Rita Venturi.
On the day I stopped by, a couple of weeks ago, there was an amazing cross-section of breeds and sizes, all playing together happily on a huge grassy area shielded from the roads by steep embankments.
It's fairly well hidden, a wedge of green that lies between Hampden and Johns Hopkins. Sometimes, it even takes people who have lived in the neighborhood a while to discover it.
"Even some who live within two blocks," notes Lisa Marie Kiessling, recalling the owners of a greyhound who ran away. The family found the dog in the park, and have been coming ever since.
"Depending on what time one goes there, you might find yourself surrounded with many - or be alone in your thoughts with your dog(s) at your side," said Kiessling, who has three Great Danes.
As a city dweller, she considers the park "a gift beyond worth. ... One can play fetch or chase or whatever in the great lower playing field of Wyman, without fear that your dog is going to run out in the road and get hit by a car."
Between the dog-dog interaction, the dog-human interaction, and the human-human interaction, Kiessling says, "it's the best social hour available."
Of course, not all those interactions have been pleasant.
"In the past 10 years I know of three broken hips that happened when the dogs and their owners were going down the steep hill and got sideswiped be one or more dogs."
Once in a while, there are dog fights. Once in a while, friction arises -- between non-dog owners and dog owners, and even between responsible dog owners and dog owners who aren't keeping an eye on their dog, she added.
But for the most part, it's one big happy family.
Many in Wyman Park get together there for the Friday happy hour, and it's also commonly used by residents for dog-friendly birthday parties and other celebrations.
"It's a great place to meet with different types/breeds/size of dogs," Kiessling said. "We have everything from toys to giants in our group, from purebred to any possible mutt combinations."
Her own dogs -- that's Kiessling with BearBear to the left -- are there every day.
If you've got an ax to grind, some praises to sing, some observations to make when it comes to Wyman Park -- this little enclave of it or any other part -- feel free to use our comment section and get a dialogue going.
To join in the conversation at other parks, click on the "Dogs of Our Lives" logo in the rightside rail.







Of those in the big group, some humans, like some dogs, see it as a chance to be social; some keep to themselves. With me, it depends on the day.