My spoodle Dog Archie's great birthday walk
The most fortunate thing about my dogs eight birthday was the weather. Being December its easy to get very hot days in Melbourne. Luckily his actual birthday, day, turned out to be overcast with slight drizzle in the afternoon when I took him for his second walk.And as luck had it, it turned out to be one of the most fun new adventures he has ever had. To start with we went to the Altona back-beach at low tide, meaning there was a massive expanse of beach to explore. Hard running on soft wet sand is the safest way for all dogs leg joints.
When we got there we met a very inquisitive Chow and Dachshund and were soon met by a two year old husky. The dachshund was very interested in my dog, while the husky was trying to dominate the chow without success.
After walking a few hundred metres down the beach the chow went back to its owners and I kept on walking with the husky and its owner.
One of the big surprises about this beach at low tide was the thousands of mini crabs about 3 cm long that were wavering on the edge of any water inlet like grass in the wind. I wasn't too keen on stepping on them, but my dog and the husky didn't seem to smell or notice them at all until at least half way through when I showed my dog that one existed. That meant a lot of rapid pawing until the crab flipped over but it easily righted itself and kept putting its protective claws in the air. This entertainment lasted maybe 5 minutes.Then there was another mini challenge by the husky, until he spotted something about 200m away and sprinted off.
We turned around at the hour mark and Archie enjoyed a mini swim.
The weather was nice and cool and overcast and continued to randomly light drizzle which is perfect for a thick coated spoodle and husky.
When we eventually made it back to where our entry point to the beach was we were met by new dogs and owners who were just stating their off lead run. One lady had two germane short haired pointers (one mature, one two years old) and a small bulldog crossed with an aussie bulldog. The husky and the young gsp decided to have a chase and play for a while before coming back and the gsp submitting on its back to any dog that would show interest.
It was bout then that the five dogs realised that one of the four owners at least must be holding treats and the bull dog in particular was showing some great jumping style.
