30.09.12

morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Eve
Posey
Chester
Elewah
Stella
(7)

To the beach at Au Soleil Couchant: ~7k. I miscounted and thought I had eight when I only had seven; right out of the gate we ran into people on doce (construction workers and their extended family walking south to town) so it probably wasn't a terrible coincidence that I had less dogs than usual. In the case of the people on the road our dogs just ran by them (Ginger thought about barking at them); Stella was on the leash the entire way so I didn't have to worry about her. When I got to the shrimpery and realized I only had seven I felt bad that I hadn't thrown Archie or someone else in but by the end of the run I was glad I hadn't. I was considering running the hidden trail but by the time we got to the turn north of the swimming hole it was getting hot and late and I thought it was a better idea to head for the beach. At the tortuga sign we ran into a loose dog; I'm not sure if it was a stray or not because it looked in good shape. Three of mine gave chase and said hi over in the brush but there were no hostilities and the other dog obviously made off east into the monte. I gathered mine together and we headed off cautiously, only to find two more strays on the other side of doce near the first charco just to the south of the road. They took off and this time I kept mine close to me verbally; Ginger followed them the farthest but one of them took off in the woods and the other swam away in the charco so I got us together and was now not so unhappy about only having seven. We got home without further incident. Just as we came in the gate Roni told me there were several dogs on the beach right in front of the house heading south and I'm sure the dogs we saw were with them. They all look well fed and reasonably cared for so it seems unlikely they are just strays but neither of us saw any people in attendance so who knows. We kept a high pace and everyone acquitted themselves fairly well.
GRADE: A