23.07.13

morning dash:
Eve
Rita
Chester
Rufus
Jack
Twiggy
Hazel
Tori
(8)

Up the beach to Au Soleil Couchant, back south to the tortuga sign and home via the monte: ~4k. Got a late start so I didn't want to go for too long and Chester probably shouldn't go too far anyway. We left via the beach with Rufus on the hook and everyone was really good; Rufus calmed down quickly and I let him off just past the HoJo. We ran hard all the way to Au Soleil Couchant with many breaks for swimming, especially on the way back south. At one point heading south on the beach a fairly large school of tiny silver fish seemed to be tagging along with us; dozens of them jumped out of the water repeatedly as they chased our shadows in the shallows. The bugs were terrible in the monte so I tried to keep the pace up once we crossed the road. We went the long way because I wanted to scope out where the flamingos are in the nearby charcos; we saw about two dozen spread out between the two land bridges. I had Rufus and Hazel on either end of the leash coming home in case we ran into any strays, since there are a lot around right now; we saw no people or dogs anywhere and this group was well-behaved but it's better to play it safe sometimes. The bugs chased us home with a vengeance but everyone had a good time on a shorty anyway.
GRADE: A

mid-day swim:
Greta
(1)

What an angel.
GRADE: A

early afternoon swim:
Tori
(1)

Roni went swimming and brought Tori out halfway through for some fun in the water... since for Tori WATER = FUN this is not hard. The only problem is that without another dog to play with in the water Tori just wanted to be with Roni the whole time; she had to FORCE Tori to swim and play little tricks on her (diving underneath her) to create space for actual swimming. I didn't realize this because I've always had her out with other dogs, so she's always interested in playing with them instead of just grabbing on to me... we'll have to work with her a bit on that. Still it was pretty damned cute and Tori obviously had a blast, since just BEING in the water is by definition fun to her.
GRADE: A