Editor:
I am no longer a dog owner. I miss my 18-pound Mojo who, in her day, was never, ever allowed to walk the promenade on Marine Drive even once. So I didn’t either. But she made a lot of people laugh at her antics in the tidal pools at Crescent Beach, and swam the Nico Wynd River on occasion. We earned ice cream treats in Crescent Beach after.
Thank you for this opportunity to respond to one man’s experience with dogs on the White Rock Promenade. With all due respect to Mr. Alex Galo’s experience, my husband and I have a very different one, and with no dog, we are on the promenade often now . We have seen only one dog being walked on the promenade this summer and when we passed the owner, who socially distanced, we saw the service provider jacket, and the dog was clearly tight to its owner and doing its job.
I am tired of reading about all the dog doo on the promenade as I never see it, and all I ever have seen (living here since 2008), is Canada goose poop, in prolific amounts hard not to step in. In my 70-minute walk end-to-end, I wish I could witness what some of your readers seem to see; so I could feel more compassionate about this illegal dog walking and pooping they report.
On the contrary,
Dogs have been proven time and again to be man’s best friend and contribute to human wellness, calmness, companionship and comfort.
In the summertime, unknowing tourists are understandably attracted to White Rock, and find a hard-sought parking spot, pay the fee for two or more hours, and then venture over the “berm” to see the sea. It is then they might notice the “no dog” signs. What to do – leave their dog to die in the heat of the car? Or just go home very unhappy about even visiting the lovely village of White Rock?
If this is an important issue, as Mr. Galo and others think it is, how about offering a dog beach area on the less commercial west side of West Beach where empty parking spots abound most mornings. White Rock attracts Harleys and old cars spewing out toxic exhaust and noise all along the outdoor dining strip. This kind of behaviour offends everyone, and unlike dog owners, they rarely stop to frequent the businesses.
S. Hartley, South Surrey
