Poll On Dog Beach (Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach: 2014, HOA fees, pit bull)

[Robyn55]

Some people want a part of JAX Beach to "go to the dogs":

Dog beach idea meets mixed bag of opinions in Jacksonville Beach | members.jacksonville.com

What do you think?

I'm against it (I don't think dogs should be allowed off leash except on an owner's property).

Robyn

[williamwebb1986]

I'm against it also, can you imagine the fuss Florida 2014 who started this thread
//www.city-data.com/forum/jacks...ach-legal.html
would make if my 150 pound Rottweiler ate one of his children who wandered
into the Dog beach area by mistake. Good God we'd never hear the end of it.

[Robyn55]

Just curious - as a dog owner - why are you against it?

In addition to the leash thing - I think we have enough people vying for scarce beach resources without turning over a part of the beach to the dogs.

Also - this kind of thing goes contrary to the existing leash laws in Duval and St. Johns County (off premises pets must be on leashes). Leash laws make a lot of sense in Florida. Even for pet owners. Since an animal doesn't get "one free bite" in Florida like it might in other states. There's pretty much "strict liability" (with a few exceptions).

FWIW - my husband's been bitten by dogs twice. And what pi**ed me off was in neither case did the owners reimburse his not negligible medical expenses - even after being requested to do so.

Also note that neither dog was a Rottweiler or a pit bull or anything like that. One was a mixed breed "junk yard" dog. And the other was some little yappy dog. I think it's fair to say we're not "dog lovers" . Robyn

[hornsch]

Most of the dogs I see in AB and NB are not on leashes anyway. There are also plenty out between the hours of 9 AM - 5 PM. I have never seen a lifeguard or the animal patrol approach a non-leashed dog or one during restricted hours. It was so bad one weekend I called- but animal patrol was 'on vacation!' The police did come out and take care of it though!

[Robyn55]

What don't you like about unleashed dogs on the beach? Especially as a younger person with young kids?

I have an ulterior motive asking these questions. I'm sure that someday a bunch of people in our HOA will propose that we spend our HOA fees on building a dog park - where their dogs can be free - like G_d intended <rolling eyes>. And I would like to have all the ammunition in my bag possible for that one. Don't mind parks and recreational areas for kids and their families. But I draw the line at dogs.

And I have more time on my hands than our across the street neighbors with kids who are about 4 and < 1 year. I don't think parents of young kids are really fond of the notion of having untethered dogs around their kids - at least if the dogs aren't "in the family". Although I could be wrong.

Just looking for ideas. Robyn

[Robyn55]

P.S. Those of you in favor of this stuff - please come out of the woodwork and state your reasons. Robyn

[williamwebb1986]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

Just curious - as a dog owner - why are you against it? Robyn

I'm against it because unless a dog is on it's owners fenced in property it should never be running
free unleashed out in the general public. That's just a recipe for disaster and future legal problems.

[Florida2014]

Dog parks with fences, yes....absolutely. In an open space with no real boundaries to keep them in? No. I love dogs but a few bad owners would surely ruin that for the majority of responsible dog owners who could control their dogs.
Not to mention the dog doo doo that would likely pile up.

For the record, I snuck away today to the beach for a bit and we were bordered on each side by both well behaved dogs and fisherman who kept their distances from folks who were already there. A very enjoyable experience and very different from last weekend when the lines were thrown very close to people in the water (less than 30 feet). So my bitching and moaning apparently worked, ha!

[Robyn55]

Were the people fishing the same people you saw last week? If not - your bitching and moaning didn't help at all - except to the extent that you put it in your prayers <LOL>. What happened is you encountered some jerks last week - and some reasonable polite people this week.

We can try to legislate behavior in many ways/shapes/forms - but jerks will usually act like jerks regardless. Like the people hornsch mentioned who violate the leash laws on AB and NB.

Anyway - I hope your future experiences are more like your recent one than the one before it. Although it's often just the luck of the draw. Robyn

[SaintCabbage]

I don't know who would want that, even dog owners. No one wants unleashed dogs running around a public beach swarming with young children. It's a tragedy waiting to happen IMO.

If you must, there are plenty of wide open spaces where you could let your dog run on the beach and "get away with it" because no one is around. No need to specifically allow it, seems like a waste of everyone's time to ponder or vote on it.