A Day at the Beach—with Dogs

A Day at the Beach—with Dogs

It was a Westport kind of day, sun peeking through fluffy clouds, the air fresh and the breeze warm. My pups and I, Rudy and Hanna, were on our morning beach walk. Both pups are well trained Golden Retrievers until we hit the beach. Then they go deaf…funny how that works. Hanna is a true Retriever in every sense of the word. She loves to swim, but Rudy only gets his feet wet and eats dead stinky critters.

All of a sudden, I saw Hanna running at max speed down the beach to inspect something flopping around on the sand. I was worried, because in the early summer months, mother seals go to feed and leave their babies on the beach to rest. Not disturbing them is a must or the mother might abandon them. I took off down the beach, yelling at my deaf dog to “Leave it alone.” When I got to the flopping creature, it was a three-foot long baby shark…with razor-sharp teeth, still very much alive with those sharp teeth snapping and head flipping back and forth. I grabbed its tail and pulled the quite heavy baby shark back into the surf. It swam away, though I had to stop Hanna from running into the surf to retrieve it. “Hanna, NO,” I yelled. The shark swam off, and Hanna went back to chasing birds. Oh joy.

Mary Boley is an Edmonds resident and proud owner of two happy and boisterously healthy Golden Retrievers.

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