huntington beach dog (Downey, Avalon: lease, camp, living)

[pootie562]

I am so nervous about my bringing my dog to the dog beach in Huntington Beach. He is not fixed and when I brought him to a dog park he was not into playing with the dogs, but instead he jumped on the dog owners. What I would like to know is how the dog beach is set up, are there fences that keep dogs from getting out? what are the rules? Is it alright to have your dog on a leash? ANY INFO WILL HELP THANKS>>>>>>>

[movingtohouston]

Dog beach is just that, a stretch of beach where dogs are allowed. There are no fences, the rules are posted at the top of the cliff by the bike path. Tons of dogs on lease and off. Lots of fleas too so you are aware. Have fun.

[tat2dlulu]

LOL...yeah be prepared to have a few hundred fleas as new pets.

[Nayabone]

Why is the dog not fixed..? IMHO all animals not owned by a licensed breeder should be fixed.
Go visit the local animal shelter and see what happens when owners don't get their animals fixed.
The shelters are full of animals who are living on borrowed time because of unresponsible owners who, for no valid reason, make the decision not to get their animals fixed...
I don't know you, you may be a wonderful person, but I'd love to hear your reasoning...?

[Vary]

Is there a big flea problem at the beach? I was considering taking the muttster up there, but I'm not keen on the flea idea. (He's a rescue from the Downey shelter, by the way, Nayabone! )

[Donn2390]

Originally Posted by Vary

Is there a big flea problem at the beach? I was considering taking the muttster up there, but I'm not keen on the flea idea. (He's a rescue from the Downey shelter, by the way, Nayabone! )

Three cheers for your rescue animal. They make the best dogs..
We also have a rescue dog. She owns the house, we are allowed to live here..!

[Coldjensens]

We never had a big problems with fleas at Dog beach, but our dogs were treated with that stuff you put a drop of on their neck once in a while and they have no fleas period.

Our biggest problem was people with mean dogs who did not control them. Oddly, our biggest problems were with little yappy dogs (we call them "Ds" since those tiny things really do not merit the "og", they are only a fraction of a dog). Anyway these little things would come up to our dogs and attack them and bite them and then run away. Some would bite repeatedly and sometimes draw blood. When our dog went after the little nipper, the owners got very scared and upset (we have English mastiffs).When a 180 pound dog get provoked by a 1.5 pound barking rat, it is not pretty. Our dogs are generally well behaved, and used to get along well with other dogs unless outrageously provoked.

With the exception of one pit pull, we never had any problems with the large or medium sized dogs at Dog beach but those yappy little things felt it necessary to attack our dogs repeatedly until our dog would strike back. One time the barking rat bit our dog repeatedly and then ran and jumped into its owners arms. Imagine her surprise when 170 pounds of snarl caught up with that little thing.

Our dogs never hurt the little dogs, but they did fling them a considerable distance once or twice. One of our dogs was badly mauled by a pit bull and after that, she could not be around any other dogs or she would attack them. That was the end of dog beach for us. But until the pit bull incident, we really enjoyed it. Our dogs loved playing with other dogs (and even some of the "Ds" that did not bite them), and splashing in the waves (one of them, the other was afraid of the waves). We found that if you avoid weekends or holidays, you have a better chance of avoiding irresponsible dog owners who do not control their dogs. Retrivers are the most fun to bring to dog beach. They seem to love to swim out in the waves and retrieve things.


It is very very important that you bring bags and clean up every ounce of poop (do NOT throw it in the ocean). If the poop problem gets out of hand, they will close dog beach.

[pacific2]

My dog a rescue, is very sweet, but she does not do well with other large dogs, so I have solved the exercise/socialization problem, to the extent possible, by taking her for long walks everyday; and by letting her play at doggie day camp about 3 to 4 times per week.

She is closely supervised there and they admonish her, and then either shift her to a different group, or give her time-out ("Go to your room, now!" ), if she starts to get a bit too rowdy.

[Avalon08]

Three cheers for your rescue animal. They make the best dogs..

Why do people always say this? Purebred dogs can be wonderful too. But this isn't a purebred v. rescue thread.

Anyway, I am not in Huntington Beach but am a regular dog-park attendee. I've found mixing a leashed dog with unleashed can cause some problems, particularly during introductory sniffing. I think the leashed dog feels constrained and vulnerable, sometimes leading to aggressive snapping. I try to only leash my two little Westies up when other dogs aren't circling around them.

[Vary]

You're right Avalon--mixing leashed and unleashed is problematic, because the leashed dog does feel the need to be defensive.

I use regular flea treatment on my guy as well, so I'll have to take him up there sometime. He's one of those dogs who's firmly convinced that every dog--and human--on the planet must be simply dying to play with him.