Every weekend, Chris and I take Ronnie down to Tahunanui Beach to run, roll, swim and chase. The main event of the outing however is the hunt….. but the hunt I mean finding the perfect stick.
For our family this means following a super excited Doggle down to the sand, trailing through the huge mass of sticks that the previous tide has washed up the night before, picking up a few possible candidates while Ronnie constantly jumps up trying to get them out of our hand…..
You see a stick is not just a stick. You can’t just pick up any old stick and chuck it down the beach for Ronnie to chase. It has to be……
- Quite long – we don’t want a small stick that he will loose in a whirlwind of sand.
- Of the driftwood variety – the sticks that have been washed up and in the water for too long are too wet and heavy, not good sticks for rolling along the beach.
- It can’t be straight – they are useless. Ronnie rolls the stick along the beach with his nose while making ridiculous noises while everyone laughs at him. If its a straight stick he can’t get his nose under it.
- No sharp bits. Ouchy nose.
- Preferably with a curve like the one in the photo.
Ok…the stick in the photo is a little too large for the dog in question, but you know what they say – don’t blame the tools.
You see, for us humans, a stick is a stick. They are on the ground, trees have them, you trip on them and we put them in our fires. To a dog, sticks are the best friggen thing ever! I mean come on!!! A stick!!! How cool!!!!
This stick is not a good stick….hence stationary doggle.
To get to the point of this post, today, while going through the process of finding the right stick, I stood there and breathed in the fresh, warm beach air, smiling up at the sun and thought to myself, If we had the same joy towards life as Ronnie has towards a stick…and the beach, man what a life it would be! Thank god for Chris, Ronnie and I – we do!
Dog bless!
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