Every September, Greyhound Crossroads hosts Beach Bound Hounds. It is a fun gathering at a conference center in Myrtle Beach right on the beach. Although there are lots of things to do, what my pack loves about it is walking on the beach. There are group sunrise walks but many of us do night walks too. My human wears a fitbit and we were averaging just over 7 miles a day while we were there in 2011.
We often see lots of local friends there. The founder of our local dog walking club, Trailhounds, has a large pack of dogs herself. The Holly Springs Hounds. Our humans like each other and our packs mesh instantly after a quick sniff. The only thing they have a problem with is why did we name Cookie Cookie? They get so confused looking for a cookie when they hear her name. And yes, I do hang out with the members waiting at the bridge now – Bullet, Baby Greanbean, Waldo, Babyruth, and Butters.
So it was a beautiful night after two days of rain. We decided to go for a walk with the Holly Springs Hounds on the beach in the moonlight, heading south. It was a very nice night but there were a lot of people fishing so we were walking up on the sand and not near the water.
If you know anything at all about greyhounds, we tend to be really quiet. Even when you have a thousand or so standing together, there may be one weirdo who is barking their head off, but everyone is silent.
There was a man fishing with a large open cooler. I could smell him over all the smells of the ocean from a good distance away. The wind had started to pick up again as another storm was off the coast so we could barely talk to one another but this man was carrying on screaming at who knows what. As we got closer, in his drunken stupor, he started to yell at my human for letting me and the rest of the hounds scare away all the fish. I know, back when greyhounds used to roam the wild, before we knew you had couches, we would fish the open seas. There is nothing more impressive than a pack of wild and wooly greyhounds bringing home a great white shark for dinner for all to share. But I really doubt the fish paid any mind to us quietly walking down the beach.
While the tipsy fisherman tried to pick a fight with my human, I noticed his cooler was open and had to go investigate. One of the things about walking on the beach is that there is nothing to mark. You go miles and miles and it is just sand. All the dunes are fenced in so not many targets to tag. The cooler was the perfect height for me to tell the world I was here. We had been walking for over a mile and I was quiet full too so I painted the inside walls of the cooler, covered his fish in a delightful splatter, tagged each and every beer, and finally put my signature on the outside of the cooler. Although not a masterpiece, I was quite proud of my work.
My human saw what I was doing but didn’t want to attract any more attention from this man as she was a little afraid for our safety so she didn’t say a word to me. She apologized to him for chasing away all the fish, then wished him luck, and he finally disengaged. With the wind on our backs, we headed back to the hotel, not sure how bad we should feel yet overcome with the giggles while wondering how many beers did it take before he noticed what that funny taste was?
The rest of the weekend, we only headed north on the beach, never south.
Nixon!!! This story is a real belly-laugher! A dog’s gotta do what a dog’s gotta do. I didn’t know that greyhounds tend to be silent. Thanks for putting me on notice that a greyhound could sneak up on me anytime.
Kerren
Greyhounds with silenced tags are stealth puppies. We can bark, we will bark, but most of us won’t bark. My humans taught Miss Kitty to bark and then she never shut up so they had to teach her how to whisper.
I love to sing or ROOO! We end BBH with a ROOO! A couple of humans will start the Roo and then everyone else will join. Hundreds of hounds singing the song of their people. It is beautiful, sometimes eerie, but always comes from deep in the soul.
I’ll have to post video of our vocal talents one day.
Great story Nixon. Thank you for sharing it 🙂 7 miles that is a lot of miles in one day. I love the fact that Greyhounds are so stealthy (I know that isn’t a word) but it fits. 🙂
xoxoxox
Michelle & Angel Sassy
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stealthy
I did not do 7 miles as a front leg tripawd! I was just starting to limp at this BBH but my tumor didn’t show up on xrays until 2013. There is still a bit of debate on if I could have had cancer for 18 months or if I just had multiple injuries to that leg. I didn’t limp on grass or sand but would on hardwoods and pavement.
I just love reading about your adventures! They make us all smile! 🙂
The visuals you painted were hilarious!!! OMD!! All the dogs going nuts when they hear “Cookie”….the man drinking Bud Light Pee Beer…the visual of Greyhounds surfing the seas for fish…using his fish bucket as a fire hydrant…LOVE IT ALL!!! Remember when your humans set up a P-Mail for you in the yard?? I bet you thought about that fish bucket every time you peed!
It’s sooooo good to hear from you sweet boy!
Have your mom check out the forums. Weve had some Greys join the community and I’m sure her insight woukd be helpful.
Oh, and ask your Mom to update us on Tex and Cookie when she can.
Gosh…one morr thi g for your mom! Will Greyhound Rocks be doing an event like last year?
Lots and lots of love! We think about you so often and it just delights the heck out of us when you blog!!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Sally, you have no idea how funny it is to see Diesel getting emotional about not getting a cookie. He’s trying to not be upset but he is always convinced that there has to be something more than just a dog. My pack, we all know the difference between a cookie and Cookie but for dogs outside our pack, they find it confusing.
My human will check out the forums today. There has been a lot of construction at the house lately and she hasn’t been at a computer much.
Tex and Cookie are still getting to know each other. There is another story you’ll have to hear from here at the Bridge before Tex gets his introduction. I wanted to make you all laugh because I might make you cry again. Sundance’s story, the dog my human could not save, might make you cry and/or get you angry at people. There were a lot of us here that wanted to influence who the next dog was for the pack and Sundance was very firm about giving Tex a chance even with his history.
Don’t know if Greyhounds Rock is going to do that again. You need to ask them!
Love you too Sally and all of your pack.
Ohhhh my gosh that is a great story Ingrid! You have such a way with words. It was like we were there watching him do the deed. Pretty funny!
I’m not sure about GRF doing that particular event but for sure the Tripawds members in VA will get together again.