Barking mad: After months of controversy, dogs can now go on White Rock's promenade

The Mayor of White Rock hopes a pilot project allowing leashed dogs on the city's promenade will go smoother than the discussion surrounding it over the last year. 

"I don't think we had any inclination that it would be this controversial, but that's the way it is," said Darryl Walker. 

Effective Tuesday, dogs will be permitted on the promenade — a 2.19-kilometre long stretch of grass and walking trail between the railway and the beach — for a six-month pilot project. 

It comes 10 months after council passed the motion allowing the pilot, but in the interim there was a month-long delay to the project and plenty of acrimonious debate.

"Certainly there's a lot of evidence that would make people think that there is a conspiracy to get the dogs down there," said Beverly O'Malley, who was on the city's task force until she resigned a month ago. 

"I don't think that there's a big conspiracy to make this happen. I just think it's very badly done."

'Ostracizing part of our society'

O'Malley isn't the first person to raise the spectre of a conspiracy over the dog debate. 

In March, pictures of dog poop on the promenade were posted to social media, causing White Rock councillor Scott Kristjanson to allege "strong evidence" of a false flag operation by the anti-dog lobby. 

The reasons for the inflamed debate are numerous: White Rock has never allowed dogs on the promenade before, and the promenade is quite popular but relatively narrow, right next to a wildlife management area. 

"It's just going to promote more more owners to get their dogs out to run on the beach and chase the birds and do all the things that dogs do normally," said O'Malley, who quit the task force in September along with the two other members who were against the pilot program.  

"That's normal behaviour for them. But it does scare the birds and it's very stressful for the wildlife."

O'Malley also argued the pilot project would make the promenade less welcoming for autistic children who might be scared of dogs. 

"We're basically ostracizing part of our society," she said.

"I think people are ... quite used to it being a safe place for people who don't want to be around dogs."

No dogs on beach or pier

But Walker is hopeful that the heated feelings over the pilot will go away as people begin seeing the dogs on the promenade.   

"We're hoping that it will be a successful project, that people whether they're on one side of the ledger or the other will be respectful of each other," he said, urging dog owners to follow the guidelines set out by the city. 

Walker emphasized that dogs will still not be permitted on the beach or the recently reopened pier, and says the city will be monitoring the effectiveness of the program over the winter months. 

"Let's see if people can step up and actually do a job walking their dog and being respectful and responsible to everybody else."

In the past month, council has considered 25 further recommendations by the task force set up by the city. Some will be going ahead, including limiting the number of dogs per person on the promenade to three, and tracking "negative dog interactions" during the pilot.

Other recommendations failed, including the idea of a survey asking people to rate the dog friendliness of White Rock on a scale of 1-10.