Huntington Beach: No Dogs Allowed

On a recent trip to Orange County to attend a big Shiba Inu meet-up in Anaheim, those of us traveling in from other areas decided to stay in Huntington Beach. After all, it has a huge dog beach and was voted one of the most dog-friendly cities in California.

View from HB Dog Beach

Not so anymore. It was very dog UN-FRIENDLY overall. The Dog Beach is still very good - it goes on for a good long stretch and has enough of a bluff to keep the dogs from escaping onto the Pacific Coast Highway. However, it is pretty crowded and narrow and folks hang out there with their kids. For someone use to Fort Funston, it was a bit of a difference.

The bigger issue was the "no-dogs allowed" policy for all restaurant patios in the downtown / Main Street area and through-out the city.

Every patio had an iron fence around it with a large sign stating no dogs. I asked one of the owners and he said they had gotten multiple tickets, so they had to enforce the rule.

Shorebreak Hotel continues to be dog-friendly - check out this little Shiba's own review of the facilities. Because it is their own property, Shorebreak can continue to allow dogs on their restaurant patio.

Overall, it was very disappointing that they had limited things so much in Surf City - but with California being what it is, there are plenty of other places to go that are dog-friendly! (I'm looking at you Carmel-by-the-Sea and San Francisco)!

-- Happy Travels (woof!)