San Diego Tour

(San Diego, CA) Finally, a nice day. So we jumped at the chance to take a tour of San Diego. We drove around for a little bit and found San Diego to remind us a lot of Seattle. The downtown looks so much like Seattle right down to the horrid traffic. After finally making our way out of downtown we drove to an off-leash beach area. Fortunately, this beach wasn't nearly as busy as the last off-leash beach we went to in California.

This beach was located right next to the Navy air base. It was a very nice beach but was it ever loud when the planes went over. Most of the planes that went over were cargo planes. I guess the Navy doesn't care about noise as much as commercial airlines do. Or maybe I've just never stood close enough to the airport to have the planes fly less than 100 yards over my head.



But if I thought that was loud I was very mistaken! If you want to hear loud try standing less than 100 yards below a fighter jet. Now that is loud!



I was surprised that the loud planes didn't bother any of our dogs one bit. I thought it might startle Boogie a bit but he never even looked around. He was way too focused on playing. In fact, it took quite a photographic effort to get a picture of him sitting still.



All four dogs were very excited to see the beach and were ready for the family game of chase the toy into the ocean.



And after getting a couple balls from the water they loved having big chases up on the shore.



And then it was right back into the water...both as a group, (I included this picture mainly so you could see the pretty scenery)



...and individually. This is definitely a happy Sparkie.



Even Boogie chased the ball into the water and he seemed quite pleased with himself.



It wasn't a minute or so before Boogie left the family to go make some new friends.



The three big dogs really don't care about any other dogs unless those dogs come and try to join in our family game - which they don't much care for. So they stuck together and chased the ball into the ocean over and over.



In the meantime, Boogie was having a grand time playing chase with his newest best friend.



Just out from where we were playing was a large aircraft carrier. I don't know anything about ships so I can't tell you anything about it. I used to play a game called Battleship - but obviously I didn't really learn about ships.



Boogie didn't notice the ship as he was way too busy running around and around every which way with his friend.



The big dogs didn't seem to care that Boogie was away from the family. They were having way too much fun with their tennis balls.





I was having a lot of trouble trying to watch the big dogs as I had to keep track of Boogie who seemed to go from one end of the beach to another in the blink of an eye.



And he seemed to be with a different dog many of the times. This particular dog was definitely a herding dog. He played with Boogie very nicely, never knocking him down, but always nipping at Boogie's back legs. The dog never once actually nipped Boogie's legs but just ran in a style which looked as though that's what he was doing. Here they are in the water playing with a ball that didn't belong to either of them.



But Slugger especially didn't have time to watch for Boogie. Slugger gets off leash so infrequently that he was totally focused on getting his tennis ball out of the water.



Wazzu had a happy face today too. I really think our dogs have more fun at the beach than anywhere else.



The last couple times we've been at the beach though, Wazzu has had a bit of a rough time. She goes running full speed into the water after a ball....



and darn it all if she doesn't fall into a hole and go head over heels. She did a perfect headstand but I didn't capture it. Poor Wazzu - what bad luck to always hit the holes.



Finally, with my encouragement, Boogie finally decided it was time to play ball with the family again. He'd carry his ball and growl and growl.



Every once in a while he'd drop the ball in the water...



...and then for some reason he'd cry as he punched at the ball.



That didn't last very long before he was back playing with one of his MANY friends.



The one thing that really pleased me today was that even though he was making many friends he did come to me almost every time I called him.



While all the dogs had a great time, Boogie by far got the most exercise.











It wasn't until he was on leash and we were leaving that he finally laid down...



...(and rolled around) in the sand.



As much fun as we all had, it was time to leave the beach.



From there we drove to nearby Seaport Village where there were a lot of little restaurants overlooking the water. We sat outside and all had lunch together - which was a big hit with the dogs.



Sparkie of course did her nice little "please" hoping to earn extra bites.



On top of the umbrella over the table next to us was a seagull. It almost looked like a statue except that it kept hoping for one of Mike's french fries - just like the seagulls at the waterfront in Seattle.



We then took a nice walk along the pier where we saw a battleship and a Carnival cruise ship side by side. Hmmm, which ship would you rather be on?



The view from the end of the pier was really pretty.



In fact, the entire waterfront is very nicely done. There was one place where people were flying some very interesting kites.



Then came the best part - ice cream! There was a Ben & Jerry's on the pier and they had really good flavors. I had a hard time choosing...guess we'll just have to go back again another day!

Before heading back home we went to Cabrillo National Monument. We pretty much just drove through as dogs weren't even allowed out of the car. Mike and I did get out at the Visitors Center. Mike went inside while I went out onto the overlook and took some pictures.

On the overlook there was a statue. I have no idea what the statue signifies...just some old guy I guess. As you can tell, I'm not into history stuff too much.



But from the overlook you could see the Navy base I told you about. You can even see a plane taking off.



Shortly after the planes take off they are over the water. It's really very pretty.



We could also see the San Diego shoreline.



In this shot you can see the dog beach we played at. If you look on the other side of the long white line in the water you can see a faint line on the beach. The dog beach goes from there down to about where you see a small number of trees set back a little ways from the water.



Just outside the park was a huge military cemetery. It was truly beautiful. And it went on and on and on for as far as you could see on both sides of the road. It is definitely by far the largest cemetery I have ever seen.





In addition to being huge, it was truly beautiful.



As far as I know, none of my family members have served in the armed forces. But I will say that while I was walking through this cemetery I felt a huge sense of both sadness and gratitude for the men and women who are laid to rest here. The sacrifices they and their family members have made so that we can have freedom are more than anyone should have to make. My prayers and thanks go out to all those who have served us and who are serving us today and their families as well. "Thank You" seems like not nearly enough.



A very grateful -
Debbie
1/31/08

What's Taking So Long?

(San Diego, CA) I’m so tired of rain! Those of you in the PNW reading this probably don’t have much sympathy for us. But we’ve had a lot more rain than you guys this winter….but you definitely beat us in the snow and ice department.

So Monday was indoor chore day. We were all very bored. And Mike got to do his most favorite chore of all – driving around town trying to find a laudromat that isn’t super skuzzy. But he had no choice as we really needed laundry done.

The weather was a little better Tuesday but it wasn’t my favorite day. I suffered from a bad case of separation anxiety. Usually they talk about the dog going through separation anxiety – but I think I had it much worse than the dog.

In the morning we dropped Boogie off to be groomed. We can’t take Boogie to just ANY groomer. Grooming border terriers is a highly specialized art (we didn’t realize this before we chose a border terrier), especially for “show” dogs. Supposedly this groomer is really good so off we went. The shop is super small and not fancy by any means. When we walked in, five dogs rushed at us, all barking and jumping up and down. They were behind a baby gate but it was only about three feet from the door. Boogie was super scared – and rightly so!

The lady took Boogie back and put him in a cage in a room that we couldn’t see. The guy that was supposed to do the grooming wasn’t in yet even though we were there at our appointed time. After waiting a while we finally made the lady call the groomer to make sure he really was coming as there was no way I was leaving Boogie there until I was sure everything was in place.

We figured it could take a couple hours for Boogie to be groomed so we took the other three dogs to Mission Trails Regional Park for a little outing. If you look in certain directions, it looks as though we’re out in the country, when in actuality we were right next to a highway near some neighborhoods.



We came across a little hut. It didn't seem large enough for humans to be in it comforably but the dogs thought it was fine.



We didn't go to the Vistor Center but we could see it from the trail we were on. A whole bus load of kids entered just as we arrived so Mike wasn't interested in going inside.



There were probably 25 different hikes although most of them were rated as difficult. Dogs have to be kept on leash on all the trails. There was one short loop trail that we did but it didn’t take us long at all so we decided to try another trail as well. It was a bit of an unusual trail in that it was a paved road with a concrete barrier down the middle that they had at some point closed to traffic. It was certainly a very popular trail. In addition to hikers/walkers, bicycles were also allowed. But there didn’t seem to be any rules other than that dogs must be leashed. People were walking in different directions on both sides of the road which really wasn’t much of a problem. But the bicycles were also going in both directions on each side of the road. This was a little dangerous as most of the cyclists were long distance cyclists (like we used to be) so they were going super fast. It really did seem very dangerous. They really should have made the cyclists go on one side of the barrier and walkers on the other side.

But there was nice scenery and the dogs seemed to enjoy sniffing along the edges of the road.



I spent most of the time wondering why they hadn’t called to say Boogie was ready to go home. We didn’t make it as far as the dam before deciding that they must be about done so we headed back to the car. When we reached the car about 30 minutes later they still hadn’t called so we checked with them as I couldn’t stand it any longer! They said he’d be done in about an hour. This wasn’t time enough to go back to the RV but it was too long to just go to the shop. So we looked around for a place to eat lunch. We were inside the restaurant getting ready to order our take-out when the shop called to say they’d made an error – Boogie wasn’t going to be ready for another couple hours. WHAT!! I couldn’t believe we’d had an appointment for 9:30 and now they’re saying he wouldn’t be done until about 2:30 but that they’d call me as soon as he was done. So we left the restaurant and decided to just eat lunch at home.

By 3:30 I couldn’t stand it any longer, I had to call and check on Boogie. Finally they said he was ready and we could come get him. It had gotten so late that we wouldn’t have time to get Boogie, get back to the RV, and get to our next activity in time. So we gathered everything and took off for the evening.

When we arrived at the shop there was a border terrier running around. Mike bent down and was saying “Hi Boogie, we missed you Boogie, are you ready to go home Boogie.” I’m looking at the dog thinking, that can’t be Boogie. Even with a short haircut there is no way that can be Boogie. I was so worried as that just didn’t look like Boogie. About that time I glanced up and saw a border terrier in the upper row of cages. Now that looked like my Boogie – although with hardly any hair. Sure enough, that was Boogie in the cage. I was so glad that was my Boogie…not the one on the floor that Mike thought was Boogie. Mike says they all look alike to him. I must be doing a little bit better as I could tell which one was Boogie this time!

However, I wasn’t pleased with his “hairdo.” It’s much shorter than I think it should be. He has a show in three weeks and his hair is super short. In fact, his neck is bare! Take a look.



It's like this all the way under his neck around to the same spot on the other side. This just doesn't seem right. He's never ever looked like this before. I’ve never seen his skin before – my goodness is it ever pink. I’m afraid to put a collar on him as it will probably hurt the poor little guy. So I put this soft padded leash on him. I think it feels weird to him as well as he keeps shaking off all the time.

I was really excited as Boogie was going to an agility class tonight! We’re going to be in the same area for a month so the local club here said we could take classes for a month. The classes are held at the same place the agility trial was this past weekend. Boogie’s class was at 6pm – well after dark. The field has lights but it is dimly lit (around the edge) at best. I was really worried about the safety of this. It didn’t really seem to bother the dogs but concerned me quite a bit.

There were three other dogs in class – all three had participated in Jumpers in the trial over the weekend. The drill in class this evening was two jumps (at a very “bad” angle) to the A-frame, followed by a pinwheel, back up the A-frame and over two more jumps. I was very confident! Boogie could do this no problem! The other dogs had a lot of trouble with it and I was so sure we were going to show them just how it was done!

Boogie did a perfect stay at the line. This was going to be a piece of cake! He released on cue, did the first jump, and raced off to investigate all the gopher piles. Oh no, I forgot about that distraction – and for a terrier that is a BIG distraction. Oh gosh. So I get his attention and send him up the A-frame, he zooms up until he is about ¾ the way up when he decides the A-frame is scary and jumps off – he was about5’ off the ground when he jumped. So I send him up again….same thing. Huh? He knows the A-frame! After jumping down this time he found a plastic bottle under the A-frame. Oh no. He loves plastic bottles. Off he goes zooming around the field with the bottle. This is not going anything like I thought it would.

I finally get the bottle from him and decide to set him on the top of the A-frame so that he’ll remember it. Sure enough, that’s all it took, he remembered that he loves the A-frame. So we start the exercise again. He does both jumps, does a beautiful A-frame, now comes the pinwheel. I KNOW he can do this! He does the first jump, and I tell him “out.” Instead of doing the jump he goes out around the jump. I can now see the problem with working with gates. He thinks he is supposed to go out around the obstacle - hmm. After going out around the jump standard he starts doing laps around the ring. Oh my. While we haven’t been around equipment all that much, he’s always been very focused. But that’s been on Astroturf type grass – not natural grass full of gophers. I can see we have a lot of work to do.

We got a few other turns at the same exercise and I can’t say any of them went much better than our first. Boogie is a cutie and he loves agility but do we ever have a lot of work ahead of us!

Then it was Sparkie’s turn for class. There is no instructor for this class. It’s actually just a practice session. One person will bring a course, they all set it up, and then run that course a few times. Sparkie had a blast.

After a little over an hour drive home, the dogs were more than ready for dinner! They think 9:30 is just a little late. But certainly better late than never!

We awoke to another not stellar weather day on Wednesday. The only outdoor activity we really tried today was a little pinwheel practice with Boogie. He did much better today but we definitely need a lot of repetition – which is actually difficult as we have to carry all the equipment a fair ways to a grassy spot. And Boogie’s attention span is only about 5 minutes. So then we have to put all the equipment away again. I don’t think I can ask Mike to do that more than once a day!

Debbie
1/28-30/08