Finally the beach

Lastnight I took the poodles to the beach; finally. With Tilley's tail situation; the last thing you want to be around is sand. But with her tail healing nicely I thought I could surely keep her from sitting; we'd just keep moving. As soon as we pulled onto the canyon road which is the road that leads to the beach Luke has his ears up and is pacing back and forth. Tilley remains calm as usually and is in her regular position; facing backwards watching the world pass by.

Luke is always watching where we are going with much anticipation. The whining starts around 5 min. from the beach as the ocean breeze blows through the car; tossling the dogs senses and their ears. Parking is easy at 5:30 in the afternoon; everyone is going home. With the dogs leashed they are given the okay to get out of the car and Luke shrieks with delight. Its a good thing he has his special "easy walk" harness on as he strains at the leash resembling a wild mustang.

Once I get myself together; leashes untangled and dogs heading the in the same direction as me we are off. Within feet of the parking lot is a street light on the PCH Pacific Coast Hwy where we must wait to reach the beach on the other side. This is where I typically have the dogs sit and wait patiently, or as patiently as Luke can muster. But lastnight I had to work on them not sitting due to Tilley's tail. A nice man waiting with us to cross inquired about Tilley's tail; "did she break it?" I explained that I thought it was a spider bite and he told her how sorry he was that her tail was hurt.

Once on the boardwalk I ask for more patience as I take off my flip flops and hook them to my "flip flop hook." I need both hands for this boy on the beach. As soon as we are on the beach he spots his first victim; barking and charging the innocent seagull; he oozes k9 joy. Tilley is of course her perfect self, always controlling herself; always the lady. The beach was very quiet only a couple of people scattered on the full length of it, nice.

Being at the beach at this time of day in full sun was a little blinding; the sun was setting setting streaking across the ocean and onto the wet sand. So we headed away from the sun first to let my eyes adjust. Luke's charging and barking puts a grin on peoples face and aside from my arm being stretched; seeing Luke this happy makes me smile as well. We didn't stay long, just long enough to do 3/4 of the beach and back again.

I cannot wait until Tilley's tail is completely healed so that our beach visit is not quite so controlled.