Let me just save you some Googling…there’s only one legal off-leash dog beach in LA.
Literally, I’ve been to restaurants with a menu for dogs, tripped over them in stores and malls, saw a tiny one roaming freely around a hospital just yesterday, but apparently the beach is where society draws the line.
The injustice.
My fur baby is getting up there (turned 13 in February 😦 ) So Little and I put together an unofficial bucket list of things a west coast pup should do in their lifetime.
Top of the list was swimming in the Pacific.
She’s been to the Atlantic several times. Apparently East Coasters aren’t such haters when it comes to dogs playing in the sand.
The only beach I could find in all of LA County that allows dogs off leash was a section in Belmont Shore called Rosie’s Dog Beach. I don’t love the beaches in Long Beach, personally. Not for playing anyway because the water is kinda gross due to the proximity to the harbor. But a bucket list is a bucket list.
So we made the trek.
Rosie’s wasn’t at all hard to find. Plenty of dog signs and scores of pups running around excitedly. We easily found free street parking (Score!) and it was just a short walk to the sand.
Furbaby has become not-so-friendly in her old age. She wouldn’t hurt a fly, but she basically yaps non-stop at anything that moves. So the beach was sensory overload for her.
She barked at everything she saw, tasted the salt water, sniffed tails, and just all around had a grand ol’ time.
I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. She’s only about 5 pounds and the majority of the other dogs were at least ten times her size. And, of course, she likes yapping at them the most. I just knew she’d be swallowed whole. Insert, near heart attack at least 7 times.
Luckily, she wasn’t swallowed whole.
Did she have a blast? Yes. So mission accomplished. Would we go again? No. My heart can’t take it.
