The beach - yay!

Just had my first trip to the ocean at Dewey Beach, DE. It's a lovely stretch of shoreline with safe beaches, and best of all it's really pet friendly. In the summer, dogs can go on the beach every morning till 10 AM, then again in the afternoons after 5 PM. But right now, there are no restrictions so it was perfect for my first trip to the shore.

I was a bit nervous at first with those waves that kept chasing me, so I stayed very close to Della.


She had her hip waders on so she could walk out in the ocean with me which made it much less scary. In about five minutes, I was ready to roll!


It took me a while to figure out that I didn't have to run away when the waves came after me.


But then I realized that I just had to face right into them and then jump over the wave as it came by.


Here I am just walking around waiting for the next one to jump.


When Della thought I was getting too far away, she called me back, and I always raced in as fast as I could as I've learned that I get tons of praise when I do that.


After playing in the waves for a while, we walked along the beach and I encountered the strangest thing I've ever seen...


At first I thought it was dead as it just lay there while I sniffed it all over. Then its feet started wiggling and I jumped back, quite scared....



.... but then I got brave again and sniffed it all over once more and decided it was pretty boring as it just lay there.

Then I discovered the sand dunes! They are so much fun to climb on.


I loved running across the top of the dunes...


.... and clambering up and down the hilly bits...


The recent storms moved a lot of sand where sand shouldn't be.... this is supposed to be a walking ramp down to the shore. I'm sniffing the hand rail!



.... then back in the waves.



Adele took me for some walks, and she had to keep a death grip on the leash as I kept trying to get to the photographer.





I loved meeting all the little kids on the beach.... I can kiss them without jumping up!


He wasn't expecting such a big kiss from me!


The waves got pretty big on the last day, so I was back on my leash to keep me safe.


But I got brave again very quickly.



I love charging at the waves and jumping them.


I also liked drinking the salty water - not a good idea.



I love the beach more than anywhere else I've ever been!


And I hope next time it will be calm enough for me to swim.

Here's a picture of the beautiful sunset on the last night there....

Swimming!!!

On Sunday, we had torrential rains here - about 4" in just a few hours and lots of flooding.The best part for me was this big lake that formed on one of the fields where I run.Up against the bank on the right it was about three feet deep, and you can see the tops of the bleachers down the side.

Della had on her fishing waders and she went out into the water. I was a bit skittish about going in when there was dry land on which to run around the edge. So I stayed where I could see the bottom and just did a lot of splashing.


Bit by bit I got braver and deeper but kept scooting back to the edge.


Then Della produced a tennis ball and I retrieved it a couple of times in the shallow water. It was getting pretty hot so I lay down to cool off. You can see the soccer field lines underwater.


Now I'm starting to feel much more confident and go farther into the deeper water.


I'm getting a grip on this water retrieving but I'm still not quite swimming, though I can feel that lift-off is imminent!

Then Della threw my ball just little bit deeper and suddenly I'm SWIMMING! It's great!

I make a perfect retrieve, get myself turned around....


..... and start swimming back. Look how fast I'm going!! I'm making a wave in front of myself.


Then I start trying to feel where the bottom is. Look at the wake I left!


Phew....made it!


OK....let's do that again!

Pleeeeeease?


Yay!


This is so much FUN!


I could swim around ALL DAY.... I love it!


But I'd better bring the ball back so she can throw it again.


Come ON.... throw it!


Since Della was so slow to throw it, maybe I won't bring it back this time.


Maybe I'll just cruise around all day...just me and my ball....


I'm a Golden Carrier!


Wheeeeee!


This isn't going over too well....better revert back to being a Golden Retriever.


There's your silly ball!


And now back home for a towel-down and a nap.

My favorite spot - The Lap!

Hello Ma Doux,

I know you had the chemo again this week, so to cheer you up I thought you'd like to see one of my favorite spots to hang out -- Adele's lap! l've heard about lap dogs and they seem to have a pretty cushy life so I've been trying to add that dimension to being a golden retriever.



Here's my first lap picture. This was on March 7, the day I came home. I'm looking a bit out of it as I had just spent four hours in the car coming from Clifton to Plymouth Meeting, and I'm looking out on my yard for the first time.








Here I am a week later on March 13. I didn't know how to jump up onto anything at that point, but I learned that if I put a back paw onto one of their feet, they would lift up the paw (and me, attached!) and then I could clamber onto whatever I was aiming for.









Here I am on March 21. This isn't exactly a lap picture, but I was still small enough to be carried around which I really liked because I could do face licks so easily! Look how huge my front legs are!












Now it's April 4 and you can see that I've discovered that the sofa is a fine spot for play. I had just come back from a walk but I'm still full of energy. This is my version of Climb All Over Body Parts - an excellent game.











Still April 4, and I'm still climbing all over Adele!














Now we jump forward to May 3. I think I just had a growth spurt!
This is my favorite chair because it stretches out (it's a recliner) and I get more room. It was starting to be a tight fit for me and Adele in the same spot.







Another growth spurt and it's June 23. I'm huge! Even though I can easily leap up onto chairs and beds, I always climb into Adele's lap very carefully, using the foot elevator. Adele says there's a big difference between a 15 lb puppy to lift and a 38 lb one, but I like to think it's great weight training for her! The best time to do the lap climb is in the morning with the coffee and newspaper.






I always think a couple of face licks improve the situation!














Back to the sofa where Adele and I are watching the Fourth of July festivities. Della was a bit of a drag on the Fourth. She didn't seem to want to get on board with any of the celebrations, muttering something about it not being a big holiday in her country. I helpfully suggested she think about being a good sport rather than a sore loser, but that didn't go over at all well....






I had a fun time on the Fourth, with everyone patting me and telling how good I was with all the fireworks going off. I can tell you for sure that if you like fireworks, Philadelphia's the place to be on the Fourth. They started around 5 PM and never stopped all night long as far as I could tell. I'm not afraid of fireworks at all - or thunderstorms. I like all that noise and stuff because I get lots of attention and pats and play.














Now it's July 12, and you can see the fit is getting ever tighter in the chair!









I have to keep reminding Adele to push out the leg rest so there's more room for me and my toys. I just wriggle around till I get comfortable and can find a spot for each leg.














And this was yesterday, July 14. I made my lap move right in the middle of Adele's coffee and newspaper when I thought she might not notice me climbing aboard. I think I was quite successful!










And now I'm moving in for the face lick which I know will give me full absolution, and maybe help Adele wake up a bit!