Saturday, August 30, 2008

Mr. Woo Goes Fishing

Today's Spanish Banks Extension trip looked like this:
Tide pools, tide pools, as far as the eye could see ...


And those shallow pools, apparently, contained lots and lots of tiny little smelts.


Mr. Woo says they're no squirrels, but they'll have to do.

So many of you have dogs who catch things with their feet instead of their mouths. Now, who has a dog that goes fishing?


Can you spot the smelt in this photo?

Mmmm ... smelt ....

After eating a couple of smelt, Mr. Woo decided they were not the hors d'oeuvre for him. Too salty maybe. However, it did not stop him from catching and playing with them, then leaving them to their last gasps in the sand.

We had a little chat about being wasteful, and starving children in Africa, and not being Dexter, and Woo retorted that he was merely feeding the local fauna.

And sure enough, when I turned around, I saw we were being stalked by birds of all kinds.

Gulls

and terns

It took them no time at all to figure out that it was easier to let Wootie catch them than do it themselves. It was starting to get a little "The Birds" so I broke out the Chuck It and a game of ball to shoo them away.

The Wonder Twins had been waiting oh-so-patiently.

But with so much open space, sometimes Piper got a little confused about where her ball had been thrown.

"Hrrrmmm ... you claim to have thrown it, yet I see nothing."

"OOOHHH! There it is! ONMYWAY!!"

Mr. Woo was distracted from smelt fishing by the allure of chasing Piper (under Sport's careful supervision, naturally)

1) Grab neck 2) pull 3) force Piper to make Googly Eyes:

Until she wallops you with a roundhouse and sends you - literally - flying!


Tweed waits patiently while I take pictures of the hooligans.

And he is VERY happy when the attention is finally on him.

Sport kept an eye on everyone, like the good Warlord that he is.

After a couple hours, I noticed that the water level was rising on my boots, and it was time to head back. We ran into this fellow, who was apparently a puppy. This photo was taken a millisecond before Sport tried to beat the shit out of this enormous puppy. If you look closely, you can see his Mad Teeth (tm)!

What a jerk!

It's a bit hard to reconcile the Jerk with World's Cutest Old Man dog.
^^ money shot!

Fortunately, Sport is all snap and no damage, and the giant puppy ran off into the sunset (yeah okay, it was 2pm - semantics people!!) with a puppy pal.

When we reached the shore (??) Tweed did something he NEVER does. He *played* with a random dog.

Shakes up some courage.

PLAY!

You see why he liked this dog? A fellow "hands" (paws) user!

And some completely random pictures:

ohmygodthrowitthrowitthrowitohmygod.

Wheeeeeeee!!!!!!

Oh ... hai! How YOU doin'??

Sport is having a darn good time. We stopped at the vet to refill his prednisone and everyone was so happy to see him look so happy!

Yesterday's Critical Mass:
Joelene stayed home. This time Alfie was my faithful steed. I have a serious crush on my roadie!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sport has the most soulful face I have ever seen on a dog. Is he eating well now and still gaining weight? Is the problem with his teeth resolved?

Gracie eats sushi at the beach - these days it is crabs and crab legs washed up by the tide. She dunks for Charlie Bears in her water so I expect she would join Woo "fishing" for smelt.

If you could put Woo's acrobatics on command and work up a routine, you could make a fortune touring with him. Great pictures as always and a nice way to end the day.

dp said...

Tweed's random playmate was very cute. I'd play me some of that too.

It struck me today that I now the owner of a giant puppy. Titan is 5 months old and about 75lbs. It's really weird to have a dog that I can pat on the head without having to bend.

Raising Addie said...

The pix of Mr. Woo pawing at the water are just amazing! I love the bubbles!

Sport is very sweet! I hope he is in good health!

Kisses
Addie

Deb said...

Allie loves to fish, too! We just found that out, while we were up camping in the mountains this weekend and Al kept diving in for baby trout (which she also did not eat).

I LOVE all of your pictures of your gang and especially the ones of Tweed. (He is very handsome.)

Sport looks great, grouchy or not.

I look foward to your posts.

Black Jack's Carol said...

Black Jack goes fishing for worms at night in the back yard. (At least that's what we think she's pouncing on, although I've never managed to capture the evidence.)

Great pictures as usual. I thought the seagull and the tern were beautiful too.

I'm curious about the Critical Mass ride. I've been commuting by bike for a few years now, but have never been tempted to do that ride. Maybe it's my age:) I've met them a few times (always going the opposite direction from me) and enjoyed the entertainment, but also felt a bit sorry for the motorists trying to get home on a Friday night. I'm guessing it's a combination of fun and political agenda for you, but would be interested to hear your thoughts.

The Border Collies said...

I'm guessing it's a combination of fun and political agenda for you, but would be interested to hear your thoughts.

I don't have much of a political agenda, I'm afraid. I like to ride my bicycle(s) and I like to ride with other people who like that too! It's nice to be able to experience the freedom of riding our angry roads sometimes without getting sideswiped, cut off, edged over, sworn at and all the other lovely things that happen on my daily rides. The inclusion in a group that enjoys the same activity as me is a positive experience for me. You should come along some time, you might be surprised at how fun it is.

but also felt a bit sorry for the motorists trying to get home on a Friday night.

Well, I feel sorry for myself trying to get home in a car when 5 lanes funnel into one on at the tunnel on the 9 too! Or when a tour bus and a Civic have a fender bender and stop in the middle of Denman at rush hour to argue whose fault it is ;-) And we won't mention the road closures every other weekend in my hood for this, that, and the other event that take place - triathlons, marathons, parades etc. I guess what I mean is, it's nobody's city - it's EVERYBODY's city. Once a month for a couple of short hours, it's our city. And it feels alright :)

The Border Collies said...


Sport looks great, grouchy or not.


He's about to get grouchier, because Sport is getting a brand new muzzle tomorrow. I've had about enough of his Snarkies at the beach and one of these days he's going to snap at the wrong dog. After years of being the dog beach pariah with Briggs, I was just starting to feel welcome and Sport has come along to take me back into Grumpy Asshole Dog time. Also, he bit bit Mr. Woo hard enough to make him screech, and Tweed punished him soundly for biting him on the arse. Yet, Sport does not learn. So he will be getting a basket muzzle so we can enjoy our beach trips again!

Anonymous said...

HA! Kat can fish too!!! we figured that was what she was doing - it's somewhere near the end of video but the rest is fun too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CmgyW0VkLc

Questdriven said...

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Anonymous said...

I introduced a coworker with whom I talk dogs to your blog. I think we have a new Tweed fan. But Wootie charmed her too! Smile for the cameras boys, it is a close contest!