We just got back from our vacation on Saturday, and we're already ready for next year's!
We had a great time at Myrtle Beach, as always. This is our 3rd trip there (went in 2009, 2010, and then went to the Outer Banks in 2011, but everyone preferred Myrtle Beach, so back to MB for 2012), but this was the first time we brought Lerwick along. We weren't sure how it would work out... whether he'd like the beach, whether he'd drive everybody else crazy (it's a big family vacation... and one person is not terribly fond of dogs/pets... or so he CLAIMED, but we'll cover that point later). Well, it worked out great. Lerwick LOVED the beach (not so crazy about the waves chasing him, but he had no problem chasing them back out to sea), and he was pretty well-behaved, thankfully. Not too barky, for the most part... and the guy who supposedly dislikes dogs? Well, he wouldn't stop sneaking Lerwick food. Lerwick took to lying in front of John's door, waiting for John to walk out to get a snack and "drop" some of it on the floor before darting back into his room before anybody could scold him for it.
The house we were renting didn't have a fenced yard (or even any grass... all decorative pebbles), so we made sure to visit a local dog park to let Lerwick have some off-leash exercise, which he thoroughly enjoyed... especially the part where he jumped into the man-made lake at the dog park.
Note to self: when gut instinct says "keep dog on leash, dog will jump in lake" but husband says "dog won't jump in lake, off-leash is fine..." IGNORE HUSBAND. Mike took the leash off him, and he took off in a mad dash straight for the lake, and dove right in. Jumped out just as quickly. I think he was expecting it to be shallow, like the beach (but without those annoying waves). Yeah... not so much. He didn't smell too nice after that. 
Fortunately, I had brought his grooming kit with us, just in case... so he had a nice bath when we got back to the beach house.
Oh, well... at least he was nice and clean when we got to meet Dawn & Hartley on Friday!
Hartley is just too adorable... but he was a little too talkative and rambunctious for Lerwick.
Dawn's friend Carol also came over, with her Sheltie, Winston. It was a hoot watching Hartley and Winston tear around Dawn's yard. Lerwick just sort of hung around the edges and watched. You could tell he kind of wanted to join in... but he just wasn't brave enough. What Lerwick REALLY wanted was for Hartley and Winston to chase each other in the house, and leave the yard and the blue kickball all to him! Lerwick loves nothing more than to herd a kickball around... but he's not brave enough to try it when other dogs are running around him. It's the same way at the dog park. He is Lerwick the Cowardly Sheltie.
Of course, the next time he meets Hartley or Winston, he will forget he was ever scared of them. That's just how he is. He needs to meet every dog twice. The first time, they're scary. The second time, they're his long-lost bestest buddy.
Dawn was kind enough to measure Lerwick for me, with a proper wicket and everything, so now I know that he is officially 16.5". The last time I tried to measure him, he was 8 months old, and I got 16.25"... but I was not sure how accurate it was, since I was using a very awkward method of trying to hold him still against a doorway with one hand, and using the other hand to hold a pencil flat on his shoulders to mark the doorway behind him, and then measure the distance between the pencil mark and the floor. Not the easiest way to measure, but I guess it was reasonably accurate after all.
Our little Sheltie Meet & Greet at Dawn's was a great way to end the vacation. It was lovely meeting Dawn and Stan, and Carol, and of course Hartley and Winston. Attached is a picture of the three Shelties, and you can find more vacation pics of Lerwick (and lots of great pics of Hartley and Winston) here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v511/neonmike22/Myrtle Beach 2012/Lerwick/
We had a great time at Myrtle Beach, as always. This is our 3rd trip there (went in 2009, 2010, and then went to the Outer Banks in 2011, but everyone preferred Myrtle Beach, so back to MB for 2012), but this was the first time we brought Lerwick along. We weren't sure how it would work out... whether he'd like the beach, whether he'd drive everybody else crazy (it's a big family vacation... and one person is not terribly fond of dogs/pets... or so he CLAIMED, but we'll cover that point later). Well, it worked out great. Lerwick LOVED the beach (not so crazy about the waves chasing him, but he had no problem chasing them back out to sea), and he was pretty well-behaved, thankfully. Not too barky, for the most part... and the guy who supposedly dislikes dogs? Well, he wouldn't stop sneaking Lerwick food. Lerwick took to lying in front of John's door, waiting for John to walk out to get a snack and "drop" some of it on the floor before darting back into his room before anybody could scold him for it.
The house we were renting didn't have a fenced yard (or even any grass... all decorative pebbles), so we made sure to visit a local dog park to let Lerwick have some off-leash exercise, which he thoroughly enjoyed... especially the part where he jumped into the man-made lake at the dog park.
Note to self: when gut instinct says "keep dog on leash, dog will jump in lake" but husband says "dog won't jump in lake, off-leash is fine..." IGNORE HUSBAND. Mike took the leash off him, and he took off in a mad dash straight for the lake, and dove right in. Jumped out just as quickly. I think he was expecting it to be shallow, like the beach (but without those annoying waves). Yeah... not so much. He didn't smell too nice after that. Fortunately, I had brought his grooming kit with us, just in case... so he had a nice bath when we got back to the beach house. Oh, well... at least he was nice and clean when we got to meet Dawn & Hartley on Friday!
Hartley is just too adorable... but he was a little too talkative and rambunctious for Lerwick.
Dawn's friend Carol also came over, with her Sheltie, Winston. It was a hoot watching Hartley and Winston tear around Dawn's yard. Lerwick just sort of hung around the edges and watched. You could tell he kind of wanted to join in... but he just wasn't brave enough. What Lerwick REALLY wanted was for Hartley and Winston to chase each other in the house, and leave the yard and the blue kickball all to him! Lerwick loves nothing more than to herd a kickball around... but he's not brave enough to try it when other dogs are running around him. It's the same way at the dog park. He is Lerwick the Cowardly Sheltie. Of course, the next time he meets Hartley or Winston, he will forget he was ever scared of them. That's just how he is. He needs to meet every dog twice. The first time, they're scary. The second time, they're his long-lost bestest buddy.
Dawn was kind enough to measure Lerwick for me, with a proper wicket and everything, so now I know that he is officially 16.5". The last time I tried to measure him, he was 8 months old, and I got 16.25"... but I was not sure how accurate it was, since I was using a very awkward method of trying to hold him still against a doorway with one hand, and using the other hand to hold a pencil flat on his shoulders to mark the doorway behind him, and then measure the distance between the pencil mark and the floor. Not the easiest way to measure, but I guess it was reasonably accurate after all.
Our little Sheltie Meet & Greet at Dawn's was a great way to end the vacation. It was lovely meeting Dawn and Stan, and Carol, and of course Hartley and Winston. Attached is a picture of the three Shelties, and you can find more vacation pics of Lerwick (and lots of great pics of Hartley and Winston) here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v511/neonmike22/Myrtle Beach 2012/Lerwick/
