Beachin’

Have you ever woken up, seen the sun shining, and decide, “Hey, let’s go to the beach, and we will bring the dog for good measure!”  Full of light and bounce, you wander around packing a picnic lunch, grabbing the beach chairs, and forgetting the towels.  Then you, fiancé, and the dog get in the car, all set for the great two-hour trip. “This is going to be great!” you even think……

Chumps…..haha…….

That was me.  We live in Western Washington, the Olympia area to be specific.  Anyone who has spent any time here knows one thing.  It rains.  A LOT. That’s why it is so green and luscious.  So when we woke up to a beautiful sunny, 70 degree day, we made that fateful decision to take the dog to the beach.

You see, we are an optimistic couple.  Our little puppy dog, Chance, well, he has issues.  Deep down, he is a kind and loving dog.  Very, very deep. On the outside, he is a cute 25 pound Lab/pug mix, and would make you think he is just the sweetest thing.  What you don’t see, is that he is crazy protective, barks at anything that lives or breathes, and hates all things bikes or people. We are working on him though.  He no longer begs at the table, and knows his basic commands like sit, lay down, spin, and speak.  It is the quiet thing we need to work on.

Really, he is a good dog that just came with issues.  He was a rescue dog I found in Phoenix, and had been returned to the pound several times for being “too much energy”. What I didn’t know at the time was I was taking home a miniature Cujo. Because he wasn’t socialized as a puppy, he has a hard time with people entering his space. We have to introduce people very slowly, and once they are in, he loves them for life.  Slowly, we are pushing his boundaries.  The goal, ultimately, is to be able to take him on walks without him freaking out at everything that moves.  We are making progress; slowly.

But to get back to our little story….

We decided to test his progress and go to the beach.  After all, it was a glorious day, and what could it hurt?  My ear drums is what.  The entire two-hour drive, Chance barked at every pedestrian, cyclist, biker, and person in a convertible that he could.  Oh, and semi’s, he really does not care for them either.  Let me just paint that picture.  Tom and I in the front seat of my Mini Cooper, Chance standing in the back seat, barking full force.  The…Whole…Way…..

But eventually we made it. The beach, the glorious, wonderful, salty, clean air of the beach.  But I forgot one thing……..The crowds.  See I didn’t entirely count on all the native Washingtonians decliding to go to the beach and having the same idea as me. Everyone was there with their dogs, having picnics, and overall enjoying the sun. What was I thinking?

So as we pulled onto the beach, we were surrounded by fellow beach goers and Chance, well, let’s just say he lost it.  Barking like mad, we found a place on the beach to park, pulled out our lunch, put the dog on the leash, and got out of the car.

To Tom’s credit, he really tried.  Took Chance for a run around, hoping to tire him out.  Let me tell you, that little booger has a million pounds of energy.  Brings to mind a certain bunny that endorses batteries.  We sat down, took out our food, and I watched Tom try to eat, while being pulled around by the dog on the leash.  I couldn’t help but laugh.  We were just trying to be good dog parents, and enjoy the beach.  After a while, we couldn’t take his barking, and he got a time out in the car (don’t worry, we had the windows down, and made sure he had water in there).  Try as we might, we decided to pack up and leave the beach.

Instead of going home, we weren’t quite ready to give up.  We drove up the coast from Ocean Shores, and found a little tiny beach turn off in the middle of the trees.  And when we pulled onto the beach, that was when we saw it.

There was no one!!!!!

Ok, so there were like two or three cars, but comparatively the beach was empty.  We were able to take little Chancer-man to see the water.  He ran around, dragging Tom behind, chasing every bird he could.  I wandered the beach behind them, looking for shells and sea glass.  We even got the chance to just sit on the beach, and relax a bit.

Then we had to drive home.

Uggghhh. Two more hours of barking, and I was going to pull my hair out. My nerves were pretty frayed, and Tom looked at me and just knew.  He tried hard to keep Chance from barking, but to no avail. Bikers, hikers, cyclists, you name it, and he was barking.

Pulling back into the driveway was probably the sweetest sight I had ever seen.

And what did the dog do when we got home?  He fell asleep. Obviously.

So long story short, I don’t know if we are going to take him to the beach any time soon, and I might have a slight case of PTSD from it, but eventually I will forget, and the saga will continue.