A black car is parked down by the harbour. A woman emerges from a pop up tent on the roof and stretches in a ' I've just woken up ' way. She unzips the tent, clambers down a ladder and then opens the rear door of the car to let out a Labradoodle. The dog is overjoyed to be out in the fresh air and leaps onto the top of the harbour wall. It is a tail wagging bundle of happiness. By the time we make it down the path the dog and its owner are striding off towards the lobster creels. The woman, we notice, is wearing a fluffy blue 'Rabbit' onesie and Wellingtons. 'That's practical' observes 'The Font' in a tone of voice that hints at more than a little surprise that the onesie has rabbit ears and a pom pom tail.
As we head back along the pier two dogs - a Golden and a white mutt of uncertain pedigree - burst onto the small beach. They see a flock of ducks and rush towards them barking with excitement. They are lost in the moment. We can hear their owners command 'Come back boys' but they can't.... or won't.
The Golden has bad braking action and ends up in the water. His smaller friend wisely stays on solid ground. The Golden clambers out of the water and then decides to go back in again. He does this four times.
After each immersion the sodden Golden rolls on his back on the sand to dry off. The owner continues to holler but both dogs wilfully ignore him.
The ducks, annoyed that their morning has been interrupted, paddle back to the safety of the lock gates. The dogs try to follow but think better of it. They turn and chase seagulls. Life is wonderful. This mornings conversation with the Manhattanites covers Niger, Chinese real estate, improving ties between Japan and South Korea and comments by Matt Gaetz that he'd like to be Attorney General.
8 comments:
The owner of the golden retriever is probably, like me, hoping that his dog will prove to be a 'later bloomer' when it comes to obedience...
Cheers! Gail.
Thank you for the links to two very different articles.
One of my Labs was equally deaf to any command that didn't come accompanied by treats. She once ran down the empty beach and struck out for foreign parts. Fortunately there was a newsagents/food shop nearby, where I bought two packets of crisps, then ran up and down the beach waving the packets above my head, She eventually spotted them and hared back to shore, ate half the crisps and rolled over and over on the sand!
Thought of you when I saw this MRCVS article - sorry to see so many of your birds dying from this -
https://x.com/mrcvsonline/status/1691026884707155970?s=12
Bliss and comic relief - Matt Geitz!
A woman wearing a blue bunny onesie in a small coastal town on the North Sea...now that's a picture. I wish you could have snapped a photo!
The golden looks like he's having a wonderful time, but I'm not sure how the owner felt about the sand-encrusted result. Charlie jumped into the pool yesterday for the first time. He's fallen in a couple of times after pushing his ball in "accidentally," but this was an intentional leap and he swam directly to the steps after retrieving the toy. So the "to do" list on the house may still be a mile long, but at least one of our summer goals has been achieved! I enjoyed the late bloomer article.
Laughed out loud at the practicality of the bunny suit!! And, are pop up tents on roofs of vehicles a thing in the UK? A fan in the US
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