Thursday, May 22, 2014

FIDO at the beach

Comment Up

Right before the beach redevelopment, the Green Market moved to Old Bridge Park. Prior to that move, the city commission opened up the lower area at the beach parking lot for owners to bring their dogs while they were buying produce. People just couldn't leave Fido at home even for 20 minutes.  Why commissions can't say "no" to common sense has always been a mystery. Having been a dog owner for 40 years, it is perplexing why dog owners can't leave their pets at home when they are at a beach or at a market or even dining out.

Why staff changed the ordinance that was on the books is a mystery and why this commission questions nothing and just allows staff to rewrite our laws in effect is even stranger. We just spent $13 million on a beach redevelopment and now we are allowing FIDO to have a free 6 foot leash rein.  It's really not important what Lantana does or the entire east coast of the Untied States. We had a citizen Tuesday night who wants us to open up a section of our beach so that FIDO can go swimming. I told him to become a Snowbird and his request probably would prevail.

Even though some pet owners might know the law and they might have their dogs up-to-date with rabies shots and visits to the Vet, what about all of those who only bring their dog to the veterinarian when sickness is obvious? Vets are expensive.

Even though this new ordinance does not allow dogs on the sand, it was mentioned that service dogs CAN be on the sand. This is the whole problem--you give people an inch and the next thing that happens they take that mile--always.

From our Charter:

Sec. 6-3. Domesticated animals prohibited on public property; exceptions.permanent link to this piece of content

(a) As used herein, "domesticated animal" means any animal which is in the possession of or under the control of any person, whether the animal is on a leash, in a cage, or unconstrained. The term does not include wild animals. An animal which is in the possession of or under the control of any person shall be presumed to be domesticated.

(b) Except as provided herein, it shall be unlawful for the owner or custodian of a domesticated animal to knowingly or unknowingly permit such animal to enter or be upon a playground, school grounds, designated sports fields, cemetery, golf course, beach or casino and the beach parking area, or a road, sidewalk, pedestrian path, bicycle path, or golf cart path within such property, unless such animal is kept, at all times, within the inner confines of the motor vehicle, but expressly excluding golf carts, of the owner or custodian. It shall be no defense to a charge alleging a violation of this section that the animal was licensed or was on a leash, or in a cage or other container.

However, domesticated dogs shall be allowed in public parks and the Downtown Cultural Plaza with the following restrictions:

(1) The dog shall be kept, at all times, on a leash and under control of the owner or custodian of the dog;

(2)The dog has current vaccinations and is wearing a current dog license tag; and

(3) The owner or custodian of the dog shall clean and pick-up and properly dispose of any defecation.

Good luck to all of that.

Eventually, it won't just be seaweed cleanup

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

A while back you posted a picture of a dog standing on a table outside of Toojays, you wrote how cute the dog was. The dog was standing on a table where people eat food, I was really grossed out by that post, thousand times worse then dogs at the beach!

Lynn Anderson said...

Don't recall a dog standing on a table. but I agree, don't like dogs where we eat.

Anonymous said...

People are downright stupid when it comes to their dogs. They dress them yup in costumes. Arghhh, puke.

Anonymous said...

People who work all week, on Sat. like to walk over to the green market and buy produce, get a cup a coffee and many like to bring their dog on that walk. I'm not sure why that is so hard to understand. A lot of places in Fla. are dog friendly, it makes sense for the City to update its laws to come in line.

We are a walkable city and as such lots of people walk their dogs and do so while taking care of other errands or as part of a leisure activity.

Not sure why you are complaining about real service dogs on the sand. Real service dogs are allowed everywhere. Just because someone is blind, you want to bar them from the beach?

Lynn Anderson said...

Didn't say that, anonymous. What I did imply was that people abuse the system especially when it comes to service dogs.

Anonymous said...

We are a walkable city-right now. Pretty soon, we'll be a walk at your own risk(watch out for poop ) city. Look, I love my dogs to death. And I am a responsible pet owner. The PROBLEM, that Lynn rightly points out- is that when we give people an inch, they will ALWAYS take a mile.People who are not responsible pet owners are going to be putting people at risk with their dogs running around on the beach. And NO ONE is going to be making sure that these dogs on the beach are properly vaccinated.When somebody gets bit these people will probably take off the same way that they take off from car wrecks in our city. When some poor person gets stuck with a series of rabies shots, or THEIR beach dog gets mauled or killed by ANOTHER beach dog, what will the good old city of Lake Worth do then ? The NO DOGS ON THE BEACH law has been in force for years for a reason.

Anonymous said...

There's no enforcement of any of these laws now. Why? Tons of dogs off the leash, including pits, right around the playgrounds. Some people take their dogs to the playground and unleash them to run right there. Some little kids are scared, as they've been jumped on and knocked down before. Do you think the dog owners notice? No. Care when you point out that small children are frightened? No. Agree to put the leash on the dog when you mention there's a leash law? No. Usually they become belligerent...So you can't walk through the parks with young children without constantly scanning to see if there are any dogs off the leash that might be heading your way about to jump on or chomp your kid. Can the sheriff's deputies really not swing by once in a while and ticket some of these people? If one dog owner gets a ticket for having a dog off a leash I think word will spread quickly... I agree the community needs a dog park so that dogs can really run and enjoy themselves. But our parks are not free-range territory for Fido.