December 25, 2015

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I reached this mile via the Lucky Gap Beach wayside access. As is usual in the past 3 or 4 years, the area just before you reach the stairs to the beach was flooded--usually the flooding lasts about a week after a medium to heavy rain. There are also steps that are rotting in the stairway. The city plans to build another access, further north, although it apparently can't afford to maintain properly the access infrastructure it already has. I hoped for a peaceful walk on the beach and an opportunity to see what changes the storms of the past week or two had made. What I did see is what--unfortunately--has become standard on beaches from miles 216 to 224: uncontrolled dogs chasing after shorebirds, messing with other people's dogs, and of course relieving itself anywhere and the owners not bothering to remove it from the beach. That day, it was a large (about 70 lbs) husky cross w/reddish fur that came charging over to a small group of people w/3 large dogs. The apparent owners, a pair of surfers, simply watched. Their dog (if it was their dog) almost triggered a fight w/one of the other dogs. Eventually, one of the small group's dogs, a young Rottweiler (unleashed, of course) took off after the uncontrolled husky cross, and also ran around the beach for awhile before finally deciding to return to his owner. Naturally, some shore birds got chased--after all, what are they there for but to be used as amusement or practice prey by loose dogs? The surfers continued along their way to the ocean, their dog eventually joined them but was, of course, free to go anywhere. Since February/March of 2015, there have been maybe 5 days, when I've walked on any beach from mile 216 to mile 224, when I haven't seen any out of control dog (1) chasing shorebirds--at least 3 times the dog owners were actively encouraging their dogs to chase/harass shorebirds and other beach walkers have reported seeing owners do that; (2) harassing other people's dogs, sometimes while the owners fruitlessly yelled at their dogs to come, sometimes while their owners appeared too absorbed in their cellphone conversation to know/care what their dog was doing, that includes taking away another dog's ball, jumping onto another dog over & over again, (3) running up to small children, frightening them sufficiently that the small children cry--the owner then walks over and is UNABLE to catch their dog, (4) jumping onto people, and too bad if that person is afraid of dogs--it seems that on miles 216 through 224, someone who's afraid of dogs is just out of luck, as about 50% of dog owners using those beaches apparently assume that everyone just loves their badly trained/mannered "fur babies." Finally, the other day my dog & I were frightened by 2 very large German shepherds in the east side parking lot at Agate Beach wayside. We had walked on the Big Creek path and were returning to my car. As we walked off the path and into the parking lot, a large (estimated 120 lbs) male German Shepherd charged over to my dog and started sniffing her. My dog dropped her ball and stood very still (submissive behavior). Even so, that dog growled at her at least once. I yelled at the dog to go away, it ignored me. It ALSO IGNORED its owner's commands to return to the owner. Eventually, it finished sniffing and went back to its owner. THEN the OTHER 120 lb German Shepherd (also ignoring the owner's calls) ran over. This time I got hear the familiar, "it's ok, she's friendly". Eventually she returned to her owner. We had been around or at least 50' away from those dogs--we weren't close. I felt helpless and angry. The man apologized. So what? He had no right--was behaving most inconsiderately--to let his dogs offlead (I didn't even see a leash in his hands) in a public area unless he was SURE his dogs did a reliable recall or would simply stay near him unless he TOLD THEM IT WAS OK to go further away. It's called BASIC OBEDIENCE TRAINING. The dog I was with? I helped train her--her recall is about 98% solid, far better then 95% of the dogs I see of lead on the beach. And by recall I mean that if she's 100' away on the beach, and I whistle, she'll come straight to me 98% of the time EVEN IF there are other dogs on the beach, etc. From now on, I'll be walking that dog or any dog I'm caring for, with a squeeze bottle of lemon juice in my pocket. I plan to squirt that lemon juice in the face/eyes of ANY DOG that seems to threaten or annoy my dog or me. I don't know if it's ok with the city of Newport, et al, for their beaches to become dog parks without even the rules of most dog parks (no harassment of other dogs, pick up after your dog), but that what's happened. The shorebirds on the beach are nothing but amusement or practice prey for the owners of those dogs. I'm really sick of it. I trained my dog, I helped train other dogs so that they can be let off lead on Oregon's beautiful beaches w/out harassing the wildlife or interfering with anyone else's enjoyment of the beach (i.e., doesn't scare small children, run up to strangers, take other dog's balls/toys, etc)--it's not that hard. If you can't or won't train your dog, fine, your choice--but then don't let it off lead. Don't expect everyone else on the beach, including the shorebirds, to take care of your dog for you and be entertainment or prey for your dog.