It was a late Saturday afternoon in late August. By this time, I felt Kemba had had more than enough cavorting on the beach.
His beloved Pickle was out for a visit, and the two of them had been at it for hours: fetching in the surf, wrestling in the sand, kissing and making up. They’d had their happy hour. As far as I was concerned, it was time for mine.
As I folded my chair and gathered our things, I noticed Kemba frozen at attention, staring fixedly at the path that runs through the dunegrass. This is his pose when he senses someone or something approaching — always long before I do. Sure enough, it was Grace and Gwen, the next-door Vizslas (see “My Pals: Grace), dashing down for a late-day beach
walk with Malcolm. So much for retiring to the deck for cocktails. Looked like we were headed for overtime. Kemba, now part of the new pack, took off with his frisky neighbors. I had to resort to a short buzz on his e-collar to call him back to my side.
Okay. Under control, once again. Until Kemba’s good friend Maxie, a tiny Irish Jack
Russell (see “My Pals: Maxie), came scurrying after us with his mini orange-and-blue ball in his jaws. That’s all Kemba needed to see. Kemba gets along great with Maxie — they’re sort of a Mutt and Jeff pair — and he loves that mini ball. Both of them went tearing after it — again and again and again. This was Kemba’s second overtime period. When Maxie was finally coerced into walking off in the opposite direction, Kemba, quite reluctantly, followed me. All right. Home free.
And then — was this really happening? — Hank the Frank, a long-haired Dachshund (see “My Pals: Hank), and Fred, his younger sidekick, appeared out of the blue. Spotting Kemba from afar, they came churning down the beach as fast as their tiny legs could carry them. I hadn’t seen these two all summer — and now they show up? To be fair, they’re gorgeous little dogs, and Kemba loves them. Overtime #3.
But enough is enough. Ultimately, I needed to leash Kemba to bring his beach day to a close. We made our way up to the deck. It was Bourbon o’clock. Finally.
YOU CAN ALSO FOLLOW BEAGLE MAN, KEMBA, AND RICKY ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM.
Don’t pretend you were annoyed at the overtimes! You know you loved it! You have almost as much energy as Kemba and his friends.
Not quite!