We like to take Fritz to the dog beach every once in a while. I think we would probably go more often if Fritz could manage to stay a little cleaner. There are few smells worse than sandy, salt-watery dog. He also tends to embarrass us around the other dog owners. The picture is lovely...it's a warm summer day, families playing catch with their dogs named scruffy and fido on the beach, splashing in the water, running in slow motion along the surf...simply serene. Then there's Fritz. Blowing around like the Tasmanian devil after a sugar binge interrupting every game of catch and knocking women and children on their behinds. He blazes around, drunk with freedom, making either a friend or an enemy of every dog on the beach.

We've only let him off his leash a couple times because as you know from here and here, he does not respond well to the "come" command, especially when there are other dogs and miles of beach involved. One time when we did let him off leash he made the strategical error of running full boar up to a gang of rottweiler mafia assassins who immediately had him pinned on his back in the water. I'm pretty sure I heard one of them say to him, "You barkin at me, punk?"

The last time we let him off leash went pretty well until he found a guy building a sandcastle. At this point in the story, I need to take a moment to point out the ridiculousness of the situation. Who? I ask WHO would build a sandcastle on a dog beach? You've heard of yellow snow? The stuff blends into the sand much better....I wouldn't be stickin my fingers in it...EVER. Anyway, apparently because the castle was the tallest thing on the beach outside of people, Fritz decided it was a great place to mark. He confidently trotted right up to it, with the architect squatting right behind it digging the moat, and pronounced "Yep. This is mine." The architect was shocked and disgusted while I appreciated the irony of the moment. Think about it...a sandcastle on the dog beach with a moat filled by a dog! Fortunately, we were far enough away from the incident to pretend he wasn't ours.

Later that same day we met the above Great Dane. I've been wanting to get a 2nd dog and I think a Great Dane is a perfect counterpart to Fritz - half the energy, twice the size.
Besides, we could make money by selling pony rides to the neighborhood kids.