Dog Heaven

I own a Chesapeake Bay retriever, a sporting breed that looks like a Labrador retriever with a perm. He loves all things liquid. He reminds me of the Darryl Hannah character in “Splash”--true love has bound him to land, but he would prefer to live in an aquarium.

We live a five-minute drive from the beach in Santa Monica, which should make it easy to satisfy his desire for perpetual saturation. But if his paws even touch the sands of that city--or of Venice or Malibu or anywhere in the South Bay for that matter--I could be hundreds of dollars poorer.

Not only is it against the law to have a dog on the beach in all but one tiny pocket of L.A. County, but the cost of your transgression is at the discretion of the courts. In Santa Monica, the infraction is punishable by a fine of no less than $50, and then the state gets to add on a 200% penalty--so a minumum $150. But end up before a judge greatly offended by your trespasses, and you could pay the maximum $250 fine and penalties. A very bad dog day indeed, and one that could get worse if you had the dog off-leash (another infraction) or no tags (the jackpot, a misdemeanor).

These sums make the gas money I spent driving to the Dog Zone in Long Beach seem like a Wal-Mart bargain, which is to say, there’s little choice in the matter. It comes down to this: Of the 75 miles of coastline in L.A. County, only these three acres constitute a legal off-leash dog beach. (Leo Carrillo in Malibu allows dogs, but they must be leashed.)

I want to kiss the sand, but that would be a bad idea. There are scores of dogs here. It is also a bit “industrial,” as one owner calls it, with the omnipresent cranes of the nearby Port of Long Beach in the background. The owner, Holly Magnani, is typical of many people here: from far outside Long Beach. The Ohio native has traveled all the way from her new downtown L.A. home to give her dog, Jenna, the California beach experience.

We exchange the usual pleasantries about where you can take your canine in L.A. (not many places). Local dog owners remind me of Cubs fans, swapping scouting reports and hoping for a miracle--that the city of Long Beach is contemplating buying a stretch of land from the Queen Mary to Compton for an off-leash dog park, that something canine-friendly is afoot for Dockweiler Beach in Playa del Rey.

I am struck by two things at the DZ. That your dog must come when it’s called, as there are no fences, just orange construction cones marking the beach area near the Belmont Plaza pool. And that most of the dogs here want nothing to do with the ocean. Only about six are swimming, and when a Newfoundland puts in an appearance, majestically wading into the water, it’s like seeing a veteran Australian waterman paddling away from a bunch of wannabe surfers. Meanwhile, my Chesapeake hasn’t stopped gliding through the blue. He’s died and gone to his idea of dog heaven.

For directions, hours and regulations regarding the dog beach, go to wwww.dogzone.org. Only one dog per person is allowed. Should you want to dry off on dry land afterward, there is the two-acre Recreation Dog Park at 7th Street.