Friday 13th ... is that a problem?

Friday 13th and despite my best efforts this week I haven’t found any traffic wardens to run over ... or dog wardens for that matter.  In fact, come to think of it, the dog wardens have been conspicuous by their absence.

Not that I’m complaining.

Maybe today is THE day!

We’ve been pushing our luck on the beaches in the morning and we’re bound to get caught before long. 
 Carol ... other Carol that is ... is ITCHING for the wardens to catch us. 
 I think she wants to give them a piece of her mind. 
 (They’d better be quick though as, just between you and me, there’s not much of it left!)

I blame Sam for that.

He’s one of the most delightfully DEVIANT hounds of the doggy world and I say that in the nicest of possible ways.  It’s IMPOSSIBLE to get cross with him, even when he IS being naughty.   He keeps us on our toes and totally ensconced within the confines of his lead ... quite literally.

Burnt legs and trapped ankles are two of the minor hazards of his actions.

We parked outside this house last time we went to Takapuna and again this time. It's so quaint.

This morning we headed off to Takapuna. 

It’s Friday you see ... big YAY ... and it’s a BEAUTIFUL day.  

Even BIGGER yay ... the hounds are allowed off-leash on Takapuna beach until 10am.

Takapuna Beach, for my friends in SA and the UK, is across the Harbour Bridge on North Shore.  
You don’t need a passport to cross the bridge but you’d be forgiven for thinking that you do. 
It’s a world apart from our little village ‘by the sea’!

Getting out of the car and putting hounds on leash to cross the road to the beach is an exercise in itself.  The girl hound ‘she who ONLY wants to please’ sits on the verge with a resigned look on her face whilst the delinquent tells the world how happy he is to be there.  

He DOESN’T stop moving.  

Even sitting on his bum is done whilst in motion.

Have you ever seen a hound sitting on it’s bum but still moving?  Believe me, it’s belly-laughter inducing.  Not only does the bum still move backwards along the ground but the tail doesn’t stop wagging either.

Magic, the 10 week old German Shepherd pup we met today ... she's gorgeous!

Eventually, hounds on lead and balls to hand, we reach the beach.  Removing Sam’s lead though is just as much an exercise as attaching it!  The girl-hound KNOWS the routine.  Sit down ON your bum and the leash is removed. 

Not so the delinquent.  He’s too busy trying to get the rugby ball of Carol.  He doesn’t seem to understand that the SOONER he puts his bum on the ground, the sooner he’ll be IN the waves WITH the rugby ball.

Our traverse of the beach takes place with many smiles and much laughter.  It’s not only us that the hounds make smile.  Many are the smiles we see on the faces of other beach goers as the hounds, each with a rugby-ball firmly grasped in their mouth, dash in and out of the waves.  

The very busyness of their actions restores some semblance of normality to an upside-down world.  They are focused on the HERE and NOW and they compel us, without any thought on our part, to do the same.  

I’d be a basket-case by now without my girl.

“Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them, 

filling an emptiness we didn’t even know we had.” 

~ Thom Jones