WESTERLY — Some people who enjoyed letting their dogs run at Napatree were outraged last year when a sign went up at the entrance saying dogs had to be leashed and were not allowed during certain hours.

Henry Wennmaker, a retired Westerly police officer who was hired as head warden by the Watch Hill Conservancy and the Watch Hill Fire District, said dogs were not allowed on Napatree or any Westerly beach since he joined the force in 1973. But no one was there to enforce it.

In recent years, dogs were allowed, on leashes, during certain hours. Then, Wennmaker said, the Watch Hill Fire District formed the Watch Hill Conservancy and hired naturalists and wardens to inform visitors about the conservation efforts and call police if necessary.

About this time last year, dog owners took their objections to the Westerly Town Council. Early last month the council unanimously decided on a compromise, giving dogs more time on the beach.

But to protect shore birds, dogs must be leashed at all times. And between May 1 and Labor Day they are allowed on the beach only from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Dog owner Arthur Cash, 86, a New York City writer who with his wife bought a Hopkinton farmhouse for a getaway because they had heard about Napatree, said he and his dog enjoy the two-mile walk to the point and back.

“Always in my hip pocket I have some plastic bags” from the produce department, Cash said yesterday. “I don’t want dogs to give a bad name to the community.”