29 Sep: Grey Beach Day

What do you get when you mix early morning light, a rainy grey day, and black dogs?

Terrible picture-taking conditions!

Super quiet morning at Island View beach.

No one else was around - might have had something to do with the pouring rain, the cold wind, or perhaps the early Sunday morning hour.

Just as well, though, because I had a couple of complete hooligans to contend with.

Cosmo on L, Cedar on R. Each has their own toy. For now.

They were absolutely wild this morning. You'd think they hadn't been for a walk in weeks, never mind that they had two walks - EACH, including training - yesterday.

"I have the ball, Cosmo. Na na-na boo boo."

They raced around like maniacs. Cedar taunting Cosmo. Cosmo grabbing her neck and tail. Cedar grabbing seaweed and shaking it. Cosmo trying to eat sand. Wrestling in the surf. Wrestling in the sand. Running. And running. And running some more.

Each heading for a separate piece of seaweed. Not sure where the toys are...

 

Scrawny Cedar. I'm not sure what she does with all the food she eats, but she looks like a stick figure dog.

Another dark photo with dark dogs - Cedar has the ball (L), Cosmo's sampling some seaweed.

Yes, when you run non-stop for half an hour it gets tiring, doesn't it Cedar??

"Not so tiring that I can't play keep away with the ball" says Cedar (Cosmo is oblivious in the background)

Cosmo - oblivious again, with his furry mane - trying to eat sand while Cedar chases the ball. Which is the brightest thing in this pic...

Cedar wasn't quite tired enough (or maybe over-tired??), and had to have an all-out, crazy-ass fit around the front lawn when we got home.

Needless to say, they're both fast asleep now after their baths, and I'm just about asleep after wrangling them plus vacuuming out the car (again) after breakfast.

Here's to some brighter days later this week for better dog shots!

11 Sep: Cosmo on the Beach

Taking Cosmo to the beach is a very different proposition than having Cedar on the beach. Where she's winging around, running constantly, checking everything out (and putting it in her mouth), swimming & then digging in the sand...Cosmo walks. Looks. Stands. Looks. And walks.

But if something catches his eye - bird, person, fluttering leaf - he's after it like a shot! Three double blasts on the whistle and he wheels around like a horse, rearing up and thundering back towards me. He does the same when something startles him. Like, oh, a rock in the water? (!!)

We were up with the birds again - no mist this morning, but lots of geese:

Geese cross in front of the sun

More geese, this time with no sun to burn my eyes out

 Also out at this time of day are the herons - one of my favourite birds.

The heron. Whom Cosmo was specifically forbidden from chasing.

Different angle on the heron, who was able to stay put without a black furball attacking him.

I wonder if Cosmo's standing and looking around is because he's unsure, or just absorbing his surroundings. I have quite a few shots like this:

Hmmm, what are those odd white squawking things bobbing in the water?

I smell something. Rotting seaweed?

Not so sure about the whole salt water thing...

Gauging how far it would be to swim to the mainland.

When I stop to take pictures, he'll often (okay, sometimes!) sit nicely next to me or in front of me for a shot.

Handsome boy!

The ocean looks even bigger from up here!

I'm kind of pathetic when I'm not sure about new environments

But then he sees a crow flapping, or a seagull taking off from the water, and suddenly it's okay to let his hair down (and he has lots of hair!)

Yeehaw - coming back to the whistle after chasing a crow

Growing up on the Prairie, any kind of topography is challenging

 

On the move - and still watching everything going on around him.

Look ma, I went swimming!

Yup, hair fully down and flying in this one...

Something about this sandbar was particularly exciting, lots of racing around having mini-crazies

Here I come! Cedar showed me how to make this crazy face

Unlike Cedar, who gets more (and more, and more) amped, Cosmo knows how to turn it off. He goes from crazy fits to sauntering through the water in 10 seconds flat.

Just truckin' along

Aren't I a good boy? :)

Another great morning on the beach, followed by a bath, massive dog wrestling, and both now completely crashed and sleeping soundly. Time for me to have a nap!

Cosmo and me, on the beach

 

My what big paws you have

10 Sep: Is That a Dog Or A Running Sandpile (or 'Cedar at the Beach')

Cosmo was pissy tired this morning - didn't want to get up, almost asleep again after breakfast. So I decided to take Cedar out to the beach (two dogs + 1 handler on the beach is a no go, given all the interesting things to grab, chase, eat, bite, etc.)

It was a foggy morning down at Island View beach, and the sun was just coming up.

Trees floating above the mist

Sunrise on the West Coast

We were up with the birds - thankfully one of the things Cedar *doesn't* chase (Cosmo makes up for that deficiency)

Cedar's a beach maniac - she loves to race around like crazy on the sand and in the water

What's that black box on your face? You should be running, with me!

Cedar wuz here

Birds were here

Usually Cedar puts everything in her mouth. But now that she's becoming more mature (hahahahaha), she no longer gnaws barnacles off rocks, like these:

Tasty barnacles

She does still eat seaweed (not sure if this piece is going in or coming out...)

Mmmmm, salty...

And of course she found some horse poop as well as older, festering seaweed. Her favourite is rolling in smelly things, which I didn't get a shot of.

Sometimes she can actually stand (sort of) still:

Cedar with mum's shadow

I can't look at the camera, there's lots of water to swim in!

And she's off - blurry as per usual.

Checking out the water, it's K9 athlete Cedar!

Random beach wood architecture

 

Still life with hole-y wood

Still life with FLATCOAT and hole-y wood

Needless to say Cedar had a bath when we got home. And I vacuumed a pound of sand out of Margaret's car. And Cosmo was ticked off that he didn't get to go to the beach, so has been beating up on Cedar since we've been home.

Ahhh, kids. :)

7 Sep: C & C Visit the Coast

I'm staying with Dave's mum in Saanichton for a while with the dogs, while Dave's still in Lethbridge. Of course he misses his dogs and family, so I promised to send some pictures.

The backyard here is tiny, so they go out (on leash) in the front yard. This morning they had a massively wild and crazy romp together in the woods, so weren't cooperating very well for an afternoon front yard photo shoot!

Here's what I got from my two (reluctant) models, who are now snoring away in their beds...

Cosmo shows his tiredness

I can't sit straight, my spine muscles are tired from running...

I can't even sit up anymore, I've used up all my energy and you didn't give me any treats

I'm soooooo hungry without treats that I've been forced to eat the leash!

Okay I'll do a half-sit/half-down, if I have to.

Don't laugh at my gangly legs!

Okay that's enough for me, I'm just going to collapse here on the lawn like a true model who hasn't eaten in days.

I couldn't resist a close-up for Cosmo's wavy coat!

ARE YOU DONE YET?? I'm ready for a nap (and I think Cyndi Lauper did my ears when I wasn't looking)

 Cedar was also tired, but with her it's more of a 'I'm not as intense as usual' rather than an actual 'off' switch. The gardeners from next door were walking by with loads of green waste, which was far more interesting than Mum with a black box pressed against her face.

Hmmm, I see a wheelbarrow of branches going by...I wonder if I could grab one and get back here without mum noticing.

Smells like slugs! And snails! And all sorts of oozy things that like the damp!

Wait, there go those wheelbarrows again...didn't see anything fall out, though. Disappointing

Oh, maybe they're going to talk to me! I should be ready to jump up on them and lick their ears.

The long view - Cedar has a very loooong body

Pretty girl, looking for her dad. :)

Hope to get some action pics in the next while for a more scintillating blog post!