dog owners - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T01:31:41Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/dog+ownersPaws Up for Pets: Paw Pal dogs aim to bring peace, joy to hospice patientshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/paws-up-for-pets-paw-pal-dogs-aim-to-bring-peace-joy-to-hospice-p2017-05-03T14:10:58.000Z2017-05-03T14:10:58.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960720097,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960720097,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960720097?profile=original" /></a><em>A VITAS patient enjoys an up close and personal visit from a Paw Pal dog.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Photo provided by VITAS Healthcare</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Arden Moore</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"> Some dogs are born agility stars blessed with athletic prowess to weave in and out among poles, dash up ramps and wiggle quickly through tunnels. Others earn respect for chasing down criminal suspects and detecting hidden caches of drugs as K-9 police officers. Some dogs live to shine in the spotlight at best of breed shows or dog obedience competitions.<br /> Then there are special dogs like Einstein and Dixie, a pair of basset hounds who waddle into a room and illuminate smiles and inner joy in people whose time left is counted in months, weeks or days.<br /> Einstein and Dixie are poster dogs for the Paw Pal program for VITAS Healthcare, a national hospice company that has a center in Boynton Beach. Their well-mannered temperaments and easygoing natures make them ideal to spend time with hospice patients and their families. <br /> And Palm Beach County needs more of such dogs.<br /> “A large population of elderly living here in assisted living or nursing facilities have had to give up their dogs prior to coming to these facilities, or have fond memories of their childhood dogs,” says Gayle Stevens, volunteer services manager of the VITAS volunteer program for Palm Beach County and a registered nurse. “Many of them or their families request for us to bring a dog to visit them. Our Paw Pal dogs often serve as a distraction from their illnesses and help people feel a little less lonely.”<br /> Interested? Does your dog possess the right qualities? The Paw Pal program seeks dogs who are healthy and current on vaccinations, well groomed, free of fleas and ticks, understand and obey basic obedience commands, and warm up easily and quickly to people of all ages in a variety of locations. <br /> Dog owners must undergo background checks, agree to be fingerprinted and must be willing to volunteer with their dogs for a couple of hours a week. To learn more, visit <a href="http://www.vitas.com/hospice-care-services/paw-pals-pet-therapy">www.vitas.com/hospice-care-services/paw-pals-pet-therapy</a> or email Stevens at gayle.stevens@vitas.com.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;" class="font-size-3">Doggie duo brings joy</span><br /> Einstein and Dixie can be found most Tuesdays at assisted living facilities, hospitals and private homes sporting their official Paw Pal identification badges and eye-catching purple bandanas. They make their rounds with their owners, Nancy and Marty Cohen, a retired Lake Worth couple.<br /> For 25 years, Nancy Cohen saved lives as a paramedic and then a nurse. Now, joined by her husband, Einstein and Dixie, she is there for those nearing the end of their lives.<br /> “Einstein is definitely a clown who does his best to get people to engage with him,” Cohen says. “Dixie is calm and quiet. She has a way of getting people to pet her, and if they stop, she gently noses their hands to continue receiving pets.”<br />Cohen adopted the pair from a basset hound rescue group.<br /> During a recent home visit to see a man in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease, Nancy entered the living room to see the man in a recliner with his eyes closed. Quietly, the man’s wife let Nancy know that her husband had not responded to anything recently. <br /> “I gently placed Einstein on a footstool next to the recliner and placed the man’s hand on Einstein’s head and ears. He started to smile and his wife told me she could not remember the last time he had smiled,” Cohen recalls. <br /> During another home visit — this time to see a retired teacher with Parkinson’s disease — Dixie confidently walked up to the teacher to be petted and then boldly walked into her kitchen to take in scents of food.<br /> “The teacher was clearly amused by Dixie and seemed to know that with basset hounds, the nose is everything,” Cohen says. “Dixie has very soulful eyes and she quickly endears herself to everyone she meets.”<br />Stevens also expressed her appreciation for dogs like Leahla, a 5-year-old Shih Tzu-poodle mix belonging to Bonnie McKay of West Palm Beach, and Sarah, a beagle belonging to William Merkle of Boynton Beach.<br /> “Bonnie brought Leahla to see a woman with multiple sclerosis. The disease had progressed to the point that she could not move anything but her hands,” Stevens says. “Bonnie placed Leahla on a blanket on the bed and helped the woman position her hand so it could move up and down Leahla. She made the woman smile.”<br /> She continues, “We got an urgent call from a social worker for a patient with end-stage lung disease who desperately wanted a dog to visit him. In walks William with Sarah, and the man proclaimed, ‘Oh my gosh! I had a dream about a beagle visiting me. This is wonderful.’”<br /> Most patients whom Einstein visits are unaware that glaucoma has robbed this 12-year-old of sight in his right eye and that he can see only shadows in his left. They just notice that Einstein hangs closely to the right side of Cohen.<br /> “Einstein regards me as his safety net when we enter a new place or room, but he still enjoys performing tricks for the clients and their families,” she says. “As he was going blind, we taught him the map of our house, how to move forward, back up, step up, step down and slow down. He is a very good learner and definitely lives up to his name.”<br /> It is clear that Einstein has the right qualities to be a perfect Paw Pal ambassador. <br /> <br /><em>Arden Moore, founder of FourLeggedLife.com, is an animal behavior consultant, editor, author, professional speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. She hosts the popular Oh Behave! show on <a href="http://www.PetLifeRadio.com">www.PetLifeRadio.com</a>. Learn more by visiting <a href="http://www.fourleggedlife.com">www.fourleggedlife.com</a>.</em></p></div>Delray Beach: Beachgoers with dogs now face fineshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-beachgoers-with-dogs-now-face-fines2016-08-03T19:25:48.000Z2016-08-03T19:25:48.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960669076,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960669076,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960669076?profile=original" /></a><em>Delray Beach code enforcement officers Joe Lucarelli (left) and Robenson Dejardian (blue shirt in rear)</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>walk with beach visitors accompanied by their service dog. The visitors — who declined to be identified —</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>are permitted to bring their service dog to the beach. Lucarelli monitors the beach shortly after sunrise</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>several days a week as part of a stepped-up effort to reduce the number of animals on the city beach.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Rich Pollack<br /><br /></strong> The honeymoon is over for people who violate Delray Beach’s ordinance prohibiting dogs or any other animals on the city’s public beach. <br /> Beginning this month, police and code enforcement officers will be writing citations to violators, with those citations carrying a $50 fine for uncontested citations or a $125 fine if the citation is disputed. <br /> As part of a stepped-up effort to reduce the number of animals on the beach — mainly dogs — code enforcement officers and police officers issued 11 written warnings to violators through the first 29 days of last month, according to city records. <br /> Several of those citations have been written by Joe Lucarelli, a Delray Beach code enforcement officer who is on the beach shortly after sunrise several days a week in an effort to ensure dogs don’t get to the public beach where kids could be playing or others could be sunbathing.<br /> “This phase is an educational phase,” Lucarelli said late last month.<br /> While there have been one or two dog owners who were unhappy with increased efforts to enforce the local ordinance, Lucarelli said the majority of violators have been cooperative. <br /> “Most of the people take the warning without attitude,” he said. <br /> Some beach visitors are accompanied by service dogs, which are permitted. <br /> During the current enforcement effort, Lucarelli has heard a variety of excuses, with some residents telling him they were unaware of the pet ban. <br /> To ensure awareness, the city has placed signs along State Road A1A at most of the walkways leading to the beach. Some residents, however, still say they didn’t know about the rules. <br /> One of those residents is Laura Santos, who brought her 7½-year-old miniature pinscher, Isabella, to the beach shortly after Lucarelli and another code enforcement officer, Robenson Dejardian, had left. <br /> Santos said she was aware of efforts to step up enforcement of the ban, but had been told by other residents that it was OK to bring her pet to the ocean. When she learned that the ordinance was indeed in effect and that citations will be issued, Santos decided to leave. <br /> “I want to be able to bring my dog to the beach but if I can’t, I won’t,” she said. “I’m not going to come here and get a ticket.” <br /> Santos said she can understand the concerns of residents worried about the possible health hazard that could result from dogs on the beach. <br /> While she is conscientious about picking up after Isabella, she said she has seen some dog owners who are not as responsible. <br /> Concerns about noncompliance with the city’s ordinance surfaced during a May City Commission workshop meeting in which a proposed pilot program for a designated dog beach was shot down. <br /> While there were many proponents of the pilot program, an equal number of residents told commissioners they worried that dogs on the beach posed a health and safety issue and complained that the city ordinance wasn’t being followed. <br /> Prior to the stepped-up enforcement that began in June with awareness and educational outreach campaigns, no citations for violations of the ordinance had been written by police officers this year, according to city records. Only nine citations had been written in 2015.<br /> Delray Beach police officers are part of the stepped up enforcement effort and have been issuing written warnings. The Police Department also enlisted volunteers and community service aides to increase awareness, but they are no longer active in the effort because they don’t have ticket-writing authority.</p></div>Delray Beach: Police step up efforts to keep dogs off beachhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-police-step-up-efforts-to-keep-dogs-off-beach2016-06-01T18:20:02.000Z2016-06-01T18:20:02.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960661894,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960661894,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960661894?profile=original" /></a><em>Friends of Delray Dog Beach held a demonstration May 7 in hopes of raising awareness</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>and gaining approval for dogs to be permitted on part of the public beach. The demonstrators gathered</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>in front of the city’s beachside pavilion.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Among the signs: ‘Surfers, paddleboards, volleyball, sunbathers ... Everyone can use our beach but dog owners.’</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
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<p><strong>By Rich Pollack</strong><br /><br /> Dog owners who fought to have a portion of Delray Beach’s public beach set aside for their four-legged friends appear to have lost their months-long battle. <br /> Now there may be even more bad news — especially for pooch owners who scoff at the law — as the city begins cracking down on those who violate its no-dogs-on-the-beach ordinance.<br /> Delray Beach commissioners at a workshop meeting in May shot down a proposal that would have established a six-month pilot program crafted by city staff with input from local pet owners. <br /> That plan would have set aside a small portion of Atlantic Dunes Park as a dog beach for a few morning hours and a few evening hours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.<br /> During a lengthy discussion in which 16 dog owners spoke in favor of the proposal and 16 mostly beachside residents spoke against, commissioners were told that many owners are acting in violation of city ordinances and allowing their dogs to run free on the beach.<br /> Part of the problem, according to Mayor Cary Glickstein, is that the city has been lax in enforcing its no-dogs-on-the-beach policy, a responsibility that currently falls on the shoulders of police officers. <br /> “We all look silly not enforcing our laws,” the mayor said. “We also look silly having sworn police officers doing the dog patrol. The solution is educating volunteers and park rangers who may be given authority to write citations.”<br /> While attorneys are investigating the possibility of changing city ordinances to allow those other than police and code enforcement officers to write civil citations, the police department has already begun implementing a plan to keep dogs off the beach. <br /> This month, according to a memo Police Chief Jeff Goldman wrote to Glickstein, the police department will begin an educational campaign with fliers, social media and traditional media designed to remind dog owners of the law. <br /> Beginning in July, violators of the city ordinance will receive a written warning for a first offense and a citation for a second offense. The city’s code enforcement department will assist police on the enforcement side.<br /><br /><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><strong>Minimal enforcement</strong></span><br /> According to the police department, there has been little enforcement of the city ordinance by the department up to now.<br /> Through the first four months of this year, no citations were written for dogs on the beach, according to police department records. In all of 2015, there were only nine citations issued. Police issued 30 citations for dogs on the beach in 2014 and 43 in 2013.<br /> Of all the 82 citations written since 2013, about half were written to individuals with Delray Beach addresses. Four were written to out-of-state residents and the remainder were to South Florida residents living outside of the Delray Beach area. <br /> Many residents who spoke during May’s commission meeting cited the lack of enforcement as a problem. <br /> “It’s despicable the number of people who disregard the ordinance,” said resident Steve Blum. <br /> Several residents spoke about health concerns associated with dogs on the beach, reporting that not all owners clean up after their pets.<br /> Others said that unleashed dogs have approached them when they were walking on the beach, leading to safety concerns. <br /> “There are always dogs on the beach,” said resident Alan Schwartz, who added that additional enforcement could lead to more revenue for the city.<br /> Some, however, including Vice Mayor Al Jacquet and Commissioner Mitch Katz, said that creating a dog beach could actually help reduce the problem.<br /> “It seems we have a problem enforcing the laws we have on the books,” Jacquet said. “People are already having dogs on the beach. Let’s put it all in one area where we can regulate it.”<br /> At the same time, however, Jacquet agreed with Commissioner Jordana Jarjura that the city is facing more pressing financial issues that need to be addressed.<br /> Citing health and safety reasons as well as other priorities facing the city, Jarjura, Glickstein and Commissioner Shelly Petrolia said they were not in favor of creating a dog beach.<br /> Proponents of the proposal noted that dog beaches work in many other communities, including Boca Raton. However, Glickstein and several others pointed out that those beaches are larger and configured differently than Delray’s public beach. <br /> “Boca’s beach is twice the size of Delray’s beach,” he said. “Fort Lauderdale’s beach is four times the size.”<br />Delray Beach resident Harvey Starin, who represented the 1,000-member Friends of Delray Dog Beach, said he does not believe increased enforcement will work.<br /> “It will make people really angry,” he said. “It’s going to force people to go to Boca or Jupiter. <br /> “Other people will grin and bear it and be disappointed in City Hall.”</p></div>Delray Beach: Dog beach ‘back to square one’ with risk assessmenthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-dog-beach-back-to-square-one-with-risk-assessment2016-05-04T17:50:21.000Z2016-05-04T17:50:21.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Rich Pollack</strong><br /><br /> A group of dog owners buoyed by a Delray Beach Parks and Recreation Department plan to create a dog beach during a six-month trial suffered a setback when the department’s director reversed course, saying dogs romping through the sand could pose a health risk to beachgoers. <br /> “Recent information regarding specific parasitic conditions which could be acerbated by the presence of dogs, has caused me to change my recommendation,” said Delray Beach Parks and Recreation Director Suzanne Fisher.<br /> Fisher, who according to the city manager’s office is now officially on leave, recommended in March that the city conduct a pilot program for a dog beach. The plan would have allowed for a small portion of the city’s public beach, at Atlantic Dunes Park, to be cordoned off during early morning and late afternoon hours three days a week and available to dogs and their owners. <br /> Under that proposal, the 30,000-square-foot dog beach would be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday for two hours in the morning — from 7 to 9 — and three hours in the afternoon ending at sunset. A park ranger would ensure that all dogs were licensed and had proper shots. <br /> Before going on leave, however, Fisher issued a memo saying her department concluded that some parasites in dogs could be transmitted to humans if larvae shed in feces were to contaminate sand and then penetrate unprotected skin. The larvae can persist for three or four weeks in favorable conditions, she said. <br /> “While staff’s initial recommendation was to support a pilot program, after additional research regarding <em>Cutaneous larva migrans</em> and <em>Ancylostoma braziliense</em>, due to sand/soil contaminated by intestinal parasites, staff recommends enforcing the current ordinance — do not allow dogs on the municipal beach,” Fisher wrote.<br /> <em>Cutaneous larva migrans</em> and <em>Ancylostoma braziliense</em> are parasites that belong to the hookworm family.<br /> The latest position from the Parks and Recreation Department follows City Manager Don Cooper’s recommendation to city commissioners to reject the proposed pilot project. The issue, however, is still scheduled for a discussion at the commission’s workshop meeting on May 10. <br /> Fisher’s reversal came as a surprise to leaders of Friends of Delray Dog Beach, who are planning a rally at 9 a.m. May 7 on A1A and Atlantic Avenue.<br /> “It shocked all of us,” said Bob Brewer, who founded the 1,000-member group. “We thought we had the worst behind us, now we’re back to square one.” <br /> Brewer said his organization had been working with Fisher and her department for more than a year and would strongly be in favor of creating a dog beach as a pilot project. <br /> “All we wanted was a trial period,” he said. <br /> Brewer also said that he and others in the informal group disagree with Fisher’s conclusion that parasites could be a health hazard. He said a member of the organization who is a physician and whose wife is a dermatologist both say the conditions cited by Fisher are extremely rare. <br /> “Dog beaches are working all over the country,” he said. <br /> Brewer said his organization is developing a strategy as it continues to advocate for a dog beach and plans to become more visible at commission meetings. <br /> “We’re not giving up,” he said. “We have too much invested.”</p></div>