I don't take Nadi (my dog) down to the beach very often because there are so many people down there during high season which we are just not getting out of. Also, until recently they started banning dogs from the beach because of that which I thought was terrible because one of the main reasons why I moved to this city was so my dog could go to the beach with me. They have since become quite relaxed about this rule although the dogs you bring with you are supposed to be on a leash and muzzled. I do not own a muzzle and Nadi would refuse to wear it if I did, so we just wing it and hope no one gives a crap.
I can understand having a rule about dogs on the beach but I think it should be applied a bit more case by case. I can see why people wouldn't want a group of Rottweilers running around off the leash and just running around like mad but a dog like mine, even off the leash, probably isn't going to even approach anyone for more than a second and if she does that it will be in a friendly manner. Also, I always carry bags with me on these walks in case nature calls somewhere inappropriate like on a sidewalk or the beach.
I can understand not wanting dog shit all over the place and you gotta protect kids but everyone knows their dog and yes there should be penalties for people who just let their dogs run wild but I don't think that banning ALL dogs from the beach is a good solution. It is an effective one, sure, but it kind of sucks for those of us with well-behaved dogs that we never let off the leash outdoors anyway. I don't like the whole "a couple of dogs were guilty so now all of them are."
there's so much going on down here it's near impossible to get her to look at the camera
We didn't go on the sand and I don't think el doggo actually wanted to go there anyway. She was denied because her fur is quite long right now and I didn't feel like giving her a bath when we got home. I'm sure she felt the same way. In fact, we walked so far in a dog's mind (4 km) that by the time we finally got back home she was so tired that she was too exhausted to even come and stare at me while I was in front of the TV eating my bacon sandwich. It's ok, I saved some of it for her.
These days I start to worry about Nadi because in a few short weeks she will be 10 years old. The average lifespan of this type of dog is around 12 years so I don't like to think about her getting old and no longer being able to enjoy stuff like this. Also she has been acting strange in the house lately and with her puppy-dog eyes she has been looking sad lately so I decided to get off of my ass and go and do something that is probably good for both of us anyway. 4 km is a lot when your legs are only 4-5 inches long so I was proud of her for not giving up. The overcast and quite cool conditions were actually perfect for her and she didn't get to overheated. Her breathing was very fast though.
I think we will probably end up doing this again today but only if the conditions are good. We are still in the very hot part of the year but thankfully that will all be changing very soon. My favorite, and probably Nadi's favorite time of year is coming up soon. The one where I can wear any of my clothes and not sweat through them and if the rain stays at bay, it is the time where Nadi gets to go on these walks a lot more frequently. I'll start to keep tabs on her performance and see if her cardio improves.
She still has her eagle eyes and a desire to kill anything smaller than herself. At this point in the picture above she had spotted a rat about 10 meters away from us and had she not been on the leash and wasn't so well-behaved, that would have been a dead rat or at least one that got bit. I suppose that is the only type of creature down here that would benefit from the muzzle rule.
