Bringing a dog to Patchogue

Corey Beach says no, and means all year

Corey Beach is the Town of Brookhaven bay beach at 1 Corey Avenue in Blue Point, and it is the one most guests find first. Its posted rules read "No pets (trained service dogs only, no ESA animals)". There is no summer-only wording on it and no off season exception printed next to it, so plan on the ban applying in October as much as in July. An emotional support animal is named in that rule and is not covered by it.

The wider town code is the reason. It keeps animals out of any town park designated as a beach, pool or marina unless the Town Board has issued a permit. So this is not a summer crowding measure that quietly lapses in the fall.

The beach a dog can use is on Fire Island

Fire Island National Seashore restricts pets on its ocean beaches from 15 March through Labor Day. That covers the Lighthouse, Sailors Haven, Watch Hill, Talisman and the Fire Island Wilderness. Read it the other way round and it is the best dog news on this page: for roughly six months, the day after Labor Day until the middle of March, a leashed dog can walk the ocean beach. The leash has to be six feet or shorter.

The closures exist for piping plovers and least terns, which nest on open sand and are federally protected. A dog off a leash near a nest can make the adults abandon it, which is why the rule is a date range rather than a judgment call.

Some of the island is open to dogs the whole year: the ferries and water taxis, the park boardwalks, and the bayside beaches at the Lighthouse, Sailors Haven, Talisman and Watch Hill. Pets are never allowed inside buildings, in picnic areas, or anywhere closed off for wildlife.

Watch Hill is the National Park Service side, and the boat goes from the terminal half a mile from our door. Dogs ride leashed and cost $6.75 each whatever their size. The timetable thins out three times before December and stops altogether from December through March, so read the ferry page before you plan the day.

Walking in the village

Shorefront Park is at the south end of Rider Avenue, a short walk from the house, with the band shell and the water. Rider Avenue Park sits directly north of it. The village code requires a dog to be on a rope, leash or similar device at all times on any sidewalk, street, park or other public place, and nothing in the code bars dogs from either park. Keep out of the ponds in Rider Avenue Park. Nobody is allowed in those waters, dog or otherwise.

Two village rules are worth knowing before you set out, because neither is signposted the way you would expect.

The first is the clock. Village park and recreation facilities close to everyone except village residents after 6:00 PM, with exceptions only at the discretion of the Board of Trustees. In October that is before sunset. Walk the sidewalks in the evening instead, which that rule does not touch, and the parks in daylight. They are also shut to everybody between 10:00 PM and 7:00 AM.

The second is where a dog may relieve itself, and the village is unusually specific. A dog may not foul any sidewalk, passageway, play area, park or public place. The only part of the street set aside for curbing a dog is the strip between the curb lines. You have to remove it immediately, and the code says it goes into a sealed, nonabsorbent, leakproof container or bag. Carry proper bags rather than a grocery one.

The village docks and wharves are open to dogs on a leash, which makes an easy flat walk out over the water when the parks have closed for the evening.

Skip the town dog parks

Brookhaven runs two, at Selden and Middle Island, both well north of here on the Middle Country Road side of the town. The posted rules limit them to residents of the Town of Brookhaven and of New York State, so a visitor from out of state should not count on getting in. They also want dogs spayed or neutered with current vaccinations and licence, bar puppies under four months, and keep children under 12 out of the off leash area. It is a drive inland for a park you may not be eligible to use. The beach is the better plan.

Sitting outside on Main Street

New York lets a restaurant seat your dog outside, and leaves the choice to the restaurant. Under state public health law a place may allow pet dogs in its outdoor dining area if it decides to, provided dogs reach that area by their own outside entrance without going through the restaurant, and provided they stay off the chairs, benches and seats. Indoor dining rooms and anywhere food is prepared are out. Service dogs are a different matter and must always be allowed in.

So the answer on Main Street is usually yes to the patio and no to the table inside, and it is worth one phone call on the way out of the house. Ask whether the patio is open that day, since a closed patio takes the permission with it. In shops, the village rule is simpler: if a food premises has a legible no dogs sign at each public entrance, do not go in, and if it does not, a leash is enough.

If something goes wrong

The nearest emergency hospital open around the clock is Atlantic Coast New York Veterinary Specialists, 3250 Veterans Memorial Highway in Bohemia, on (631) 285-7780. They are open 24 hours, 365 days a year, and ask you to call ahead when you can. Worth putting in your phone before you need it.

Staying here with a dog

The Joyful Beach House is pet friendly, two bedrooms, sleeps 4, with the bay at the end of the street and the parks a few minutes away on foot. We take two dogs, each under 50 pounds. There is a $115 pet fee per stay, not per dog. Tell us about them when you book. Very few places near this water take dogs at all, which is most of the reason this page exists.