[Dailydrool] Dog unfriendly/friendly states, where are dogs allowed leashed and unleashed?

[Val lbrewerzwick via Dailydrool]

I was wondering about other states and dog-friendliness. (Not a big deal, but wondering). We live on the Big Island of Hawaii (A different island, Oahu, is where Honolulu is located and where most of the population of Hawaii lives).  Our island is not dog-friendly with respect to places dogs are allowed to go. This surprised me.  Two out of three households here have dogs, BUT, dogs are really only allowed, on leash, on the streets of residential neighborhoods, on leash in Federal (but not state, which are the majority) beaches, and unleashed in private fenced yards or the small set aside fenced areas outside the humane society maybe three times a week at posted hours.  Almost 100% of commercial establishments of any sort prohibit dogs, whether food establishments or not. There used to be one dog-friendly outdoor restaurant here, a fish house on the harbor, but it has been closed.  Pig hunting dogs are allowed off leash, of course, up in the mountains where they hunt wild boars with hunters, but that is a whole other story.  Otherwise hunting dogs tend to be confined in cages and live hard lives.  Residential housing complexes generally set a weight limit on allowed dogs (usually a maximum of 20 pounds).  So there tends to be a dichotomy of breeds here, at least on this island --chihuahua and Pomeranian mixes as pets and pitbull-catahoula mixes as hunting dogs.  Some variations.  Private homeowners in non-gated communities which have no homeowner organizations may do what they wish (so these are the communities in which we have always lived).

The newspapers here periodically run rants about prohibiting dogs from all "public spaces", which is almost the case now anyway. There apparently is a thriving business in false certification of pretend service dogs, or so the papers say. (I haven't witnessed this although occasionally I see chihuahua types riding in grocery carts at Walmart's wearing service vests).

Oahu is more dog-friendly. Here on the Big Island dogs are mostly considered livestock (and I understand the argument that you would not lead your cow or sheep from store to store).  And yet...'

When we visited my son for his undergraduate graduation in Southern California, I was enchanted that dogs could frolic on the beaches with their owners after 6 PM.  And when we lived in RI, we always took our dogs to run on the beaches at any time of day without any sort of problems
.  I feel sorry for our current dogs that they are so restricted (though we have a big yard and we take them on leash to the Federal Park.) 

I am just curious--is Hawaii (outer islands) the worst, or do others contend with these issues as well?  Val of Hawaii with Bassets Mariah and Milo, and retired hunting dog pit mix Ipo. Vlbzwick at yahoo.com






Val