<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt;color:#000000;"><DIV>I am feeling weary and frustrated tonight. Since moving to our current location (Big Island of Hawaii), I have enjoyed occasionally walking the hounds through our little tourist town and stopping at an outdoor coffee kiosk for a cup of coffee and water for the boys. The hounds are well loved as we walk through town. Tonight I was stopped by a security guard and told "no dogs allowed except on the concrete sidewalk next to the road" (away from all the shops--there is a boadwalk by the shops which we usually stroll to reach the coffee kiosk and now that has been declared off limits to dogs). A similar thing happened to us about a month ago when we were strolling along the outside of an open mall on the sidewalk (sorry, ma'am, no dogs allowed on the sidewalks near the
mall). I have been told that dogs are supposed to be in their yards or residential neighborhoods only. Dogs are not allowed on any of the beaches on our island (except the federal park, which they may frequent if leashed at all times). There is only one dog park, which is open six days a week from 9 to 5, but rarely frequented. I really miss the more open dog tolerance of the mainland. I was shocked and delighted when I visited my son in California to see that a number of beaches there are open to dogs after 6 PM. and to see dogs frolicking together there at dusk. I also miss the more frequented dog parks on Oahu. I am identifying with my hounds in feeling very much a second class citizen. The hounds are my constant companions and it brings me pleasure when our whole family is out walking together. I may need to push the limits on this one and see how many times I get kicked out of what look like public access places to me before
some authority issues me a citation. I am not a lawbreaker by nature, but I simply fail to understand the justification for banning well behaved and controlled dogs from walkng with their families in otherwise open spaces (where stray dogs could simply meander along themselves). I do not take the dogs inside establishments without permission, I certainly pick up and properly dispose of any unanticipated droppings. The dogs are quiet, kindly, and friendly to the extreme. I guess if I were running the world, I'd want to allow dogs everywhere except perhaps in grocery stores where canine theivery could pose a problem. But then I suppose I prefer the company of dogs to that of most humans anymore.</DIV></div><br>
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