I love a literary dog name, so it was a pleasure to meet Larkin, a bouncy black labradoodle. \u201cOh, you named him for the poet?\u201d I asked. The man nodded. How could I help myself? I belted out the unprintable first line of Philip Larkin\u2019s \u201cThis Be the Verse,\u201d<\/a> his famous ode to the misery cycle of parenting. Larkin\u2019s human recited the second line. We chuckled and went our separate ways.<\/p>\n Occasionally, we bump into Annie, a droopy-earned springer spaniel, who surveys her canal from her front deck and has her own Instagram account, @CanalSpringer<\/a>.<\/p>\n The canals are a magical place, an oasis in the middle of a particularly boisterous part of our city. North of Washington Boulevard and east of Pacific Avenue, they feel a world apart from the noise and bustle of Washington Square, the chaotic block of bars, coffee shops and restaurants just east of the Venice Pier.<\/p>\n The grid of waterways are tidal; in the canals, the seawater rises and falls with the phases of the moon. Last year, during a particularly low tide, a distressed tourist asked me what had happened to all the water.<\/p>\n Sometimes Poppy and I stand on one of the charming curved bridges and watch small fish leap out of the water, their scales glinting in the sun.<\/p>\n This summer, we\u2019ve watched a brood of 10 ducklings grow up, and marveled at a great blue heron perched on the top of a house next to a weather vane. Poppy, my 4-year-old golden retriever, doesn\u2019t particularly care about the waterfowl, but she has memorized where every cat lives. She loves to stop at Laura Snoke\u2019s house to paddle in the pan of fresh water that Snoke and her husband, Ed Orrett, put out for the ducks.<\/p>\n Sidewalks between homes and the canal embankments are narrow, so people are almost forced to make conversation as they pass each other or step out of one another\u2019s way. There\u2019s something about the closeness that compels dogs to behave themselves.<\/p>\n It\u2019s devastating that the canals should become a place of death and illness for our beloved pets. But since last month, it became clear that dogs were falling ill and sometimes dying after walking in the canals. <\/p>\n So far, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which emailed me an update Friday, there have been five deaths \u2014 slightly at odds with the less official neighborhood count of six \u2014 and 21 other suspected cases of canal-related illness. Experts, supported by city, county and state agencies, are investigating all possible sources of illness, including pesticide exposure, harmful organisms or environmental hazards.<\/p>\n Anyone who regularly walks in the canals knows that when the tide is out, there is a particularly noxious odor, especially in the northeast corner of the neighborhood, where the water seems to stagnate and the algae blooms. That has led many to wonder if the culprit will be found in the water. <\/p>\n According to the Public Health department, the Water Quality Control Board, a state agency, has tested the canal water, algae and scum.<\/a> It has found toxins produced by algae, though a link to the dog illnesses has yet to be established.<\/p>\n Still, as the department warns, \u201cFor humans, the toxins can cause skin rashes, eye irritation, diarrhea and vomiting. For animals, the toxins can cause diarrhea, vomiting, convulsions and death.\u201d<\/p>\n The city plans to post signs warning of potential danger <\/a>from harmful algae in the water. Dogs should not enter or drink the water, nor should they eat, touch or sniff algae, scum or any debris near the water.<\/p>\n And in the meantime, anyone with a sick dog who suspects a link to the canals should immediately seek veterinary care for their pet.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not going into the canals at all anymore,\u201d said Nisa Kove, who lives on Strongs Drive just west of Grand Canal. On July 17, she became alarmed when her 50-pound dog Dottie had some sort of seizure. Her eyes moved erratically and she couldn\u2019t keep her balance. The vet found nothing, and Dottie returned to normal.<\/p>\n After that, people began reporting similar issues with their dogs. And worse.<\/p>\n Healthy one minute, in crisis the next. Lethargy, vomiting, seizures. And death.<\/p>\n On July 21, Barbara Malsch lost Shadow.<\/p>\n Then Eric Torres, who spoke with my colleague Christopher Buchanan<\/a>, lost his 4-year old golden retriever Chloe.<\/p>\n Taylor and John Brumm lost their perfectly healthy year-old golden retriever Ginger, which was a gut punch to me, as Ginger was one of our favorite canal friends.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of me doesn\u2019t even want to walk in the canals by myself anymore because who knows what\u2019s on my shoes?\u201d Kove told me.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, a little bit of vigilantism has also reared its head; on the warning sign taped to a pole at the end of my street someone had scrawled the address of a home a block from the canals. The Westside Current had published a photo of some white powder (gone now) spotted along its property line. I knocked on the door of the house Thursday. It\u2019s a rental; the tenants just moved to Venice from New York. I felt for them. Not exactly the kind of welcome you\u2019d hope for after such a momentous life change.<\/p>\n Poppy and her friend Hazel with my niece, Melia, on the Grand Canal<\/p>\n (Robin Abcarian \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n During the pandemic, I frequently took Poppy to the beach. She loved surfing back to shore after swimming into the ocean chasing a tennis ball. But after the pandemic ended, I kept hearing about people who had received pricey tickets for having their dogs off leash on the sand.<\/p>\n We switched to the canals, a wonderland of scents for creatures like Poppy, who navigate by their noses. And no more ear infections.<\/p>\n But it seems that nowhere is safe during this weird summer.<\/p>\n Early on, there were warnings about toxic debris runoff <\/a>from the Palisades fire polluting the surf and the sand as well. <\/p>\n Then ailing sea lions began turning up onshore, dying from a naturally occurring neurotoxin<\/a> produced by harmful algae blooms. <\/p>\n Just about the time it became clear that dogs were being afflicted by something terrible in the canals, a powerful earthquake off the coast of Russia\u2019s Kamchatka Peninsula gave rise to tsunami fears<\/a> along the West Coast. <\/p>\n Lifeguards on loudspeakers urged people to get off the beach, and my phone buzzed with a tsunami warning that was supposed to hit by 1 a.m. on July 30. I didn\u2019t want to spend all night checking my phone, so I packed up my 15-year-old niece and Poppy and spent the night with a friend who lives on higher ground.<\/p>\n The tsunami never materialized, but it was one more thing to worry about.<\/p>\n On Thursday, I wandered around the canals. Not a single dog in sight. Just ducks, their broods trailing in the water. The occasional white egret. And a sprinkling of tourists, many speaking French.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can keep the tourists,\u201d Snoke told me. \u201cI just want the dogs back.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n