Beach with Scamp

Anyone want to take any bets on how long it will be before I do a post that isn’t mostly about her? Not me.

The weather here went from winter (rain rain rain) to summer (nary a cloud in sight, windy in the afternoon) within the space of 2-3 days awhile back. Which has been a real blessing for puppy-raising, especially since Scamp has not got the no-pee-in-the-house thing down. Every time I think maybe she’s got it, she pees in the house again. So far I think the longest we’ve gone without house pee is three days (we are now working on day three of the current pee-free streak and hoping to break this record over the weekend.) And I do not react well when she does it again. Ahem.

So the weather means she can be left outside for much of the time, which means I’m not having to deal with house pee because I just put her outside at the drop of a hat, or the sniff of the floor on her part.

BUT that means she’s spending a lot of time on her own, and that’s not good. So I’m walking her a lot. Neighborhood walks are getting a bit boring, for me at least, so yesterday I branched out and headed to Bandon. Right after breakfast, because the wind kicks up by noon, and the Oregon coast gets very windy in the summer, and we are definitely into the summer pattern.

It was a good decision. It was a beautiful day, and the rocks at the beach there make for especially beautiful walking.

She had a good time. There was much to explore and sniff.

She found her first beach stick, and we played with that for awhile.

And there were other people with dogs also walking, so she had some actual dog encounters. One of the dogs was a small terrier type who didn’t scare her as much a big dogs do (she’s had enough large dogs barking aggressively at her at this point that she seems afraid of them even when they are’t acting aggressively), so she had a good interaction with him. She wanted to play after we got through the introductions, but he was not so much into it, but it was overall positive. There were a few encounters with larger dogs too, and she was cautious and wary but not fearful. At one point I think she actually had her hackles up, which I took to be a good sign under the circumstances, given how terrified she’s been a time or two by a big dog.

While that was going on with her, I was enjoying the walk and the scenery.

We kept it short, because the tide was coming in and the wind was coming up, and I was getting hungry. The Loft, a restaurant in Old Town, which has never been open on a day I was in Bandon before, turned out to be open apparently specializing in brunch, which was perfect for me because it wasn’t yet 11:00. The view:

Had a shrimp taco, which was excellent and has me wondering how long before I should go back, and sweet potato fries, which were ordinary (for sweet potato fries) and so weren’t really worth the extra calories.

Since the walk had been short, and we were halfway there already, decided to go on down to New River, which is (mostly) nicely walkable in the wind because of the trees. Illicitly let Scamp off leash once we were out of sight of the parking lot. She thoroughly approved, sniffing and exploring and occasionally tasting, and even letting me get well ahead of her a few times, which she rarely does. If I’ve lost track of her, she’s more likely to be right under me than far ahead or far behind.

A few pictures. A few rhodies were in bloom.

Scamp, sampling some bark, I think.

When we got to a sandy, hilly part of the trail, Scamp for some reason went bonkers. She loved running in the soft sand. I thought I had some of it on video, but turns out not. Oh well. Take my word for it–it was very cute. All-out puppy run, belly flop and look up flirtatiously, take off again. Skid on the downhill run.

A good day.