Kiki & Bug

Sometimes there’s nothing like a spontaneous day trip to the beach. Luckily, growing up in Houston, we were never more than an hour and a half drive to satisfy our craving to be near the ocean. I have been to Galveston several times over the years. When I was a kid we used to Galveston or Rockport to fish or just spend some family time on the water. After months of quarantine, my boyfriend I decided why not just take a quick day trip down to the coast, so we did! It worked out as a bonus because Lola (Bug) had never been to the beach and we saw it as the perfect opportunity to try and convert her into a water dog. She had other thoughts about our trip I think…

The first few minutes after we arrived I could tell Bug was super excited because she realized we had reached our destination. As we approached the walkway that led us down to the water she soon realized how hot that sand can get and her poor paws were not having it. She just kept looking up at me and Arzhang wondering why we weren’t saving her from this hot sand she was walking in. Eventually, I got the hint and picked her little diva butt up. This whole predicament did get me thinking though. I’m considering buying her water shoes for the next trip… too much? And if it’s not overboard should I create and market such dog shoes? Thoughts? Anyway I digress… As soon as we got onto the beach she had her tongue out and smile in full effect. She was living her best life and definitely seemed overjoyed to be somewhere besides my apartment and the park we visit on a daily basis. Lola Bug is a mini schnauzer and if you know anything at all about schnauzers then you know they have beards. You can’t deny how adorable and often impractical their cute little beards are. It’s just impossible. As she sniffed around trying to get a feel for her new surroundings, she kept getting sand caught in her beard and then when she went to drink water from her water bowl she inevitably would get sand in the bowl and drink it… so lets just say, she ingested quite a bit of sand. But if there was any doubt, this assumption became painfully apparent when I turned around to see her spitting it up. Quite dramatically I might add, like the true southern girl she is. Bless her heart.

Then the exciting part came. The water! We ran to the shore with her and being as hot as that day was I think she welcomed the idea of getting some water on her. Lola, of course, thought the Gulf of Mexico was the perfect water bowl. Little did she know, that water was filled with tons of salt. Again, back to the gagging and spitting up phase of our trip. But she was a trooper and she would do it a couple more times that day just to make sure she was right and there was actually salt in that water.

• 

• 

Overall, the trip was a success. Lola had fun playing in the water and I didn’t pass out from heat exhaustion. That’s what I call a win-win situation.

Till next time, y’all

-Kristen Jean