Beach at Sunset

Today we took Jasmine to the beach for a walk.  It was the first time since we lost Greta.  Now I hate to admit it, but we almost never took Greta and Jasmine to the beach.  Maybe twice in the 3 and a half years we have lived here.  A couple of reasons:

A> Greta was starting to get wobbly (spinal spondylosis) and the sand was really hard for her to walk in, and
B> SAND + FUR, and
C> Greta was the fun police and made it known to everyone in range that she was NOT HAPPY ABOUT ALL THE FUN, and,
D>  The SAND.  ALL THE SAND.

But today was a really beautiful day.  Starting to cool off, no bugs, very nice breeze.  So we grabbed Jasmine's THUNDER HARNESS and two long leads and set off.

I have to say that it is sort of super weird to only have one dog - especially this one. Things are so QUIET.  Yes, she likes to be loved on and petted but she isn't vocal at all (with the exception of the DINO barks, which is another story).  We are having to adjust. In some ways I feel like I'm just now getting to KNOW Jasmine.  Believe me she has not been neglected in any way, shape or form for the last 4 years, but I guess she was just in the background behind the DOMINANT PRESENCE of Greta more than we realized.

Now is her turn to shine.

So we went to the beach, and it was ...........

Calm.  Peaceful, even.  She wandered around, checked things out, looked at all the kids playing...

She didn't bark.  She didn't charge forward.  She didn't whip out her ticket book and start issuing citations to every toddler for having too much FUN.  Jason and I were able to sit on the beach, talk, and watch the water.

PLEASE don't get me wrong, I miss my Greta desperately, loved her with all my heart, and wouldn't have traded her for anything.  And YES, I realize her behavior was a PARENTAL problem and we didn't train her properly and blah blah blah.  I know, I KNOW. (although I would like to note that some of her liter mates were on doggie anti-anxiety meds so maybe it wasn't ALL us...)

Anyway.

Jasmine just came to us like this. Calm.  Fully grown, we think she was 3 or 4, so 7 or 8 now, and she's just different than our Greta was.  More content.  More secure?

We got home and put her in the backyard to hose her down, and realized she wasn't even sandy!  The sand apparently doesn't cling to her like it did with Greta. Jasmine's coat is definitely softer, so that's interesting.

Jason and I have been married 16 years and we've never been a one-pet family.  We've had as many as three dogs at a time.  This is a big change for us, but I think we are going to enjoy it for awhile.