Playful Pups Enjoy Last Beach Days 'Til October

Come April 1, Ceilidh will be out of a job.

That's the day Westport's public beaches will go off-limits to canine companions until October 1.

Ceilidh, an 18-month-old border collie whose Gaelic name means "dance," is an unofficial seagull herder at Compo Beach.

Hazarding a speeding ticket, she skims the shoreline at breakneck speed and barks at the gulls. The gulls are driven aloft, circle overhead - and then fly right back to their customary spot. The game repeats itself for as long as Ceilidh's master, Scotsman and transplanted Westporter Norman Clark, has time for. That's usually a lot because Compo Beach is Ceilidh's favorite place to be.

The same holds true for a bevy of diverse canines who congregate there to socialize, nuzzle, swim, splash, retrieve toys, sniff, chase one another and, on occasion, roughhouse.

Cory, 9, and Cooper, 6, both Cavalier King Charles terriers, are taken to Compo weekdays at 6 a.m. and twice a day on weekends.

"This is like dog heaven," observed Westporter Dan Coakley, whose Tibetan terrier puppy, Dina, was spiritedly introducing herself to all, including dogs three times her size.

"It's a great, great amenity," he added.

"I hate to say it, but we look forward to October 1st and dread April 1st," chimed in Terry Mangin, whose long-haired German shepherd, Libby, was being chased Saturday afternoon by Dina.

"It's a sad, sad day," he added sincerely, counting down the days before he and Libby would have to find another place to play.

For Glinda, the Scottish deer hound whose name is taken from the Good Witch of the North in "The Wizard of Oz," finding another place to play will be OK, as she eschews the salt water, according to her owner, Kiniao Honda.

Not so the pack of black and chocolate Labradors retrieving tennis balls thrown far off into the water. A tossed tennis ball's a siren call for the Labs, regardless of the chilly waters.

For the Agnew family, Compo is a place to teach Cooper, a Burmese-Labrador-shepherd mix they rescued from the Humane Society, basic obedience skills and for him to get to know other dogs.

For the past seven years, dogs have been allowed at area beaches off-season if leashed. At Compo, they can go off-leash in a restricted area extending from the Pavilion to South Beach. There is a $77 penalty for violating the rules. Before the regulations, dogs were permitted the entire length of area beaches off leash during winter months.

The leash rules also apply to Old Mill and Burying Hill beachgoers.

Cars with Westport emblems are allowed to park at Compo's parking lot to allow owners to walk their dogs on streets away from the beach where parking is prohibited, but only on weekdays.

Although the Parks & Recreation Department patrols the beaches, only the police can issue tickets. But good behavior, including using mandatory poop-scooping bags, generally prevails, according to Dan DeVito, Parks & Recreation Operations Supervisor.

"The dogs know the rules," he said. "It's the owners who are the occasional violators."

Come April 1, where will all the dogs go?

It's a good guess there'll be a big reunion at Winslow Park, which has a special area reserved for dogs off the leash.