Puppy Beach Day!

Our golden retriever Tess, is a great lover of all things aquatic. She enjoys lakes, ponds, puddles, sprinklers, kiddie pools, anything. Tess once leaped into the bathtub while I was trying to indulge in a relaxing bubble bath (wet canine harshed my mellow). When we first got her as a puppy, we resided in the Land of 10,000 Lakes - so meeting her needs in this area was never an issue. In the past few years however - bodies of water have been sorely lacking. First we lived in southern Ohio, where there were only a handful of man-made lakes (blasphemy!), and now in the California desert, home of irrigation canals and not much else. We decided she had gone without long enough, and decided to trek to Santa Barbara today to explore the Arroyo Burro Dog Beach.

We arrived to the beach around 11:15 in the morning. The weather was overcast, and it was definitely sweatshirt weather, which meant that there luckily wasn't much of a crowd yet. The minute we started walking down to the shore, Tess was like a missile honed in on her target - and started pulling ridiculously hard to get to the water. When we let her and Buster off-leash, you would have thought it was the end of The Shawshank Redemption - freedom at last!! They chased each other gleefully and played hooky with the waves. Soon other dogs from further down the beach came to socialize, and Buster quickly zoomed off with a German Shepherd. My husband brought out the tennis balls, and for the next two hours, all Tess did was swim out into the ocean to fetch those tennis balls, zooming through wave after wave, and adorably paddling back in each time with her prize. All the other "parents" were impressed, as our Tess was the only dog who actually swam. The rest of the dogs, including Buster were content just to dip their paws in.

Overall, the trip was a riot. The other beachgoers and their dogs were all so friendly, and it is a beautiful beach. We only lost a dog once, when Buster decided to schmooze with a family about a half mile down the shoreline. As my husband chased him back to our area, Buster trounced on several families' blankets, sending wet sand flying through the air at unsuspecting sunbathers, but no one seemed to mind. We decided to call it a day when Buster drank what seemed like a gallon of water, then proceeded to throw it all up on the sand. We loaded our sand encrusted fur balls into the back of the SUV, and headed for home.

We took a different route home, getting off the 101 and onto the 126. This drive is gorgeous, and takes you through the lush vineyards and fruit farms of the San Fernando Valley, thus avoiding the smog/gridlock/human suffering of the 405 (score!). It was a great way to end the day - a therapeutic late afternoon drive in the countryside with my wonderful husband, accompanied by the loud snoring of two sweetly sleeping canines in the backseat.