The next morning I was awoken by the slight nuzzling of a wet nose. Boomer (in his mind) was politely asking for his morning walk. During our drive to Southern Oregon I had noticed Oregon was much different from Idaho. There were many trail heads marked along the roads in Oregon, even near my uncle’s house. Where I live trail heads are rarely marked with the exception of a “no dogs allowed” sign. So I guess what I am saying is, thank you Oregon for being dog friendly!
Taking advantage of a near by trail I walked Boomer up a small hillside with hopes that the low cloud cover would lift once we reached the top. It of course did not, it was Oregon after all, low clouds and fog is kind of it’s thing.
After our walk and a quick breakfast we all gathered up in the car and drove off to Crescent City California. Boomer was about to experience the ocean for the first time and although he was not aware of it I was excited for him. The clouds still lurked overhead but there was the occasional pop of sun which gave us a pleasant 60F degrees (15C) and very little wind. We arrive at Crescent Beach and all piled out of the car.
Boomer’s normal reaction to large masses of water is complete joy so I was quite shocked that he did not seem energized by the ocean.
I kept him on leash for a bit (and if anyone asks he was on leash the whole time as per the signs) and walked him up to the water. There were only small waves, nothing dramatic like 10 ft crashing waves! Boomer seemed confused and possibly afraid of the waves. He eased up a bit and found a stick to chase, but it was apparent that he was keeping a distance from the water.
After walking the shoreline for a distance we turned back to return to our starting point. I began to experiment with Boomer’s fear. I had noticed that he was walking in front of me and to the right. The ocean was also on our right. I decided to move closer to the water and he followed suit. I moved slightly closer and again so did he. Perhaps his fear was fading!?!?!
Boomer has a habit of after playing fetch for a while to dramatically plop himself down and pant frantically. Today was no different from any other day however where he decided to lay down was different. I stood and watched as he faced me with his back to the ocean. You can probably tell where this is going, right?
Although he was just at the shoreline he was still laying in the ebb and flow of the waves. One of the waves slowly brushed up against his back. From his reaction you would have thought that someone had jabbed him in the back with a stick! He sprung up looking back at the waves with surprise!
Evidently the survival of his death-defying experience with the wave gave him a new confidence and the gloves were off. Boomer’s fear of the ocean had vanished and he continued to toss himself down in the path of the water, hopping up once the water touched him only to lay down again. He even taste tested the water, which I’m sure was delightful as who would not want a mouth full of salty water.
After drying off the wet dog I had on my hands we took a quick side trip to a viewpoint of the beach and town and could clearly see why it was called Crescent City due to it’s arched shaped shoreline.
