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# Dog-day afternoons not for everyone
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/dog-day-afternoons-not-for-everyone/
- Published: 2004-06-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:38:03.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Environment, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

This past week, Q-line asked: “Should a portion of Santa Monica’s beach be designated an off-leash zone for dogs?” Why or why not?”

Here are your responses: (Editor’s note: Due to the high volume of responses, not all answers to this week’s question will be printed today. Look for more responses next week in the Santa Monica Daily Press). ✆ “A free running zone for unleashed dogs is all right with me, providing the dog owner is required to maintain a high-end liability insurance policy. All dogs are not of the same size, nor disposition. Prudence dictates that the owners have insurance for their own legal protection or for another pet or person that may be injured.” ✆“No, we should not have a special place for dogs. The beach is for people. Santa Monica has three dog parks already that have turned into a chip place that is not available to anybody in the community except for dog owners. I think that’s very limited use and it states that animals should come before people. I vote for people and don’t think dogs should be allowed on the beach.” ✆“It is high time we had a doggie beach. I grew up in Carmel and we had a pristine area. We found people becoming more human with more dogs around. I think that is a great idea.” ✆“Why do we need an off-leash dog beach? It will be more urine and feces on the beach, just like the homeless do. The kids will be playing on the beach, sitting in urine-drenched sand. Even if the owners pick up the poop, the urine will still be there.” ✆“I think there should absolutely be a designated area for dogs on the beach, just not unleashed. They should all be leashed, it would be nice to walk a dog on the beach. I live here in Santa Monica and can’t walk along the coast with my dog. I think they should at least change the law so you can walk your dog on the beach.” ✆“I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have a supervised area for dogs on the beach. If we let the homeless and the vagrants take over our parks and beaches, urinating, defecating and vomiting at will. What could be wrong with somebody’s nice, clean, behaved doggie buddy? Sounds like an improvement to me.” ✆“Use common sense on this. Beaches are not for dogs, cats or other animals. Unless you are 20 miles away from humans. Beaches are for humans. This is a bizarre recommendation and I am sure it won’t pass.” ✆“I think we owe it to the dog citizens to provide a nice beach run. I think it’s a great idea.” ✆“Nobody should be allowed to bring a dog onto the beach, off the leash or not. Dog owners should band together like a co-op and purchase their own stretch of beach, not use public property. Then they can muck it up all they want.” ✆“Santa Monica residents deserve a place they can take their dog to the beach. People assume that a dog beach will affect water quality, or be a liability issue to the city or safety issue. Yet careful research of all 57 dog beaches in California does not show that any of these issues are facts. The quality all around does not go down and dog areas are often cleaner than the rest of the beach. There have been no liability or safety issues in any of the municipalities that have dog beaches.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 26, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/062604.pdf?ref=smdp.com)