Episode 4 – Life’s a Beach

Mum and dad took me to the beach today. This was the first time I have seen the sea. The spot we went to was about 30 minutes’ drive from our house. Mum tells me that this was the favourite place for Millie and so I’m so excited to see this as if Millie likes this place, it must be good. We parked the car and walked along a sea front promenade for a while and then dad took me down a set on concrete stairs onto the beach.

Wow I love it! The feeling of the sand in my paws was tickly but nice and the side of the beach nearest to the walkway was full of stones and pebbles – my favourite toys. Dad kept me on the extended lead for a while as there were other dogs the beach then we found a location where we had the beach to ourselves, and he let me off the lead. I ran and ran and ran….and ran some more. Dad chased me and I chased dad, he threw pebbles for me to fetch and it was the first of what became many special moments on that beach.

After a while dad walked towards the sea and I followed. I have never been in the sea before and so I expect this to be warm and cosy and loads of fun. How wrong I was, as a Shih Tzu I’m not very tall and so when the cold North Sea hit my chest a cold shock ran all the way through me. I ran straight out at full speed leaving my dad knee deep in the freezing water. On future visits I did brave the water more but never really liked being more than paw deep. In my whole life I only swam twice, both times when I misjudged the depth of the waves and got caught out. However, I was a great swimmer, so I say so myself!

If it was warm dad would buy ice creams, and I enjoyed licking huge lumps of ice cream off my dad’s fingers. During the winter we would get burgers, and I would share dad’s with me. As time progressed, dad would buy me my own burger as a treat all to myself – Mmmmmm!

Sometimes I was allowed to walk on the sea wall, which was very high, but it let me see the other dogs playing on the beach which I enjoyed. I learnt which stairs took us to the beach and every time we walked past them, I did a run for it and dart down the stairs. Dad had to chase after me. We didn’t always get to go on the beach as the tide can right into the shore and I would come back covered in muddy sand which dad grumbled about it getting all over the car. I also needed a bath after these walks to get all the sand and salty water out of my fur. 

I hated the bath! The indignity of standing in the bath while dad poured shampoo over me then used a jug to rinse me off afterwards. I got my own back though as I always did the ‘shaky thing’ before he could get my towel over me. Sometimes he ended up wetter than me!

After being dried I was taken into the bedroom and dried with mum’s hairdryer. I loved that as it was warm and gave me quality cuddles with dad. As soon as he was finished, I used to run around the house at near light speed. Mum called me a nutter!

That’s all for now, time to play with pebbles on the beach and try not to get too deep in the sea. I’ll speak to you next time. TTFN

Mazie


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