I love my dog. She is an itchy, allergy-ridden, balding mutt; she barks at strangers and sometimes has accidents in the house. But I love her love her love her and she loves me back. I also love other people's dogs. My across-the-street neighbor has a Brittany Spaniel that hugs (awww). My next door neighbor has a magnificent German Shepherd that could represent the species.The people on the corner have a gi-normous Great Dane that makes me go ga-ga (she's white and pink like my Cupcake.Yes, pink). But you know who doesn't love dogs? The City of Long Beach.Yep. Long Beach is an anti-dog town. No dog runs. No dog parks. No dogs on the beach. No place to let your canine off the leash and just let loose, like dogs are meant to do. Fortunately, we have a backyard just big enough for Cupcake to exercise herself chasing airplanes and squirrels, but not everyone is that lucky.
A few years ago I got together with a bunch of other people to petition the city to establish a dog run. At this point I don't remember who they were or how we connected, but we shared a noble goal. We drew up a proposal for establishing, maintaining and policing a dog run in Long Beach, and we presented it at a City Council meeting. We even included a recommendation for charging a user registration fee to fund the run, but to no avail. I have no memory of what happened after that, because in fact nothing happened. When our 3 minutes of fame were up, the Council went back to its regularly scheduled agenda without further ado. And that was that.
Wouldn't it be great if we had a place to call our own, where dogs could frolic and owners could socialize and the friendly, lovin'-life culture of Long Beach could percolate? Sigh. I don't know if it will ever happen, but a girl can dream, can't she?
BTW, if all the dog owners out there who don't respect other people's property and don't clean up after their dogs would start respecting other people's property and cleaning up after their dogs, we might have a better shot at getting a public dog run one day. You know who you are.
I don't live in Long Beach but I love love love it too. I have the pleasure to visit there about 2 months a year, in different seasons. And when I visit, I help take care of a dog. I'm always shocked at the fact that unless I drive several miles to another town (increasing traffic and my carbon footprint), I can't run the dog off leash anywhere in Long Beach. Coming from San Francisco, an extremely dog friendly town, it's hard to believe that a community with such a high quality of life to offer makes it so difficult for residents to share that quality of life with their adored pets. Shame on local government. I'd be interested to know the basis for their refusal to designate protected dog areas, particularly since it seems that the costs can be covered without dipping into the town coffers. (Full disclosure - I'm the blogger's sister and Cupcake's aunt :))
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