Gogo and the Ocean

Hahaha! So Gogo and I made our first trip to the Big Water today. The day was absolutely gorgeous, and as I walked outside I thought to myself, this will be a day to remember. The sun sparkled through my window as I cruised down the freeway, the radio blasting and the prospect of a day playing in the surf just ahead of me.

Well. New England beaches are not quite like other beaches. There aren't woods and trails and wilderness, there are houses right up to the waterfront and then, the ocean. She had never seen anything like it and was remarkably calm when we first pulled up and she peeked her head out the escape door. Of course, right as I was arriving a HUGE black cloud showed up and poured on us for a few minutes, but thankfully passed pretty quickly. I was disappointed that it was not the miles and miles of wooded shoreline I was expecting, and that the beach was about a quarter of the size that I had imagined it to be, but I was not to be daunted. The beach, the ocean Gogo! What do you think of that! She immediately set the tone by standing right up on her hind legs while I was tacking up for absolutely no reason at all. Literally, I wasn't even touching her when she did it. All right... well, on with the show.

The receding storm clouds.

Off we go down the beach. The sand! The.. well, not quite white sand, but it's SAND. And it's the ocean! The gulls were calling, the ocean waves were pulling at the shoreline. And Gogo... well, she wasn't so sure about all that nonsense. She wouldn't get near the water at first, and when a bigger wave would come rolling in, she would run away sideways from it. I finally got her feet in it, and she relaxed, realizing it wasn't going to eat her, but we did many a Signature Gogo Move - rearing and doing a 180 pivot on one hind leg to get away. That is her favorite evasion, all thanks to Crazy Demon Trainer. She's recently re-added it to her repertoire of Bad Behaviors, even though I thought we were through with it all. I REALLY do blame it on the Ultium for making her hot and irrational. This will also come into play later.

But anyway! Oh, the beach! I met up with a nice lady with a bichon who offered to take my camera and get some pictures of us:


Cheesy smile.
Gogo not wanting to cooperate.


And let's not forget the GOGO SIGNATURE MOVE!




Lovely.
AND some action shots:







And everybody gets at least one "oh shit!" moment:


This is why we use a martingale when we jump.


We gallop, we play, we streak along the beach like a blur and hug the lapping waves. The gulls swirl up and around us, and the wind whips our hair. We splash in the water, we dance, we laugh and we revel in the glory of the sea. We, after much joy, finally decide to call it a day and head on home after a morning full of fun and happiness.





And then. Then, we are walking back along the breakwall, like so:



And as you can see, she is suddenly being startled by something. Yep, a pit bull and another huge dog came bounding up over the wall directly at us just at that moment. What did Gogo do? A 180 and galloped STRAIGHT INTO THE OCEAN. NOT STOPPING. We were literally mostly underwater and swimming by the time I managed to get ahold of her again, and turned her around back towards the shore. WE WERE SOAKED.



All my tack, clothing, tall boots, and both of our entire bodies DRENCHED IN SALT WATER. Oh my god, it was a RIOT.


Oh Gogo. You are something else, that is for sure.