Get'n their grump on

Good morning; I've got yet another beach blog.  Basically my beach blogs are replacing all of my park blogs; so much happens when you put so many different dogs together that I have lots to write about with each trip.  After checking the tide charts early yesterday; low tide was either very early or evening.  I opted to forgo my workout at the gym and hit the beach early. I love asking Luke if he wants to go; he was waiting on my bed as I held his head and lifted his ear.  He already knows at this point that I have something good to say.  "Do you want" is all I get out and he's off the bed jumping around like a puppy.  Seeing this Elsa charges for the stairs, they know.

It was really windy and very chilly, nothing like the 70 degree weather from the day before.  Happily there was only a few other people out this early; before 7am is a good time.  We walked onto the beach; no one was in close proximity.  Way down the end of the beach you could see a small group of people and their dogs.  It didn't take long for my guys to see them and off they went.  I could make out a PWD (Portuguese water dog) and probably a doodle but couldn't quite make out the others except that one was huge. 

Elsa hit the group first wriggling through the group she causes quite a stir but no one seems to ever get mad.  I was nearing the group as Luke got there and I worried immediately about a very large St. Bernard mix; he looked very dominant.  As I've said many times before Luke is not a fighter, he's a lover but pushed he will not back down.  They had a moment but I called Luke out immediately; lingering in that stiff place can lead to no good.  It is important to never pull a dog out frozen state, as it typically leads to a fight.

Watching this very large dominant and Luke was interesting.  It seemed that they both understood the situation yet had nothing to prove.  They kept their distance so the situation remained neutral.  The dog approached me and sniffed at my pouch which contained treats, he then froze and gave me direct eye contact with a lowered tail.  He was fearful and just realized his proximity to a stranger; not a good situation.  Before he could let out a warning bark at me I defused the situation by calmly turning and directing my attention elsewhere.  His owner saw this and called to his dog telling him to knock it off.

So we head down the beach with the group as I kept a close eye on the big guy and Luke.  Elsa was charging around with anyone that would charge with her.  The PWD grabbed her ball on a toss and she was after it to get her ball back.   I could see a man with his dog down the beach coming our way.  The dog was swimming after his ball but when he made his way out the owner was in a panic yelling "ball, ball, ball."  The dog was running around the beach and the man seemed to be frantic about it.  As we wandered further we got closer and closer to the swimming dog.  Elsa noticed him first.

I could see by his body posture that he was not in a friendly mood, it is was very clear.  Elsa loves to meet everyone and is a very talented communicator.  She immediately read what he was saying and was ready to rip at a moments notice.  He was grumpy alright; his posture read true.  Any dog that ventured too near his ball felt the wrath.  I quickly got Elsa's attention onto her ball and threw it down the beach as far as I could; we needed to distance ourselves from this guy.  Luke steered clear of this guy; there was just no misreading what he was saying.

The man who owned the dog seemed to have no control over his dog and was relying completely on the dog staying with the ball.  He shouted frantically "ball, ball, ball," once again as the dog left the water.  Dogs like this really should not be out in public off leash.  This beach is one of the very few areas where people can let their dogs off leash so that means that dogs will always be wandering over to this dog as he exits the water.  As we walked past the dog and his owner I heard a fight in the making behind us.  Turning around I could see that it was the PWD and the woman owner was running to get her dog out.  She hooked him up and head down away from the "ball guarder."