Most days Gary and I go out early, but this morning I slept in—going on six when I woke, which is sleeping in for me. We went out for our walk just before seven, which is late for us. We like to get out early to avoid visiting dogs. Really, we go out early because we love having the beach to ourselves. Often, ours are the only human footprints on the sand. We often see wild tracks of coyote, deer, elk, raccoon, and birds.

Wildlife doesn’t scare us. Dogs do sometimes.

[Gary says he’s afraid of “bats” as carriers of rabies. But bats generally avoid people and so will other wildlife. Or, in the case of elk and raccoons, we have enough sense to avoid them. Only a dog will come right up to a person, bump or charge or bite them for no good reason at all.]

Gary was knocked down some years ago by a dog on the beach. The dog meant no harm but jumped at the back of his bad knee and down he went. The owners thought this was funny. We’ve both been bitten. I was bashed in the face by a loose pit bull and I’ve seen other pits chase a runner and attack a walker. A good friend has a pit bull that she knows is harmless, but she tells me she crosses the street to avoid other walkers in her suburban neighborhood because she knows her dog scares others.

Causing fear is an aggression. Respecting the potential feelings of others is ordinary decency.

I wish the man this morning had been that considerate. He had two Golden Retrievers off lead and running at some distance from him. I’m sure he thinks (“knows”) his dogs are harmless, but the rest of us do not share his confidence. One of the dogs ran at another tourist on the beach, its head down and growling, but also sometimes wagging its tail. Is that dog safe? How can I know for certain? Goldens are usually not biters, but both Gary and I have nearly been knocked over by “friendly” dogs.

To avoid getting too close, I ran a loop near the tide line and watched. I didn’t want to get within a hundred yards of a potential biter or jumper. I needed to move up the shore to get over a creek. I considered getting wet, but then it ran off after another dog and I was able to go on with my run. “You need to call your dogs,” I said to the owner as I passed him. He ignored me.

Maybe the owner “knows” his dogs are okay. Maybe he would have called his dogs back if they got too close to others. How close would that be? Ten feet? [one of them got that close to someone while growling.] Touching? [Even a nudge, which that dog gave Gary—while snarling—could knock an old person like us down onto the rocks resulting in a broken hip. Or give him “a heart attack.”] Maybe the dog owner doesn’t care? I can’t know and I shouldn’t have to worry about this, because two things: 1. I don’t share his confidence both because I don’t know his dogs and because he probably doesn’t know them as well as he should. 2. Why should I be scared because he’s chosen to ignore the leash law?

Yes, there is a law about dogs on the beaches. Oregon beaches are managed by the Oregon Park system and dogs are supposed to be leashed or, in some locations, under voice control. Local dogs know one another, walk the shore every day, and leave walkers and runners alone. Gary and I love some of those dogs. Their character and behavior are known and predictable.

The same cannot be said for tourists’ dogs. They are in a strange environment, and most have little-to-no experience off lead in an unfenced area. They go a little crazy looking for containment that isn’t there. North, south, or east? How far can I go, is it safe here, who is that stranger?

The shore in front of my home is three blocks from highway 101. I wonder if owners ever think of that? I have personally rescued and returned two labs who had run north and not stopped for miles. [We used to joke about our dog Snowbird, that she would keep running north all the way to Canada if the Columbia River and headlands weren’t in the way!] Gary herded a wandering dog back to a beach rental and he’s also rescued dogs who wandered and became lost.

“Within the 363 miles that make up Oregon’s coastline, there are 262 miles of sandy beaches. They don’t all allow dogs, but you can take your best friend on seaside adventures at many of these coastal destinations. Some of them require you to use a 6-foot leash, while others allow off-leash dogs, provided that they listen to your commands and don’t interfere with other guests.”

—Dog-Friendly Beaches

But back to fear. The animal behaviorist, Temple Grandin, studied livestock in order to discover more humane methods of transporting, caring for, and ultimately slaughtering them. She found that sheep were more terrified when they were shoved into a pool of sheep-dip than they were at the moment they were killed. She eats meat but doesn’t approve of causing fear. Causing avoidable fear is cruel.

That tourist’s choice to allow his dogs to run without control was selfish and inconsiderate.

He had no right to allow his dogs to frighten me and other runners and walkers. I have every right to run the public beach without being afraid for my physical safety.