This is a devastating experience that I want to share to warn others. How terrible that there is no signage up. Please read and share with pet owners in the area and sitters planning on visiting.
(Edited by Forum team to clarify post title)
It’s beyond crazy that the town keeps letting this happen. Poor dogs. What about the risks to people, including kids?
Such a beautiful dog and so sad. Looks like he was in his prime.
I’ve been searching for previous incidents involving dogs or people falling off the dunes at Upton Towans beach and have found very few previous reports, other than posts on FB.
Here’s something I did find “It’s a nature reserve and it says to keep dogs on the lead.” However, dogs are allowed on the beach year round, so there may be some confusion
We don’t know the full story and perhaps judgement might be best reserved.
Accidents happen some might intentionally jump but often the act could be unintentional. A dog chasing a rabbit for example, poor visibility of the hazard to name but two. Stumbling is another possibility.. my intention was to raise awareness ; something good signage would have helped with. I hope this isn’t an AI generated topic. But just in case I posted it. Presumably locals to St Ives can comment helpfully on this article and its validity.
I just love when I’m hiking or jogging and a dog off-lead comes running towards me. Thank you all for allowing your dogs to roam free where there may be other people around.
What a terrible shock for the owner (and indeed anyone reading about it), it’s a tragedy and like all accidents hard to predict. Hindsight is a fine thing, but doesn’t help in this case. A few signs could be helpful. Beaches are dangerous places, we forget this because most are benign. Just recently 3 sisters fell/stumbled/misjudged the sea edge here in Brighton Sussex, all 3 died. They weren’t silly young girls, it seems that it was them purely misjudging the beach. There aren’t signs warning tourists that there is a 45° steep shingle slope… it can easily catch people out in the dark. That dog might’ve misunderstood the depth, seeing the sandy surface as closer than it was. They have my sympathies.
The OP wasn’t the owner of the dog that died, they’d seen it online and posted about it here.
Aha yes, I’ve edited my reply now thank you. Although to be fair reading about this is also shocking….
I was also confused at first. 
Thank you so much to @Highfive for sharing this. It’s such a heartbreaking story, and sharing it here to help protect other dogs and their families was really thoughtful. My thoughts are with Ernie’s family who must be missing him so much.
I removed a few posts as the conversation was starting to feel like it was heading in the wrong direction. As a reminder, when we share difficult stories like this one, our role as a community is to be kind and supportive.
It’s totally natural to reflect on our own experiences when we read about these sorts of experiences. It’s important to remember that speculating about the choices of people who aren’t here to share their side can feel dismissive of what they went through.
I’m going to close the thread to new replies for now, but keep the post visible to the community, and if needed, I can look at reopening it.
Thanks again to @Highfive for your care and thoughtfulness in sharing this.
Jenny 