Woman lost in surf trying to save dog

[kayakjack]

dillon beach at the mouth of tomales bay is a no-leash dog beach.

[PISCEAN]

I was thinking about this last night after I posted. Obviously there are emotions that can get stirred up by this kind of thing.
I didn't mean to imply in my post that I believe dogs should always be leashed. Far from it, I am a "free dog" kind of person, as long as the owner is in control to some degree & the dog is friendly.
I wrote that I would attempt to save my dog were she caught in a wave, and that's true. However, I also have a brain that is sort of   rational, so the way I look at it is if I am unwilling to jump into whatever sea conditions exist, I'd rather not allow my dog to run down to the water's edge unleashed. Fortunately, my dog prefers tidepools & wading to actual swimming, and she is generally scared by 1 foot waves .
Sadly, I've see more people take chances with their toddlers at the Santa Cruz beaches than I ever would with my dog.
Some folks would never consider that they could get pulled away & drowned by a wave at the beach, but every year...
A few years ago I went to Hawaii, and the tourist info person at the lobby of the place we stayed at told us that we should not swim anywhere except the pool. "Its too dangerous," she said "there are strong waves, big sharks, and these", and she held up a photo of a sea urchin. At the beach we swam all day in 1' surf. No sharks, no urchins. Two days later the swell came up & the same beach had overhead slammers pounding the shore. We didn't swim that day.