Six Goldens

The other day as I strolled along the wharf chewing on a chocolate Nutella-filled tube of some sort, EIGHT WHIPPETS WERE RELEASED ONTO THE BEACH AT ONCE. What is a 'Whippet'? It is a very long, very lean, non-shedding speedy dog that came from the Greyhound. The Whippets here in St Ives turn up in differing sizes, but the EIGHT WHIPPETS on the beach were small. Their master had - I am not joking - eight leashes in his hands that had a release mechanism that worked so ALL EIGHT were released at the same time. And off they streaked. 

These creatures did not run and splash into the surf like other dogs; they did not play with each other or nip at strange dogs' bottoms; they did not stop to be petted by their master. What they DID do was run in circles. The lead Whippet ran so fast in circles that I became dizzy. The other seven followed him until the sand had a perfectly oval running track of exact proportions to a race track. Did you ever know a dog who could build his own race track? It was uncanny!

They ran so long in these ovals that a crowd gathered. 

"When they gonna' stop it?" asked one sun bather.

"When I tell them to," replied the master of the hounds, who by all accounts knew his business.

"Won't they get tired?"

"That lot? Never." By the time I left the beach, the race track was a deep trench.

Today I came across something so far to the opposite of those Whippets as to beggar the imagination. SIX GOLDEN RETRIEVERS. The Goldens were released to the beach in much the same way as the Whippets had been, but THEY did not run in circles or ovals. They wouldn't know what an oval even was. Instead, they bounced and bounded toward and into the water at speed, banging into each other in a hodge-podge of joyful yapping; in and out, out and in, splashing, biting the water, even doing dog-cartwheels. Those Goldens were smiling, I tell you, straight out of their tooth-filled muzzles in the delight of simply being alive.

The business-like Whippets are in a class by themselves - sort of the Mechanical Engineers of the dog world who, by their very presence, make everyone else want to sit up straight. The playful Golden Retrievers are the jolly charmers you might find in any field of life, the ones who make everyone else feel better just to have them around. That's what I want. A sweet, doggie-breathed bundle of wiggles who might shed quite a bit, but who would smile at me while doing it.

Something tells me they might nip at strange dogs' bottoms, though. I guess you can't have everything.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady