Freddy's Beach Adventure!

Hi there! I know it's been a while, but we are very much still here. I am working on a little recap of sorts that I will post at a later time, but for now I wanted to share a little trip Fred and I took last Wednesday.

I woke up on Wednesday, and saw that the temperature was going to creep up into the 90's, I also saw that at the beach the temps were going to be in the high 70's to low 80's perfect! I looked at Fred and said "We're going to the beach!" Of course he was all for it. So I gathered a few things, not knowing if we would stay the night or not, I packed accordingly, dog food, change of clothes, not much really. Normally, I'm not much of a spontaneous person, usually a trip to the beach entails lots of planning, and list writing to make sure I don't forget anything, so this was quite a departure for me. So off we went. The beach is about 100 miles away, and it's a pretty easy drive up over the coast range and back down to sea level. It takes about 2 hours, not bad really. Fred could not settle down while we were driving, usually as soon as I hit the highway, he settles down and sleeps, but this trip he was very interested in the drive. I think he looked out the window almost the whole time, he wasn't nervous or obnoxious, I think he knew this trip would be something special. It was a fun drive!
We got to our destination which was Rockaway, Oregon, I had made the decision to stay, so the first thing we needed to do was find a place. Apparently, I wasn't the only one that decided the beach was the place to be and we got really lucky and found a cheap little room. It was only a block, actually less than a block from the sandy beach, but no view. That was perfect, I didn't plan to spend too much time there anyway. This was my view out of the window...

 

Not much to look at, but at least I could keep an eye on my car...

They were in the process of re-siding that building, it was very noisy, but I didn't care, the price was right, and I knew they would quit before bedtime and they did.  I quickly dropped my belongings into the room, and we took off for the beach. (Finally!) As soon as we stepped onto the sandy beach, I took Fred off the leash and ZOOM! Off he went.

 

"Oh boy!"

As soon as I took the leash off, I grabbed my camera, and he was almost out of view. I didn't take my regular camera, these are all taken from my phone, and to tell you the truth, I am pretty pleased with the outcome.

And back...

 Gone again...

 

And back...I am pretty sure that's a smile.

 Yep! it is

 

 "See ya!"

Running, running, running! Weee Hooo!

"Look Mom! I can fly!"

Catching his breath...Admiring the view

 More running/flying... 

Nothing but air! So fun!

This went on for quite some time, he just ran and ran and ran. It always amazes me how fast he is. His feet barely touch the ground. He was very good though, he would take off at warp speed, stop turn around, look for me, and usually run back to me or run in the direction I was walking. Always aware of where I was. Good boy! He would also run up to everyone he saw, say a quick hello, and off he'd go, small children were especially vulnerable, he sought them out, I think... He would go up to them, and as soon as they would reach to pet him, he would take off, hoping with all hope that they would chase him, a few did and that was really great in Fred's world. No one could catch him of course, but it was very fun! He was a big hit. 

I took a quick video, this was after he'd already been running for a long time and he was running out of gas. His attention was also very much on the children making sand castles, and I cut it off a little abruptly. I was worried he might destroy the fort that they had been diligently working on. Luckily he didn't, just another quick hello, and he ran right back to me. As you can obviously tell in the video, it was a little breezy too (sorry about that), but it really was a great day to be at the beach.

 

The shadows were getting pretty long, it was getting close to sunset, and another photo opportunity...

Ahhhh! I can never get enough sunsets at the beach.

"Thanks Mom, I'm really having a great time!"

It was getting chilly really fast, actually, in the above photo, Fred was shivering a little, I forgot to bring his coat, mine too (that's why I need lists...) So we headed back to the room to eat and watch a little tv.

Fred was more concerned about what the workers were doing outside.

Dinner...

Fred was a little restless all night, I'm sure being in a different place with different sounds and smells had him on edge a bit, and I don't think he slept much. To tell you the truth, I really didn't either. I got up pretty early (before the worker's anyway) and made some coffee and began to get the day started. As for Fred, well, he wasn't quite ready to be up and about.

 "Just a few more minutes? I'm pretty cozy in here".

I got everything packed up, schlepped down some coffee, (it wasn't very good) and got ready to leave, he stayed in the bed the whole time I was getting ready. 

Of course, we had to go to the beach one more time before we hit the road, and just like the day before, as soon as we got to the sand, I took the leash off, and Fred took off like a shot. Only this time he went about 100 feet and pulled up. Poor guy, it seems he was a bit stiff from the day before. He sniffed around a bit, waited for me to catch up and we had a nice quiet walk before heading back to the car. He slept hard all the way home. 

It was a quick trip, but it sure was nice to get away, if even for a short time. :)

Thanks for reading!

Wordless Wednesday

Playing with Video 2: Frolicking at the beach

I found this video hidden deep in the depths of my computer. I thought I lost it in my "last computer crash" which I might add was devastating. But low and behold, I had actually been thinking before "the crash" and backed this up on an external drive. Yay! This is a video of Freddy tearing it up at the beach, he is just over 1 years old here. Please keep in mind I am not a professional, and I certainly don't pretend to be. It has taken me the good part of this day to get this on here. (I need serious help) I am just glad I did.
My daughter and I decided to take a beach trip for my birthday 2 years ago. Fred had so much fun, this is the only video of him. We had just unpacked the car and decided to take Fred down to the beach. The last time Fred was there he was pretty little, but he still ripped around pretty good even then. This time he is much more coordinated and very hard to keep in view with a camera. I would suggest just muting it because about half way through Fred was getting a little too close to the water and panic set in for my daughter and I, there is a bit of hollering going on and the video gets a little rough (sorry). It's funny though, you can tell Fred heard us just fine, he wanted to add that extra little bit of excitement, just for good measure. He's looking at us pretty much the whole time. I tried to edit, but I gave up, some kind of formatting error grrrrr.
Anyway, I hope you get a giggle out of this. Oh and BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVES!

That's me with the braided pony tail. I got in the way...sorry

Fred really wants to go back out and play!

You know the saying, "He wears his heart on his sleeve"? Fred wears his heart on his back. 

:-)

Wiped out after a big day playing on the beach.

A Beautiful end to a beautful day! Happy Birthday to me!

Crate Training Time

Yep, I decided even before I brought Freddy home, that he was going to be a "crate trained" dog. I know there are many opinions on this, and believe me I've heard them. I've read the pros and cons, and from my research I decided that the crate was the way to go for me. It started the very first night. Before anyone starts to feel too sorry for Fred, let me explain. I was never going to leave him in a crate all by himself in another room, where I couldn't hear him, and my house is plenty big for that. No, if I was up and about, Fred was up and about with me. I started out by using a very nice cat carrier. There was plenty of room for Fred to move around a bit and still be cozy enough for him to be able to keep himself warm. I also put in a baby blanket left over from the kids, and a small remnant of a jammie top of mine that I found, we snuggled with that, long before bedtime. Like I said, I'm a planner. I also left the crate in the middle of the main room we were in before we got home, so in his little mind it was part of the room, not a scary unknown thing. He'd wobble in and out throughout the evening, snooping about his surroundings and it was not evil or scary. Well now it was time for bed, so I took the crate upstairs to my room, then Freddy and I went outside to do the last days business and up to bed. He had to be carried up and down the stairs, I carried him like a little Nerf football with one hand so I could still use the railing, that went on for some time. The day he made it down the stairs on his own was a very big day! (another post) I got ready for bed and then put Fred in his "room" that's what I called it going forward, I had the door facing me and it was about 6 inches from my face so he could still hear, smell and see me. Trust me, I really wanted to hold him all night, but I was terrified I might smash him in my sleep, so the crate was really the safest place for him. He didn't put up much of a fuss at all, and quieted down and went to sleep pretty fast, right by my face. I could hear him breathing and snoring a little.  If he woke up or stirred, I knew he would need to go out, and I didn't want an accident in his room, so I basically stayed up all night waiting for Fred to stir so I could get up and rush him outside. Long story short, Fred got a much better nights sleep than I did. I turns out, I didn't need to worry about Fred waking me in time. He let me know quite loudly, nobody could sleep through that noise. He was soon sleeping all night and it was just a race in the morning to get my robe on to rush him down stairs and outside just in the nick of time. Sometimes we didn't quite make it though, and I got wet, but for the most part we settled into our routine pretty quickly.
There were occasions when I had to put him in his room when I could not keep an eye on him, showers, trips to the store, things like that. I never left him in there for any length of time so it was a positive experience for him, and a lot of fun and praises when he came out of his room.  If I asked him to go into his room, he would just walk in, turn around fix his bedding and lay down, no biggie. I never left him in there if I was home. And I Never Ever put him in there for punishment, it was his safe place.
One week-end, a friend and I went to the beach with Fred, he had finally had all of his shots and he was all protected from the evil puppy germs and I could now take him out it public, finally! I couldn't wait to show him the beach and all the fun things to do there. I was not disappointed and neither was Freddy, when we finally hit the beach I took him off of his leash and just like that, he tucked his tail, pulled back his ears and he was off like a shot! He was running so fast, chasing little shorebirds, grabbing crud as he went by, just zooming around, I think I could actually see him smiling, he loved it! He worried me a few times when he got too close to the water, but he always turned around, tucked tail and dashed towards me. What a blast! For a little guy, he really had some wheels, I tried to film him, but I couldn't keep him in view, I wanted to watch him all the time instead. We had a great day!
The next morning, I hurried Fred outside to take care of business, and decided to get some breakfast. I put Fred in his room and off we went. We ate pretty quickly, I was worried about Fred, being in a strange place and such, and as it turns out with good reason. When we got closer to the room, I could hear a vacuum, I realized the vacuuming was coming from our room, now I felt really bad for Fred, he doesn't really appreciate the vacuum at home. I rushed in just as the cleaning lady was finishing up and ran over to Fred's room, well, the lady was absolutely beside herself. She had been cleaning in there for a while, cleaning the bathroom and dusting and what not, before she even turned on the vacuum and she had no idea Fred was in the little crate. He didn't make a peep! I grabbed him up, his eyes were about to pop out of his head, he was terrified. The nice cleaning lady pet him and gave him love and it didn't take long for Fred to recover from his little trauma. We went down to the beach and all was soon forgotten, what a trooper!
There are still times now, when Fred has to go into his room, but those times are fewer and fewer now, he stills check it out now and again, and is still fine with it, but now I pretty much take him everywhere with me. I'm glad I crate trained him.

 This is a bigger one, but it's still cozy for Fred.

I was trying show the size of it here, but it didn't come out quite right, Fred can still turned around and get comfortable in there. He's modeling for me.