Life's a beach!

As you know, we now have Happy Running Dog.  She has led a very sheltered life...  when we got her we asked her owners if she liked going in the car?  'Never been in it since we got her at 7 weeks.'  Does she like water?  'Ooh, I don't know, we never tried...'

So obviously we've Been Doing Things with her - she now loves the car (since she discovered that sometimes getting in to the back involved sausages) and she adores the local rivers - she's not often out of her depth, but she likes jumping around in the shallow bits.

Logical next step then?  Yep, the beach....

The first time she went (last Sunday) it was cold and wet and raining.  Well, it is August.  The Melodeon Master and I wore wellies and anoraks and turned our backs to the wind...

Happy Running Dog LOVED it.  She ran, she jumped, she swam, she battled the waves and she swallowed a LOT of water...

And the Melodeon Master took photos when she slowed down a bit.  I particularly like this one...

Mostly because it doesn't show my windswept hair...

Unfortunately the 'swallowing a lot of water' thing Had Repercussions.  Yes, she was extremely sick...

Then on Friday Happy Running Dog and I went to the beach again - this time as a 'staff summer outing' with one of my lovely clients - hooray!  Happy Running Dog met Spotty Carriage Dog and they ran in loops and circles and chased each other and went in puddles and chased each other and went round and round and round.  And that was just in the car park...

We walked the mile or so to the beach - and then the fun could really start!  They ran and ran and ran, jumped in the sea, swam and ran some more...

So of course I joined in:

I had my mud running trainers on - I'd thought I might swim...  The tide was so far out that I would have had to walk half way to Devon before being able to swim, but I paddled enthusiastically instead.

And the dogs ran around some more...

And found another friend to play with 

And chased each other...

And then slept all the way home....