This is, without a doubt, Slugger's favorite place in the entire world. When we get close to the property he cries and whimpers and jumps all around. He just can't contain himself. I think it's because this place has everything he could ever want: a pond, mud, mice, berries, fields that go forever, stinky stuff to roll in, toys, Puget Sound, food, friends, and no leashes!!
The tide was in even further today giving us a little different scenery each of the three days we've been here this week.
As usual, our first stop was at the pond for some swimming. Slugger seemed to remember that he had successfully jumped off the dock just before we left yesterday. I guess he must have decided it was fun as he was eager to jump off today.
In fact as soon as he’d get out of the water he’d run back to the dock to wait for his toy to be thrown again. I guess jumping off a dock is nothing compared to those huge ocean waves knocking him around.
We couldn't get him to stop!
He was so good at keeping his head out of he water when he landed - great form in that respect for sure.
After seeing Slugger do this a few times then Slick thought maybe he’d give it a try too. His form is certainly a lot better as he is naturally a much better athlete than Slugger. It was really fun to watch Slick’s beautiful style as he flew off the dock.
But it sure made me realize how hard Slugger has to work to jump off this dock. Four leg surgeries and some other deformities make this not an easy task at all for Slugger. He sure has a lot of heart – even if his form is a bit ugly (notice how his back legs are twisted way to the right).
After quite a long swim session we all headed for a walk down the dike. All six dogs were running around together like best friends. Just as we got started on the walk Shari happened to notice a couple little inquisitive heads out in the water. As we watched, more and more heads started popping up out of the water. At one point we counted over 15 little heads all sticking up out of the water at the same time! They were seals who seemed very interested in the dogs. And we were very excited to watch all these cute little guys stare at us.
Finally we managed to pull our attention from the seals and watch all the dogs romp and play. At times they each did their own activities but most of the time they had fun interacting with each other. We got to witness some very special moments. Probably one of the most fun things we got to witness was Ozzie playing with Boogie. Ozzie was having a blast and was really trying to engage with Boogie. He would be chasing Ozzie – and she was running just fast enough to stay ahead of him but slow enough that he wouldn’t give up. This went on for quite some time. Ozzie even did some play bows. And then they turned the tables and Ozzie chased Boogie. It very well could have been the highlight of the day to see Ozzie having such a great time. But oh we had so many highlights!
I don’t know for sure what the dogs were doing here but they were sure happy just hanging out with each other. Shari, Mike, and I had so much fun watching the pack do all their doggy things together.
Slugger seemed to know that he had to make the most of this outing and did he ever do so. He ran up and down the dike with such a happy carefree face. Slugger’s had a tough life and doesn’t get to do many of activities that the other dogs do. So to see him so happy here literally brought tears to my eyes.
A bit later I had tears for a different reason. How were we ever going to get Slugger clean?! Oh well, no matter – he’s having a great time.
What a mess!
Boogie seems to take lessons from the other dogs very quickly. He decided this rolling in the dirt stuff must be a very important doggy task and he proceeded to roll next to Slugger. Great, just the behavior I was hoping he’d pick up!
Shari and I couldn’t help but partake of the delicious berries as we strolled down the dike. Definitely the best blackberries anywhere! Slugger agreed with us and ate even more than we did.
Hmm, I wonder how they don’t get stuck by the thorns. My fingers are much thinner than their mouths and I managed to get stuck a few times. In fact, one of the branches grabbed Shari and she had to have Mike help her get free! But somehow it didn’t seem to bother the dogs one bit.
As we continued along the walk we got to a certain point and Wazzu suddenly got between Shari and I and did a perfect heal for a long time. Yesterday when we got to this spot she thought she heard a mouse. She jumped down over the side and landed right in the middle of a hornet nest. She had bees all over her and they were stinging her. But the one sting that was really bothering her was the one in her mouth. She didn't know what to do and started biting at all the hornets. I called her to me and the second I did she jumped up the hill and came to me. We brushed all the hornets off her. She spent the rest of the day walking right next to me.
So today Wazzu spent a long time just walking next to Shari and me. She wasn't going to take any chance of getting stung again today. We were careful to make sure none of the dogs went down in that area today.
Little Boogie stood lookout for us - or maybe he was just looking for trouble!
Eventually it was time to turn around and head back to the fabulous shelter area for lunch! On the way, we glanced out and saw what looked like logs on the shore. But Shari quickly noticed that these “logs” moved! They weren’t logs at all. These were a bunch of the seals sunning themselves. Wow, what a treat for us to see.
In fact we saw many interesting sights today. The shore was covered with birds. I don’t know what happened but all at one time they suddenly took off and started flying around. It was a bit far to see well but we could sure hear them – my goodness were they loud. And they had a lot to say!
Time to break for lunch! As you might guess the dogs thought this was a fun activity as well. We had sandwiches, some super sweet fresh fruit, and cupcakes to top it off. After we finished eating we were relaxing and chatting. Slugger just sat and watched the scenery for a long time – and what beautiful scenery it was indeed.
Such a beautiful view from our lunch area.
No matter which way we looked it was so beautiful....and peaceful.
Finally we went out on the dock to look around. I guess this was the sign for Slugger to play in the mud….again.
Silly boy.
As you might guess, this meant we had to have another swim session. Everyone is on their way. (This photo is courtesy of Shari.)
While that was going on Shari got her golf cart. Boogie was very inquisitive and want to see what this new fun toy was. After riding around for a short time he figured he knew all about the golf cart and he wanted to show Shari that he could drive this thing too! I think both Shari and Boogie had a great time driving around.
After showing that he had conquered that feat he was ready to get out and be like the big dogs. What could be better than a long run chasing the golf cart down the runway! We couldn’t believe they all still had so much energy – after all we’d been at this for five hours!
When it finally came time to leave, Wazzu was defiant for only the third time in her entire life. She refused to get in the car. She just kept walking backward with her head hung really low. She backed up to where Shari standing. I’m not sure if she didn’t want to leave Camano or she didn’t want to leave Shari. I just couldn’t bear to make her leave. She really wanted loving from Shari and was so happy when we decided that Mike would drive a little ways down the runway and Wazzu, Shari and I would walk and meet him. This seemed to make Wazzu really happy. Shari then gave Wazzu one last really big hug. I guess that’s what Wazzu wanted – just a little alone time with Shari as then she got right in the car.
Sparkie however wasn’t ready to leave now. She was jumping around barking like we’d just arrived. So we put Sparkie out of the car and let her chase us full speed down the runway. The boys wanted to do that too but we’d figured they’d had way more than enough exercise.
What a fantastic day.
Debbie
9/3/07
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