I know I keep going on about it but the weather here in Cornwall is gorgeous again. I took the dogs along the coastal path, just through the woods from my house, it should have been fab but I have a 20 month old chocolate labrador.
Usually I manage to get him tethered quite a way up the coastal path before we get near the beach and apart from a near dislocated shoulder for me by the time he has pulled me down the hill on my backside, we complete the circuit unscathed. But oh no, today he got wise, I looked around and he was gone. He was on the beach before I could utter an expletive. Weekdays this is fine, a very quiet dog friendly beach but I think at the weekend people have a right to enjoy their cheese and pickle and flask of tea without a dog’s foot in each! The devil in my ear tells me to keep walking, pretend I have never seen him before and I do this for a couple of minutes. Then my conscience demands that I go back to the beach and face the music.
OK, so it’s not too bad. Everyone seems calm and someone is even stroking him. His primary mission is to make friends and influence them by eating with them. Only trouble is he brings nothing to the table. Well on the upside, he won’t need to eat tonight, he has had sandwiches, a donut and half an apple! Sorry to all of you unfortunates who got to meet Rafferty today and thank you so much for your kind understanding.
2017 update: Raffy is 10 this year, he’s done plenty of bad things since I orignally wrote this, including stealing mince pies from a couple one Christmas day morning. He was also hospitalised in the vets one weekend for something else he ate in the woods, it was touch and go but he came through. He has a grey beard now and a bit of a dicky ticker but he’s still fabulous!
