Will Dogs Get Their Day on the Beach?

For Leucadia resident Mary Fleener, the sight of her 7-year-old dog, Mo, running free on the beach is one of pure, unleashed joy.

Like many dog owners, she relishes the breathy smile flashed by her pet, an American Eskimo spitz, after a romp in the surf. Then there are those bright eyes, that ceaseless panting and the slobbering tongue that signals only one thing: dog nirvana.

Dogs, according to the 38-year-old free-lance cartoonist, always have a blast at the beach. And that makes their owners have a pretty good time, too.

“It’s the best thing you can do for a dog other than feed it or take it to the vet,” Fleener said. “You’re making your dog happy by taking it to the beach. It’s also a form of communication because you both get to relax.”

Every day, Fleener takes Mo on a walk to nearby Beacon’s Beach, a popular North County surfing spot. And each time, she passes Dan Millward’s house.

Millward doesn’t like the idea of his neighborhood beach being overrun by yapping, snarling, barking dogs. Millward himself is a dog owner. But the sand, he says, is not the place to take Fido for his daily prowl.

“There’s 100 dogs a day down at that beach,” said Millward, who works out of his home. “On weekends, there’s between 200 and 300 dogs. It’s getting so that families with children can’t even use the beach anymore.

“The other day, my son was building a sandcastle. And this dog comes by and takes a dump--right in the middle of it. There was no one to stop him. His owner was out surfing somewhere.”

Tonight, both Fleener and Millward will be among a throng of residents at Encinitas City Hall who intend to air their opposing views on what has become a hairy issue along the North County coast:

Should unleashed dogs be allowed to romp along three-quarters of a mile of sand--from Beacon’s Beach south to the Stone Steps access--making the Leucadia stretch the county’s only year-round dog beach north of Ocean Beach?

Strong feelings run in both directions. The City Council is scheduled to vote on the issue tonight, after hearing public input. But the one thing they are really sure of, officials say, is that the fur will fly.

“It could go either way. Both sides have valid points of view,” said Dave Wigginton, community services director for Encinitas. “But it boils down to what the community will tolerate.

“Is there enough beach out there to hand over some of it to the unleashed dogs? Or is there too little coastline as there is to have to compete with these animals for it? That’s what they’re going to decide.”

Ad Hoc Group Formed

The controversy was born last fall when Encinitas took over from San Diego County the operation of several miles of coastal beaches, including Beacon’s.

The county had allowed only leashed dogs on the beach, but, because of manpower shortages, had often looked the other way when the animals ran unfettered, owners say.

In June, months before Encinitas took over the beach in October, the council instructed its seven-member Parks and Recreation Committee to review the issue of dogs and sand, and to make a recommendation.

The panel formed an ad hoc group, with members on both sides of the issue, and, on Oct. 19, met to consider public testimony.

“At that meeting, 50 people showed up to express their views during a 2 1/2-hour public forum,” said Fleener, a member of the ad hoc group. “Thirty-nine people spoke in favor of the dogs. Only three spoke against them. I think that is a pretty clear indicator of the way people are thinking on this.”

After the meeting, the Parks and Recreation Committee, by a 5-2 vote, recommended that Beacon’s Beach be set aside for unleashed dogs on a six-month trial basis, setting up tonight’s council decision.

Several North County beaches--including Carlsbad and San Elijo state beaches--already allow dogs on leashes year-round, officials say. And dogs are allowed to run free in parts of Del Mar between June and October. But Beacon’s would be the first North County beach to allow the animals to run unleashed year-round.

Steep Access

Maureen Gaare, a Parks and Recreation Committee member, said the steep access to Beacon’s Beach keeps many families away from the area in the first place, so it’s not a matter of replacing people with dogs.

“The thing I think a lot of people don’t understand is that the dogs have been at Beacon’s on leashes from day one,” she said. “People get excited when they hear that we’re going to give this beach over to the dogs. But the dogs have been there all along.”

Gaare said owners would be required to keep their dogs leashed while walking down the steep path from the public parking lot and could use the beach only from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., the same hours the parking lot is open.

Owners would also be required to clean up after their dogs, using trash cans at both ends of the stairs. And they would have to remain with their pets, not leave them on the beach while they go surfing or for a walk.

But the committee did not include a recommendation that owners carry pooper-scoopers.

“The animal-control people told us it was unenforceable,” she said. “People could use their hands or a tissue in their pocket and claim it was a pooper-scooper. The point is to clean up after their pets, not carry an implement.”

At the October meeting, members of a committee to oversee unleashed dogs in Ocean Beach addressed the Parks and Recreation Committee and were influential in the decision it made, Gaare said.

But skeptics, such as Andy O’Leary, another member of the ad hoc group, question whether places such as Ocean Beach are really that much of a success story.

“Ocean Beach is being touted as an example of a successful dog beach. But there are dog bites there and other problems, just like at Del Mar,” said O’Leary, director of marine safety for the cities of Encinitas and Solana Beach.

“The illusion that these places are running smoothly is just that--a myth.”

O’Leary said he plans to address the council with his concerns, claiming that a host of things could go wrong at the new dog beach--including bites and injuries to elderly people trying to avoid the leashed animals on the steep access trail.

He has received support from the National Marine Fisheries Service, as well as the state Department of Fish and Game.

“There’s the concern of the dogs causing harm and stress to beached marine mammals and their effect on the bird species along the shoreline,” O’Leary said.

He also has concerns over how the beach could be supervised. Since it is open until 10 p.m. and there is no limit on the number of dogs an owner can bring, half a dozen unleashed Dobermans could conceivably romp around the sand after dark--a scary concept to most nearby residents.

“I think it’s a poor idea,” he said.

O’Leary cited to an incident last fall in which a sea lion was reportedly attacked by a pack of dogs on the beach. Dog owners say the attack was never substantiated.

But, under the committee’s recommendation, O’Leary said, fighting breeds such as Dobermans, pit bulls and rottweilers could run free on the beach, and he has suggested that some types be banned.

‘Just So Happy’

Is that dog discrimination? Maybe, says Gaare.

“How could you prove a dog was a certain breed?” she said. “People would have to carry around papers like identification.”

Mary Fleener doesn’t share the fears about wild packs of dogs attacking each other as well as beach-goers.

“Dogs just aren’t as aggressive or as territorial on the beach as they are on the street,” she said. “They’re a lot like people in that way. They’re just so happy to be there, they get along.

“Going to the beach is a way to relieve stress for the owner and the dog. And God knows we need to do more of that.”

So Fleener and other dog lovers are taking their message to the streets--and to the beach. They’ve passed out information flyers and cleaned up the beach on two Saturdays, fashioning several pooper-scoopers out of plastic jugs, which they have left on the beach for public use.

“And let me tell you, we found more cigarette butts than we did dog droppings,” Fleener said.

On Tuesday, the day before the council meeting, she and other dog owners planned to meet with Mayor Pam Slater to express their views.

“We’re not fanatical, save-the-dog types,” Fleener said. “If this was a real popular kids’ beach, no way would I lobby for this. But Beacon’s is isolated. It just may be the least-used beach in San Diego County. Not that many people go there.”

Dan Millward has another image of the beach at Beacon’s. The bluffs there, he says, are some of the most ecologically sensitive areas along the entire North County coast. When the tide comes in, the dogs are driven off the sliver of sand. So they run the streets, he says, and they trample along the bluffs.

“It’s like the Wild West down there; the dogs have taken over,” said Millward, who was also on the ad hoc panel. “The dogs are running up and down the bluffs, contributing to the erosion.

“There’s dog tracks everywhere. I’ve told the parks people about it. Now I’m gonna go tell my story to the City Council.”