Results tagged “dog park” from South Bay Pets

On December 6 I attended a party for twin 5 year old boys at a park in the City of Redondo Beach.  I live in Mission Viejo and knew I would be gone most of the day.  I decided to bring my small dog with me rather than leave her home alone all day.  Since the party was taking place at a park I had no hesitation about bringing her.  She is about 5 pounds and pretty much sits on whoever's lap she can crawl up onto.  I figured it would be no problem to have her.
To my surprise, while I was walking her around the park area (on her leash), I was stopped by a not-so-friendly Redondo Beach Police officer.  He informed me that dogs were not allowed at the park.  I told him I had absolutely no idea and that I did not live in the SouthBay area.  He proceeded to write me a citation anyhow!  When I asked if that meant I had to leave the party/park, he said I should lock my dog in the car for the remainder of my stay there!!  Knowing this IS illegal, I started to ask about it and he said the outside temperature was cool enough and I would not get a citation for doing what he asked!!  I guess I should be thankful for that much?!
I just received the paperwork from the court and am SHOCKED to see the citation will cost me $158.00!!!  I suggest if the city of Redondo Beach has such strict and nonsensical laws about dogs they make more of an effort to alert the visiting public.  At $158 a citation they should have enough money to post notices next to their "Welcome to the City of Redondo Beach" signs!
Am I wrong to think this makes no sense?  I honestly had no idea such laws existed!  No dogs allowed at a park!!?  Where I live they actually provide doggie bags to collect your dog's waste while you are on a walk with him/her!  I've only owned my dog for about a year and NEVER thought there would be a law against having a dog at a park!!  Don't the two go hand-in-hand?
Don't be too hard on your dog, I can guarantee you he is probably much nicer than that RB police officer!!

The other day I wrote a post about John Ralph, a longtime visitor to the San Pedro dog park who died a couple of weeks ago. John and his dog, Maureen, would show up most afternoons and John would sit on the bench while Maureen went nuts in that delightful way happy dogs do.

I got a letter from one of John's friends, which I attached to the original article. But it was so sweet and well written that I'm posting it here so more people can see it. The person who wrote it is named Patricia Henricks.

Thank you for your article about John and Maureen. John and I were good friends.

We met one day at the dog park on his 60th birthday, a day when I was thrilled to be alive, enjoying the simple pleasures o the park and my new dog, Beau.

John came in and announced that today was his 60th birthday and that's it, life is over at 60. I told him he was wrong, I was 62 and had just completed 1 year and 9 months of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and my life wasn't over at 60, I was starting a new day with Beau and a gratitude and joy in my heart for a blue sky, a cool breeze, a wonderful park to visit.

That day was the beginning of a long friendship talking about life, the beauty of simplicity, unconditional love of a dog, and how much we could learn from them. John was a really good man who struggled with life's complexities and yearned for goodness and God.

He found a lot of comfort and answers at the park with people and dogs that we all love. Watching the dogs interact, learning a lot from them and their capacity to freely express joy, playfulness, even anger and annoyance one day and completely forget it the next day. John loved our dog park and the dogs and people he met there.

Rest in peace my dear friend, and know that Maureen is well cared for a loved by a sister who loves them both.

When you take your pooch to the dog park, you tend to pay more attention to the other dogs than you do the people. It's not uncommon to know the name of someone's pet and not theirs. I'm sure more than a few people around town know me as "Rocket's Owner."

But when you're watching your dogs sniff and play and sometimes fight with each other, you pick up casual friendships with the folks there. You may have nothing else in common, but you share a love of dogs and you're a dedicated enough owner to go to the park in the first place.

So I probably know more about Maureen than I do her owner. She is about a year old now, is a brindle-colored bundle of energy. She's probably part pit bull, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. She likes to play more than any dog I've ever seen. Upon entering the park, she makes a straight line for the nearest dog and tackles it. Or she finds a toy to steal and runs around in circles taunting the other canines. She's even a bigger toy stealer than my dog.

The story around the San Pedro dog park is that her owner named her Maureen because that was his sister's name and he wanted to ensure that somebody took care of the dog if something ever happened to him.

It's a funny story and if it's true, it turned out to be prophetic. Last week I learned that Maureen's owner died.

We had something of a class reunion today at the dog park. Rocket and Godzilla Riley, his nemesis friend from dog school (Riley came in third, and Rocket came in fourth, a fact that Riley's owner, Kathy Jo reminds me about constantly. And yes, there were only four dogs that graduated).

Riley was smaller than Rocket until about three months ago. but as you can see from this picture, he's now the size of an elephant. And he's still growing.

Here they are fighting mugging for the camera.

This is a real converstation I had with a Daily Breeze reporter the other day. I was at the dog park and she called me from the office with a question.

 "Oh my god! What's that noise?" she wanted to know.

"Oh, that's just my dog," I calmly answered. "He's barking at a squirrel."

"I've never heard anything like it before," she said. "It sounds like a dinosaur."

Some days you go to the dog park and it seems like there are hundreds of pups running around, barking, chasing balls and wrestling.

And on other days, you're the only one there. So what do you do when there's nobody there to play with. You stare at the gate and wait for a friend to show up.

Me and idiot dog had just barely arrived at the San Pedro dog park this morning when some guys in trucks showed up and made us all leave.

Rumor was that they were not only spreading even more wood chips, but more importantly, they were going to put in new benches with awnings.

That's great news. There isn't a lick of shade in that park and when you're there during the day, the sun can beat down pretty hard.

I'm not sure who to thank for this addition, so I'll just send a shout out to the Port of Los Angeles, who owns the property.

Finally some new wood chips have been scattered at the San Pedro dog park!

While I'm not a big fan of wood chips -- I prefer grass -- the new ones are nice and have cut down on the toxic dust clouds that swirl around every time dogs run by.

I took Rocket there yesterday. There were tens of thoussands of new chips to chose from, but he and his friend Maureen were having a tug of war over one particular piece. They both wanted it, but neither one wanted to share.

And yes, Maureen is a dog. I think she's 9 months old and is probably the most playful puppy I've ever come across.

Drinking out of the fountain.

Don't forget that today -- Sunday May 18 -- is when the Redondo Beach Dog Park hosts its annual Spring Fling. On hand will be fun for dogs and their owners, including contests for the best dog hat and the best decorated pooper scooper. There will also be a photo booth, gamwes, food and drink (I don't know about the food, but I assume the drinks are for humans. There's always water there for the dogs).

 The park is at Flagler Lane and 190th Street in Redondo Beach

People ask me, "Josh, is Rocket really the loudest dog in the South Bay?"

Normally, the journalistic powerhouse known as the Daily Breeze buzzes like a bee hive with activity. But on Saturdays there's just a few of us here.

All the "suits" are off playing golf at their country clubs, so with just a skeleton crew on hand, sometimes I like to sneak my dog into the office. He's even made friends with the copy editors, which in iteself is quite a feat. They're not easily impressed, those copy editors.

Anyway, I took the dog to the Redondo Beach Dog Park this morning, where he slobbered on all the other dogs and annoyed their owners for an hour.

Now he's chilling under my desk, gnawing on a rawhide bone. And I'm wondering how many other people bring their pets to the offfice? Do you take your dog to work with you? Let me know.

And please, whatever you do, don't tell my bosses about this. If they find out I bring my dog to work, they might tell me to stop. And then where will I be?