My first summer out here in Amagansett — the summer of ’15, when I was 10 months old — I did something that really freaked out Beagle Man and Mom. Beagle Man had gone for a bike ride, and I was hanging with Mom on the deck outside their bedroom. Then she decided to go for her walk, and assumed I was safe, since the deck is surrounded on three sides by walls, and on the fourth side, by a guard rail. But here’s the problem: I can clearly see the ocean from the deck. It’s so close . . . I can
just about feel the surf. And I didn’t know how long it would be till they’d be back for me to take me down there. So . . . I jumped! Yup, over the side wall onto the slanting roof, then again from that roof down onto the sand. Next I tore down to the ocean — where I sat and waited patiently in the sand for someone to throw balls for me. That’s where Beagle Man and Mom found me. My point in telling this story is that I absolutely cannot — cannot! — stay away from the ocean. Beagle Man and I go first thing every morning. I fetch balls or sticks he throws in the ocean, and then I swim or surf back in. He also brings down a big orange Gatorade jug full of icy water for when I get thirsty. When Robby and Greg and Matt and all their friends are here, I let them take turns throwing to me. But if it’s just Beagle Man, I’ll give him a break and find a couple of strangers doing a nice peaceful beach walk, drop the ball at their feet, and look up hopefully, with my tongue hanging out. It almost always works. At the end of the day, I get hosed down on the deck, which I don’t like, and then toweled off, which I do. Now don’t get me wrong. Playing with my pals at the dog park in Westport is great. So is tromping through the woods in Vermont through a foot of new snow. But there’s nothing quite like the ocean. (And yes, my “Salty Dog” title is also a shout-out to my native home in Ardoise, Nova Scotia — Saltydog Kennels. Hey, Shelley and Steve, it’s Kemba! How you guys doing up there?)
Beagle Man and Ricky always have a lot to say, so I’ll just pipe up in The Duck Dog Speaks whenever I can.
You lucky dog, spending the summer by the ocean. Please sniff some of that great air for me. I bet if they got a hot water connection added to the out-door hose, you’d enjoy being rinsed off. What a life, chasing tennis balls for a living.