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August 25, 2006
DOG LOVERS - LISTEN UP - DOGS AT THE POOL
Here is an email I received from a dog lover. " What is the rule of law for California with regards to dogs on leash in the "pool area" ... if dogs are on the leash, and are not a threat to anyone, because of their distance from others, it seems cruel not to allow a dog to sit outside in the sun as opposed to having to stay inside. Pets add a lot of the life of people, and to exclude pets from all condos, is not realistic and unlawful. I live by the pool and I will say that the kids down there are a lot louder then the noise my dog makes."
I sympathize and empathize with this person. I had to put my dog of 16 years down last year and she was the best behaving dog I have ever seen. Without professional training she healed pretty much from the day she learned to walk with me. She never bit anyone and never barked in her whole life except for one time when a strange man came to the door at night one time and spoke without knocking through the screen door. She would have sat by my chair at the pool and watched the activity without batting an eye. She was a great companion. But I never took her to a community swimming pool - why? Because there were rules about that.
How many dogs do you see at the public pools? Seeing-eye dogs, maybe. And I know someone is going to tell me that their complex allows dogs at the pool. Heck, one time a board member told me their association has a swimming time at the pool when the dog owners can swim with their dogs. (No one asked my opinion - the statement came at a seminar when someone came to a booth I was manning and told me that.) I get calls from managers who say that certain owners or tenants are taking their dogs to the pool and letting them swim, and they want a letter from me because their letters and demands have gone unheeded.
I am not a believer that dogs or any pets or animals (other than a bona fide service animal) should be allowed at the swimming pool or in the clubhouse. That is because these facilities were not built for the dogs. They were built for human use and enjoyment. A dog run is for a dog's exercise and enjoyment, although I know of one association that built a dog run for people to exercise their dogs and the dog owners opt instead for exercising their dogs in the adjoining park, I assume, because people are not picking up after their dogs in the dog run.
I believe rules excluding dogs from these places are justified. Maybe one dog owner is a good "parent" but another is not. How is a board or management expected to deal with this reasonably? How about the owner that brings their dog during the day and is the perfect "parent" and then brings the pet back after dark and lets them swim under cover of darkness. What about the dog owner who has a dog that is perfect until a child approaches and then goes into protective mode? What about the dogs that shed, exude odor or spread dander around.
Yes, children can be a pain too and a dog owner may be justified in saying that children at the pool are more of a nuisance than his or her dog. And they are probably right - but children are different. They are a protected class in the eyes of the law, and they are exactly what swimming pools, parks and playyards are all about.
If your association wants a dog park, and there is space for it, it may work out for the owners. But if not, I think it best not to expect that the Association will allow dogs and other pets at poolside.
Posted by Beth Grimm at August 25, 2006 10:37 PM