01.06.16

morning run:
Frijolita
Elewah
Lily
Mega
Lex
Steve McQueen
Cookie
Zoila
Tupo
(9)

Far up the beach: ~9k. With Frijolita we have to go north because she just won't do south. She's so strange. If I try to head out east via the land bridge she looks at me like I'm going to skin her and runs home, but if we go north she's happy as a clam... so, north. I thought maybe we'd do a run out in the monte but there were already so many salt workers in the nearby charcos to the north that we just hit the beach again. This has been the logic behind all the beach runs recently, since I am always working with at least one dog who has issues. Zoila runs on a harness for a reason: she really gets freaked out by people and especially vehicles. She didn't come off the leash but had a good time and forgot what a freak she is for long stretches. She also loves to swim and the ocean was good for that today: calm and warm. I put Tupo on the other end of the leash with her a couple of times in anticipation of encountering large groups of salt workers and machinery but I don't think it was necessary; he was off the whole way coming home, we ran into plenty of people and vehicles and he was fine. If it wasn't for Elewah I would've opted for the maginot line coming home but I was sure she would give those beach dogs the what-for if they came out to greet us. Instead we took the extra long way into the monte from the tortuga sign, through the intersection and down the road a bit until there's a place to turn west onto the ridge. I was betting that the salt workers would not be at the land bridge, since there were so many of them farther north, and I turned out to be correct. We ran into a large truck with stereo blaring on the narrow part of the road and I had to get control of Zoila and keep her with me in the iceplant on the side of the road - she does not like loud noises. At the very end Elewah ran down to the beach like she has the last two runs; this time she dragged a few others with her but it was no big deal. I put Zoila and Mega in the launchpad and went down to collect them. Maybe next time I'll just join them. Everyone was good and had a nice time.
GRADE: A