Here’s why dogs in Miami are looking forward to Monday. It’ll be a walk in the park.
Ariel Jaimes has three four-legged friends — a Goldendoodle named Asher, a Chihuahua named Toby and a Yorkie named Phoenix. That adds up to 12 legs. The coronavirus pandemic, which necessitated the closure of parks and dog parks, has been a challenge for all pet owners, and especially for Jaimes.
He’s had to get creative. The usual green hangouts only recently reopened, with strict leash and distancing rules. Dog parks have been closed for nearly three months, although to Jaimes’ relief, they are scheduled to reopen Monday.
Jaimes, who lives in a downtown apartment near the Miami River, took his trio on urban hikes — until he noticed too many discarded needles and shards of glass. His partner is a real estate agent, so they’d go to open houses together and Jaimes walked the dogs around the neighborhood.
He took them on errands to long-aisled Home Depot, which allows dogs inside. A friend who has a backyard swimming pool invited the dogs for dips. Jaimes takes them for drives in his Jeep.
“Whenever we got cabin fever we loaded up and drove around for a change of scenery, change of smells, and they love sticking their heads out the windows for fresh air,” he said. “It’s been tough for apartment and condo dwellers. Our dogs have spent too much time lying around, bored. The big one needs exercise and he’s put on weight.”
Jaimes is thrilled by the reopening of dog parks, although he will continue to take precautions inside the fenced-in spaces where social distancing among dog owners could be tricky.
“Let’s open slowly and carefully,” he said.
The most recent update of the New Normal plan by Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez provides for the reopening of dog parks, gyms, tattoo shops, massage studios, banquet halls, short-term vacation rentals and youth camps and ends emergency closures designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Amended orders include new rules restricting how public space can be used and how businesses can operate.
“The next thing is movie theaters and bars and lounges,” Gimenez said Thursday. “We expect the rest of Miami-Dade County to reopen fairly soon.”
Valerie Shea, who lives in a condo tower across the street from Margaret Pace Park in Edgewater, said she and her French bulldog, Zoe, can’t wait to return to their favorite dog park.
“My poor dog couldn’t understand why we stopped going and cut off her entire social life,” Shea said. “Her posse will have a reunion.”
Shea, a Miami attorney, lobbied for the creation of the fenced dog park within Pace. It is ample in size, and has one area for large dogs and one for small dogs.
When Pace Park was cordoned off in mid-March and the dog park was locked, Shea and Zoe adapted by expanding their walks around the neighborhood — no substitute for the bay vistas and breezes at Pace.
“It’s paradise and we missed it,” she said. Since the main park reopened, she’s seen up to 100 dogs on leashes in the evenings. About half the dog owners are wearing masks and most observe distancing protocol, she said.
“And some people have been launching kayaks and paddling out to the island offshore to walk their dogs there,” she said.
New Normal rules for parks mandate face coverings when six feet of distancing cannot be maintained, no congregating of groups of 10 or more, limited hours from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Jaimes, who likes to take his three pets to the Lummus Park Landing Riverwalk and Pace Park, said he hopes dog owners behave responsibly so parks remain open.
“A lot of people don’t seem to understand that we’re still living in a pandemic,” he said.
Gimenez said the “road map” was created with input from residents, medical experts and industry experts.
“Our Safer at Home protocols became the model for the state, and it is because you — our residents and business owners — cooperated and adhered to these restrictions, that we were able avoid the worst predictions of the effects of the pandemic on our community, flatten the curve, and now, with criteria established by the federal government showing a downward trend in cases and hospitalizations in Miami-Dade County, we can now relax some of these restrictions and work toward what will be our New Normal,” Gimenez wrote in his decree.
This story was originally published June 7, 2020 at 6:30 AM.
