Fern at the beach

We took an impromptu trip to the beach yesterday. It's only an hour away, so it's an easy trip to make in an afternoon, as long as you don't run into heavy traffic. In addition to normal people stuff, we brought extra water, a travel bowl, treats, a rawhide bone and a toy for Fern, just in case. Traveling with Fern is a lot like traveling with a toddler. If you don't bring it, you'll need it, but if you bring it you look like a dork carrying a huge bag.
I was the one who held the leash while we were there because if Fern bolted it could dislocate Mika's shoulder or break a bone. Fern wasn't real fond of the loose sand, but she had no problems on the harder packed sand. After staking our territory with a blanket we went for an easy walk along the beach so Mika could collect seashells and I could get Fern used to the sights and smells of the beach. The beach was covered in dried out seaweed and Fern had to stop and sniff every single clump. It was slow going, but she had a great time.

BTW, I should preface the rest of the story with the reminder that Fern is never allowed off her leash if she's not in a safe, fenced area. Therefore, I was holding her leash during the entire trip and, boy, did my arms get a work out!

I let Mika wade up to her knees in the surf and Fern kept pulling to get to her. Fern and I are buddies when Mika is not around, but the minute Fern sees her, all she wants to do is get to Mika as fast as possible. I let Fern get close to the water and check it out. We were still far enough back that only every 7th or 8th wave came up enough to get our feet wet. The first couple of times Fern would move forward to follow the waves, and then come bounding back the minute they actually touched her feet.

I let her move a little closer to the water and Fern jumped in head first. She came up and ran right towards me and I thought she was scared, but she threw herself down at my feet and let the waves run over her back. The crazy dog loved it! She would bite at the waves, then spring up on all four feet at once like a bucking horse and try to jump on the water. She got so excited she pulled hard on the leash and spun me in a circle. I had come prepared for her being unruly and I grabbed a treat from my handy-dandy treat bag. When I told her to 'freeze' she stopped pulling and looked back at me, so she got a treat. She finished chewing, looked at me again and pulled me in a circle once again. As soon as I told her 'freeze' she did and got another treat. It took me 3 times to figure out that Fern was doing it to get the treat. Once she didn't get a treat for her 'freeze' she stopped. That dog is wily, I tell you.

We were only there about 90 minutes but both kid and dog had a great time. Fern was almost wild on the way back to the car, but she was asleep in the backseat before we were fully out of the parking lot. Fern is such a water dog and I feel bad that I don't know of a safe place for her to splash to her heart's content. And I can tell you for sure that she doesn't consider bath water fun to splash it. :-)