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Dogs booted from park's boardwalks

By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published January 21, 2007

EAST LAKE - Sallye Hatfield started walking the trails at John Chesnut Sr. Park in 1982, when the park was known as Brooker Creek Park.

So last week, she was upset to see a new sign banning dogs from the trail's boardwalks.

It will hurt, she said, and not just her and Baby, her 10-pound Maltese-Lhasa apso mix.

"So many older women just have the dog, and they like to walk the trails with them to keep fit," said Hatfield, clad in a dark jogging suit, leash in hand. "It's just so sad."

With its 255 woodsy acres, views of Lake Tarpon and abundant wildlife, John Chesnut Sr. Park, 2200 East Lake Road, is a popular destination for canines and their owners.

Dogs can romp unleashed in a fenced dog park or walk the open spaces on a 6-foot leash.

But soon dogs will be banned from the park's three boardwalks - at least temporarily. Parks officials are still reviewing the move, but the ban is scheduled to start Feb. 1.

The reason?

Somebody got nipped.

In October, Louie, a 20-pound Shih Tzu mix, nipped the calf of a jogger. The dog's shots were up to date and the jogger, Keith Bartley, 23, of Palm Harbor, said the attack left few scratches.

"It was fine; it was just humiliating," Bartley said last week. "I told him" - Louie's owner, Mike Guyler of Palm Harbor - "to discipline his dog, to smack him on the nose and tell him not to bite people."

When Guyler didn't do that, Bartley complained to park personnel.

Guyler was surprised to hear that Louie had helped trigger a ban on dogs on the boardwalks.

"But the walkway is very narrow," he acknowledged. He said he wouldn't walk Louie there again.

Other park visitors also have complained about encountering dogs on the boardwalks.

"When you've got a 4-foot boardwalk, a 6-foot leash isn't going to do you much good," said Joe Lupardus, Pinellas County's north district parks operations manager.

Two South Pinellas parks - Sawgrass Lake Nature Park in St. Petersburg and Boca Ciega Millenium Park in Seminole - also ban dogs from their boardwalks. Other North Pinellas county parks with wider boardwalks will continue to allow pets on them.

And though most dog owners are responsible, Lupardus said, some don't clean up after their pets.

At the park Wednesday, Tony and Belinda Hellings of New Port Richey were walking toward the hiking trail that starts along the boat docks. It's a frequent destination.

Ban dogs from the boardwalks?

"I think it's a good idea, frankly," he said.

"There are some charming dogs here," she said.

"But others, we're nervous about," he said.

Soon they saw Baby.

"You've got one of those fierce, biting dogs," Tony Hellings teased Hatfield.

"I'm just very upset by it," Hatfield told him as a passing chow chow growled and strained at the leash toward Baby.

"It's a few bad people with their dogs," he said.

Farther along, Kelly Rushing and daughter Erin, 2, were out for a stroll in the sunshine. Minutes before, they had backed away after meeting a large dog. They have a rule to throw dogs a kiss instead of petting them.

"You know dogs are animals and you just don't know what they are going to do," said Rushing, who leaves her 75-pound dog Zoe at home because Erin is enough to handle.

George Leahy was miffed at the thought of leaving his 14-month-old Yorkie, Tangueray, at home in the Anchorage subdivision.

"I'll still walk," he said. "I just won't have as much fun."

Along the trail headed toward the observation tower, a 4-foot alligator basked on the bank near the railing. And a small dog owner apparently had left droppings on the boardwalk. A jogger blew by, parting two walkers.

On the trip back, the jogger stopped briefly and said a big dog on a leash had just lunged toward her, missing her by about an inch.

"It's irritating," Roxanne Vesely of East Lake said, and not unusual.

Near the end of the trail, Helmut Radtke of East Lake demonstrated a remedy with his German shepherd, Kaiser, 6, who is trained in six levels of obedience.

"In those situations, always take the dog on the left side," he said, and put the dog against the railing. Then the master will be between the dog and the other pedestrian.

Radtke is originally from Germany and in Europe, he said, dogs go everywhere. The difference, he said, is that dogs are trained there, even the small ones.

"If there's a dog that misbehaves, ticket it," his wife, Carol Radtke, said.

He agreed.

"There is one dog that misbehaves and we all have to suffer for it," he said.

Speak out

To ban or not to ban?

The decision to ban dogs from Chesnut Park's boardwalks is still under review and the county's parks and recreation advisory board is scheduled to consider it at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in the administrative offices of 631 Chestnut St., Clearwater. The meeting is open to the public.

To leave a message with your comments, call (727) 669-1951.

[Last modified January 21, 2007, 00:09:44]