The Problem with Miles being so fit
OK so after our vet visit, we trekked off to the beach for a little fun & exercise. I have been using a Chuck It Ball thrower for a while now, but I found a nice doggy toy that is about twice as big as a tennis ball and had a spot I could tie a rope to.

The idea being that I could essentially use it like a Chuck It, giving the “ball” extra momentum to get it out into the water further.

OK, let me back up for a second. Remember when I was telling how it’s almost impossible to get Miles sore anymore? Still true as I write this. The swimming in the waves though takes some work, so I try to get him to the beach to at least try and wear him out often as I can. I was using a buoy of sorts for a while, but it was light and didn’t go far enough out into the water. Tried some sticks, but they would either not last, or give me splinters, or both. I was trying to avoid tennis balls, because honestly, with all the rough water & waves, it’s hard enough for me to see the ball, I can only imagine for the dog, right?

But nothing else seemed to be going out far enough, so I broke down & bought the Chuck It. It’s been working pretty well as far as getting the target out into the deeper waters, but the problem is it’s also rougher out there, and if Miles loses track of the ball, he retreats back to shallow waters to try and find it. And eventually, the ball shows up in the shallow waters, so thus Miles never actually gets a wave-centric workout.

So today with the rope-a-dope toy made & ready, we went to the waves to see what we could do. Verdict?

Well it seems like it’s going to be 6 of one, half-dozen of the other no matter what. I just can’t huck it as far as I can the ball on the stick. BUT, Miles can see it, and also it tends to stay ‘out’ in the deeper areas longer, so Miles can go and get it. I just have to get it out there.

So it seems my choices are either a small ball that goes out far, but carries a large chance that Miles simply won’t be able to track it, or a larger ball that will not go as far, but Miles can easily track. No toy seems to exist that will satisfy both my concerns.

I really need like a shoulder-fired bazooka launcher. Put the big ball in and send it out 50 yards or something.



How Awesome is Miles? Let me count the ways…
Anyway, I told you that story so I could tell you this one:

In the middle of getting him his wave-centric workout, I managed to get the ball-on-a-rope out pretty damned far, into a nice sized swell (after which I ran back to shore to keep dry). Miles took off after it, and decided to take on a rather large crashing wave all by his lonesome. It was rather big and rather harsh, and as Miles was being tossed around and pulled under & back, I thought to myself “I hope his collar doesn’t come off him again.” It had happened before, by the way. Collars can get expensive, especially with tags attached. Anyway, sure enough Miles’ head pops up after a few seconds, and what do I see out in the distance, some 40 yards out in the crashing waves? A black dog, holding a black collar in his mouth.

Yes, My Miles is so stupendously awesome, that in the middle of being tossed around by a wave so violent that it took the collar off from around his neck, he had the sense to grab his own collar out of the turbulent waters and carry it back.

Of course, it’s not like the collar came off so he gave up on the ball-on-a-rope. Nope, with his collar in mouth, he tredged out to the ball, & grabbed that too. Then brought them both back to me.

Miles can NEVER die. I won’t allow it. It cannot be. The earth will cease to spin ‘round the sun should that day come. He’s just too amazing.

Peace.

Tags: Animals