‘Are we there yet?’

Our trip to the beach on Saturday sort of went well except that Brutus shouted to anyone that would listen and anyone that wouldn’t that he was being murdered and tortured and how on earth could the other dogs enjoy running into the ocean with such passion?

Rocky was severely pissed off because he wanted to go swimming but we didn’t let him as he needs one of us to go in with him. He is such a strong swimmer he can out swim us and normally has to be dragged back to shore screaming and kicking in a full blown kelpie temper tantrum.

‘This is your fault I can’t go swimming, I am going to bash you for this!’ Rocky sneered at Brutus who was trembling at the sound of the Corellas in the trees above him.

(sounds of a dirty evil human laugh)

‘What the hell was that?’ I asked Abdel – seriously, this laugh was evil and very loud.

‘Parrots’ Abdel replied and nodded towards the tree where this white cockatoo was on a low branch and sure enough was laughing loudly. Another one in the tree was shouting ‘hello’ repeatedly, I can only assume they were once pets or extremely imprinted with human contact.

Still it was somewhat amusing hearing parrots laugh and say ‘Hello’ to you.

‘Bloody hell – a talking bird, that is so not normal!’ Brutus cried.

‘Bloody hell, a talking dog!’ The Corella shouted to his mate in the next tree.

‘Oi, long legs! Whatcha doin’?’ One of the parrots shouted to Brutus.

Brutus looked up and sighted a Corella smoking a fag from his branch – and that bit is true, you ask Abdel.

‘Yeah, I am talkin’ to you’ The Corella said in a strong Aussie accent.

Brutus looked up in shock and then at Rocky for support. ‘Don’t look so surprised, all animals can talk’ Rocky said; momentarily breaking out of his ‘I want the ocean’ kind of trance.

We carried on walking, well I say that, it was quite hard as Brutus suddenly found his legs too big for him and kept tripping up over his huge paws.

‘Who on earth gave me these legs and paws, they just don’t fit!’ Brutus said fretfully as he tried so hard to walk normally like Rocky does.

It is however, quite funny leash training a puppy, Brutus follows Rocky’s lead and Rocky becomes a bit ‘special needs’ when he gets to the beach as he lives for the ocean.

‘Must get into the ocean, must get into the ocean, where is my tennis ball, must get into the ocean’ The little black kelpie dog said in almost robotic fashion while dragging Abdel across the pavement.

Then he started sideways prancing like a badly coordinated racehorse and tripping over his legs. When he finally composed himself and realised that the parrots were not going to kill him, he decided that having everyone look at him and smile at him because he looked cute was actually quite nice.

‘Are you here to see me? Oh how kind of you’ Brutus said happily to everyone that looked at him. His long clumsy legs and large paws kept tripping him up which made people laugh and one guy even went up to him and gave him a kiss and a cuddle. Mind you, he appeared off his face on dope judging by the smell coming from his van but still, he showered Brutus with hugs and kisses which made Brutus truly believe that everyone was on the beach purely for him.

When we got to the beach Brutus looked totally horrified and terrified at the same time. The waves crashed onto the beach, lots of other dogs happily ran into the ocean, barking and chasing toys.

‘Oh let me swim!’ Rocky pleaded and when we told him he couldn’t on this occasion, he launched into a stream of abusive words that included ‘Turd legs’ and ‘Twattage’ – which is very rude indeed even for Rocky.

‘Tsunami, we are all going to be swept away!’ Brutus shouted hysterically as a wave came near his paws.

‘Bloody girl dog, look at ya!’ A large bull Arab sniggered and then came too close to Brutus and sniffed his arse which angered Rocky somewhat.

‘First time on the beach?’ A Labradoodle bitch asked Rocky whilst nodding in the direction of Brutus.

Rocky sighed and said yes, it was his first time on the beach and he was embarrassing the hell out of him.

We managed to walk up and down the beach once before Brutus threw himself on the sand and refused to walk any more on grounds that the waves were sent to sweep him away and make him sink to the bottom of the ocean to swim with the fishes – he had seen the film ‘Godfather’, or was it ‘Dogfather’? Either way, he wanted to get away from the water and pronto.

A reluctant Rocky was dragged away from the ocean leaving his doggy friends looking on in dismay that he wouldnt be staying to swim with them.

‘Call me!’ Mouthed the bull Arab to Rocky and did the phone gesture with his paws – you know the one I mean, humans do it as well.

Shrugging his shoulders, Rocky smiled apologetically and said to the Labradoodle ‘See you next week?’

The Labradoodle blew him a kiss and said that yes, she would see him next week but only if obedience class was cancelled.

We all made our way to South Beach cafe where Brutus made friends with a whippet bitch called Poppy. He was really quite taken in with the skinny little dog with a snout so pointy it could almost be a weapon, and washed her ears for her and did some ‘puppy munching’ by the side of her mouth and she in turn, loved him back.

It all got too much for Rocky, the frustration of not being able to swim and everything and when Brutus put a paw on Rockys back which he does all the time at home, Rocky snapped and really told the little pup off and actually displayed teeth.

‘Do not show me up in front of my mates!’ Rocky snarled at Brutus who blushed and his head creased into a worried frown. Sighing in a way that only a reprimanded dog can, Brutus sank to the floor and made eyes at Poppy to try and get sympathy – Poppy looked back and pulled an expression that told Brutus ‘Putting ones paw on another dogs back in public is not cool’

The South Beach canine crew were quite interested to see Rocky’s new brother and agreed that whilst he is far too young to bother with, he could make for an interesting friend when he is older but only if he gets over his girly fear of water.

(Don’t tell Rocky I told you but Rocky used to have a fear of water – even the smallest amount and now he is the finest swimmer South of the River).

When we got home Brutus was exhausted and went straight to his crate to sleep. Later on when I fed the dogs, I heard him talking to Rocky.

Rocky and Brutus discuss their fears

‘Rocky, I shall never be brave enough to go in the water’

Rocky who was half asleep on his bed took a deep breath and replied ‘You will one day I promise’.

‘Rocky’ Brutus asked again.

‘Yes Brutus’ Rocky was being ever so patient with him.

‘I bet you don’t know what it is like to be scared of water’ Brutus said, his voice wobbled, he was going to cry. So many new things, so many naughty things that were easier to do than behaving, so many distractions and so much to learn, he was thoroughly overwhelmed by life itself.

The shiny black kelpie (beetle dog) glanced at Brutus thoughtfully. Little did Brutus know that when Rocky came to us with a damaged hip caused by someone kicking him, plus he came to us with a phobia of water that was so severe that it could only be explained by someone punishing him and scaring him so badly using water that Rocky couldnt even have the stuff near him.

‘Yeah, I know what it is like to be scared and I know what it is like to not be scared if that makes sense’ Rocky said quietly.

Brutus stared at Rocky and placed his head on his front paws to sleep.

‘Yep, that makes perfect sense’ Brutus replied.

And with that, both dogs went to sleep.

Happy Easter everyone.

Samantha Rose (C) Copyright 2013