Haute
Dogs take over beach
By Yoshinori Okada
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
 Hundreds
of dogs and their guardians gathered getting
off-the leash and on sands in Belmont Shore
last Sunday for Haute Dogs on the Beach.
The Haute Dogs organization, founded and
organized by Long Beach activist Justin
Rudd, has hosted the event, which allows
dogs to be unleashed in 300 acres of the
beach between Argonne and Roycroft avenues
from 2 to 5 p.m., almost monthly for two
years.
This year, the event fell on Father’s Day
and recognized human “fathers” of dogs with
contests and prizes, and collected paw prints
and signatures on a petition.
Contests included the Fireman’s Carry in
which the contestants sprinted while carrying
their dogs to the finish line, and Big Daddy
Contest which awarded the human male who
had the biggest dog.
Through the event, the organizer and volunteer
members encouraged the dog owners to have
their dogs put their paw prints and signatures
on a roll of paper petitioning to make the
monthly dog beach into a daily one.
For more than 30 years, no dogs have been
allowed off-leash on any beaches in Los
Angeles County until Rudd started hosting
the event two years ago, he said. He has
been hoping to make further progress with
the dogs’ and owners’ petition to the City
of Long Beach, he said.
“I think some of the reasons that dogs have
not been allowed on the beach are that people
are afraid of dog fights, dog bites, dog
poop being left on the beach and just their
irresponsibility,” Rudd said. “But over
the past two years, we’ve been able to demonstrate
to them how responsible dog owners are.
We leave this beach cleaner than when we
came here. Dog owners here are responsible
for any dog fights and dog bites.”
Rudd said he founded the organization as
part of the Community Action Team, a
public benefit corporation he runs through
private donations, aiming for the better
use and attraction of public beaches for
local residents and dogs.
Rudd then started asking city officials,
including Long Beach City Council members
and the Special Events Department, for the
monthly dog beach, and gained an approval
from them.
Katie Mochalski said she came from Manhattan
Beach and her friend from Santa Monica because
this is the only dog beach in the county.
She said she supports the organization and
its petition for the daily dog beach.
“I think it’s the right thing to do, they
are very responsible about it, and I hope
they do it,” Mochalski said. “I think the
dog beach is great, and I wish they would
do it all the time, or at least every Sunday.
It’s a great event.
The dogs get along, everyone takes care
of the beach, everybody is happy. She [her
dog] looks as happy as I ever see her, she
loves it here.”
The petition for the daily dog beach will
be discussed in an upcoming Long Beach City
Council meeting. If it is approved, the
daily dog beach is estimated to be open
by Aug. 1, according to Tim Patton, aide
to Long Beach Councilwoman Jackie Kell of
the 5th Council District.
A one-year pilot program that opens the
beach to the dogs everyday from 4 to 6 p.m.
with the expanded hours of 4 to 8 p.m. from
Memorial Day to Labor Day has currently
been planned. The City’s Department of Parks,
Recreation and Marine, and the Recreation
Dog Park Association will oversee it.
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