Today we went for a walk on the beach

All of us, that is. Two adults, four kids, two pugs. It's one of those activities I saw ourselves doing as a family and having a lovely time together. Other families I've seen walking their dogs always look like they're having fun.

We were greeted on our arrival by the local rangers who had received complaints about dogs being let off their leads on a part of the beach that wasn't a leash-free area. They wanted to remind us that the leash-free part of the beach started 200 metres further down from where we were parked. As it turned out, we didn't let the dogs off their leads for the whole walk (except for one time when one of them escaped while Rosie was holding the lead). I think the complaint was probably directed at the owners of two enormous dogs (off their leashes) that the rangers couldn't see, but who we spotted hiding in the trees beside the walkway to the beach. It was a bit tempting to dob them in but we were kind and decided not to.

We forgot to check the tide times before we went and discovered we'd timed our arrival right on high tide. There were places where there wasn't a lot of beach left to walk on. The dogs weren't too keen on getting wet. They're pretty old dogs so they struggle to walk very far as well. I thought I might try and get them to move a bit faster so I started jogging (I didn't go out walking this morning so I wanted to jog a bit so I could feel like I'd done at least a few minutes of the moderate intensity exercise thing). The dog I was with at the time managed to jog for about ten metres before giving up. Towing him behind me didn't work too well because he just couldn't manage to move any faster. There went the jogging ambitions.

We probably tried to go just a little bit too far for the toddlers to cope with. One of them was riding on Daddy's shoulders. He hadn't had a morning sleep but he really needed one. For the last two hundred metres of our walk, his yelling was louder than the sound of the pounding waves. The other one whinged about wanting to go home for most of the way, although to give her some credit, she did stop and cheer up a little by the end of the walk, just as the one on Daddy's shoulders was getting started.

We've discovered that whenever we take them out, both our dogs like nothing more than finding the nearest patch of soft grass so they can get busy doing their business. One did it at the start of the walk. The other one did it as we were arriving back. Such a lovely way to start and end our family fun together. At least we remembered the plastic bags for the clean up. We've been caught without them before, but we know now that bags are a must have accessory to attach to the leash whenever we take them anywhere. As we were getting ready to drive home, I did mention to my husband that I wished we could get the dogs to go to the toilet before we leave home, the way you can get the kids to go. I might give it a go next time. They sometimes will go on command. But not very consistently.

All in all, it probably wasn't one of those beautiful moments of family fun that I'd visualised. It was okay. Maybe it will get better if we do it more often.

"Recent comments" has died

Blogger is telling me there are errors in it that cannot be fixed. Thanks for that, Blogger.

So I had a look at some of the other gadgets on offer to see what I could fill in the space with, and I found The Daily Puppy. Hope you find it entertaining. And I hope that it works.

New additions to our family

No, we're not having any more babies.

But a few months ago, I blogged about Hank and Gigi, the pugs we looked after for our friends while they were on holidays overseas.

Rosie and Gigi (Rosie in her glasses phase!)

As of yesterday, the dogs are back to live with us permanently. Our friends are going back to the US to live and the dogs are a bit too old (the dogs are siblings from different litters, and are 8 and 7 years old respectively) to safely make the plane trip back with them. So we have adopted them.

We do have one person who's not so excited about them, but most of the little folk here are very pleased about their return. I've caught Rowan trying to lie down in their bed several times already, which has been rather amusing. He only has one really definite word at this stage: "dog," and it is getting a good workout every time the dogs walk in or out of the house.

They are very well trained dogs and have endless patience with toddler fingers heading towards their eyes. I've never been a dog person. I would probably prefer a cat if I'm honest about my pet priorities. But Chris is allergic to cat hair, and he loves dogs, so I think I am going to have to change my thinking and get used to sweeping up dog hair on a very regular basis. They appear deceptively short-haired but they have already shed quite a lot of hair in the 24 hours they have been with us.

Difference between dogs and cats....

From here.

After our week of dog-sitting, I still prefer cats. They're more independent. But I think I could now live with a dog...perhaps one without bundles of energy, though!

Hank and Gigi

Our pug guests....

We're dog-sitting

Our friends' two pugs are staying with us this week. They arrived last night.

So far, they've been getting quite excited when approached by anyone so it's been hard to get a good photo of them. Hopefully later in the week they might calm down so I can get a few shots of the kids with them.

Everyone in our house is also pretty excited about them being here. Well, except for one person, who is showing dissent by refusing to come out of their room or get off the couch if the dogs are inside.

Sigh. I was hoping this could be a kind of trial run to work out whether we might be able to manage a dog as a more permanent pet in the future. Hoping the dissenter might come on board by the end of the week.

Same sex marriage is not allowed in Australia

And it should never be allowed. But apparently you are allowed to marry your dog. Read more here. And don't forget to check out the extensive photo gallery. They got married in Toowoomba, of all places. Not the same park Chris and I were married in, but one of the other big parks popular with marrying couples.

I don't think this can possibly be a legal marriage. The celebrant doesn't look legit to me. And I didn't see any photos of them signing documentation for the Marriages Register.

This is ridiculous. The dog is a PET. What happens when Joseph meets a woman? Does he then go for a quick divorce?

He is getting plenty of publicity out of all of this though, which is no doubt what he intended.

I have never moved house with a dog

So I can't relate to this.

But it is very funny nonetheless. I don't know Allie, but she has a gift for drawing cartoons, telling an amusing story...and attracting many many followers to her blog.

We've only ever moved with cats. We lost one of our cats when we moved down here. He freaked out and ran off. Although we had sightings we never could catch him again. I hope he found a new family to be friends with.

Reflections on Australians and their pets

Hot on the heels of this story from the Sydney Morning Herald about the opening of a restaurant for pets on Sydney's lower north shore (where else?) comes survey data that shows 80% of pet owners believe that their pet is more affectionate than their partner. Other findings from the survey by the Australian Companion Animal Council, reported in today's Sun-Herald, include the statistic that 70% of those surveyed believe their pet is more dependable than their partner. The story also claimed that pet ownership contributed more than $6 billion to the Australian economy last year, which I guess explains the rise of dog-washing franchises, pet clothing companies and of course, the restaurant on the north shore.

I'm all for pet ownership. We've had cats in the past, we currently have some very low maintenance hermit crabs (by the way, I don't believe they are more affectionate or dependable than my husband) and one day in the future, I think we'll probably go to the pound and find ourselves a dog.

But these survey findings are a bit scary. Do I think pets are affectionate? Of course, if we love them and take care of them. But it sounds from this survey as if people are looking to their pets to meet needs that can really only be met by human relationships, or, better still, by trusting in God.

The hermit crab community

In response to this post about pet escapees on one of the blogs that I've been following, I was reflecting on our history of pet ownership.

We had two cats before we had kids. I really liked the cats, maybe because their personality was similar to mine (ie. independent and rather selfish..) but Chris was allergic to cat hair so he was less keen. One of our cats was hit by a car and badly injured so he had to be put down, and the other one ran away during one of our moves and despite several sightings we couldn't catch him again.

So now we have hermit crabs. We started with five around eighteen months ago and that number then worked its way down to one earlier this year. I'm not sure why the others died, they didn't all go at the same time so it could have been any number of reasons. Having read in a library book I borrowed about hermit crabs that they like company, a month or so ago we bought another two so that Dora (the Explorer...she likes to climb things...and no, we don't know her gender, that's just an arbitrary decision) would have some new friends.

Her response to the new arrivals was to bury herself in the gravel for a couple of weeks. For a couple of the previous guys that was the beginning of the end, but since they do also bury themselves to molt and change shells we weren't sure what she was up to. Just before we went away she reappeared and now seems to be bonding very well with the new residents. I keep seeing her climbing around and following one of them which is slightly cute to watch.

Good things about crabs are that they tend to be fairly placid, they don't eat and drink much (although the new pair are proving to be exceptionally good at filling the water dishes with gravel, digging underneath them and turning them over) and generally they don't escape. Except when forgetful owners (me) leave the lid off their home...Fortunately we found the one that managed to get out...but only because we heard its shell bouncing as it tried to negotiate the stairs.

I like having pets. Chris is keen on having a dog but I think that a dog needs lots more work than crabs do. He would also love a big aquarium full of African cichlids. He had one when I first met him and I did think those fish were pretty cool. They had heaps of personality as well as being pretty to look at. Maybe the time has come to expand the pet family again...