Carbón's Big Adventure (aka Labratour Part IV)

That's definitely a look of bliss!

 

Yesterday at the ADANA art show, Carbon was in his element - he is, without a doubt, just as much of a party animal as Brogan ever was. He can WORK a crowd.

Today, however, it was all about Paul. He LOVES the beach, especially digging for shells and anything dead and (in his judgement) edible. The longer it's been dead, the better.

My favorite beach - where it's usually just me and the cows - has been hit by a mid-May tourist wave, so it wasn't so idyllic. With the amount of people, I didn't dare let Carbon off leash or he would have been in everyone's picnic baskets, real or imagined.

I'm still messing with the art show photos, so in the meanwhile a couple from today...

Posing with Africa in the background...


Maybe it's the angle, but Carbon's diet seems to have stalled.



"Me encanta la playa!" - a smiley dog face is good for what ails you.

 

Hoping it's the angle!

Sigh...that beach looks perfect...

 

Must be! His head can’t possibly be that small in relation to his bum... can it?!

 

I would love a beach like that where I live

 

I was thinking Carbon was looking great!

 

Nah, it's just the angle.

He does have another couple kilos to either lose or shift over into muscle. Muscle is really the main issue now. I think even super lean he'll always have a bit of a bubble butt (if you'll excuse the expression), but he could surprise me. Body-wise, he so reminds me of a little mini-me version of Casper. And as we all know how much I love Casper, you can take that to mean that Carbon is quite the handsome fellow.

Physically Carbon is really making strides - even leaping between my two sofas yesterday in yet another bid to copy Paul. What we need now is a solid recall so that I can let him off lead and let him have a good free run. I was doing that a bit, but he's gotten much more confident and went way too far (with Paul no less) and scared the pants of me, so now I'm being much more cautious. Also we've finally gotten good weather and with it now hitting mid-May, the beaches are getting more populated...which for Carbon means picnic raiding. So reason number two that his off leash opportunities are very limited.

All situations are about to change in the next couple weeks but overall Carbon is making leaps and bounds with his health and hopefully that will continue. No one mistakes him for an oldster anymore and he got a ton of compliments at the art show. The Spanish may still avoid him like the plague, but get him into a group of Brits and he becomes the star. Which makes me optimistic that Kate at I have chosen Carbon's final geographical destination quite well!

Bolonia just north of Tarfia - best beach I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. Even has Roman ruins and an amphitheatre along with what they say is Spain's largest sand dune. And cows right on the beach - which may not be a plus, but is certainly interesting.

 

Lovely boys...
Meanwhile in other news, I saw this and (of course) immediately thought of Snr Garfield.

 

Oh, poor forgotten Garfi. Well, first of all, he got neutered last week. No problems at all, but it didn't improve his disposition any. We had to scrap the baby gate at his door idea because the weather has finally turned warm and I need to leave the windows/doors open to get some air. We also scrapped the nighttime freedom thing because he was coming to the (closed) bedroom door, sticking his paw under and driving the dogs nutballs. So....poor little Garfi is on 24/7 lockdown and is NOT happy.

What is happy is that he'll be going to a new foster home tonight or tomorrow. One of Miry's fosterers has a space following a successful adoption, so she will take him. This fosterer is known for doing great with hard cases...kind of like a 'kitty whisperer'. After a suitable intro period, he'll also have free run of the house and interaction with the other cats, if he wants. Then, fingers crossed, on to a new home.

In summary, hopefully Garfi's solitary confinement and subsequent ragey personality will soon be a thing of the past!

 

Ah Garfield - you lose your crown jewels, but gain your freedom. It's a fair exchange, mate.

 

You're just on fire today!

 

Good luck Garfield

 

Bail bonds?

Or bail bonbons?

 

Are you not keeping Carbon?

 

There's a reply to this involving "ball and chain" somewhere but I can't quite get it....

 

The short answer is 'yes' because Carbon will stay with me as a foster - with the excellent @Beanwood crew as backup and advisors - until he finds his forever family.

We're going to be Labratouring our way to Germany together - likely via Sweden, or maybe Sicily? - at the beginning of June.

 

It's funny, I haven't really thought about the black dog thing before. I don't think anyone treats Willow any differently to the others on the rare occasions we see people. But maybe because she just keeps to herself. I have been thinking, though, and I hardly ever see black dogs around here or in Andorra.

Shadow always gets commented on when I'm out with him. Spanish people seem very drawn to him for some reason. Well, other than the fact he's the most handsome boy there ever was.

 

Big mainly white/yellow dogs get more attention and are assumed to be more friendly, that's for sure.

But yes, Shadow IS the handsomest.

Carbon gets positively gushed over by the Brits in any situation and I've had a few positive comments from Spanish, but then mainly when he's wearing his bandana. When he doesn't wear it - beach trips with Paul where it would just get bitten off - people give him a much wider berth.

And no one notices Paul at all. SO many Bodegueros here, it would be like noticing a leaf on the ground. But of course I think he is unique and bee-EW-tee-ful.

 

Today's outing was a bit 'third time's the charm'. Or at least we got out of the car for more than 5 minutes on the third try. As we've just started having decent weather, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it's mid May already. And that means a lot more tourists and a lot of 'no dogs' signs going up on my favourite haunts.

The other thing with the sudden change in temperature is that I need to remember DO NOT BE OUTSIDE FROM 1pm to 6pm. So when did we get started today? 1pm. Ugh. I'm a dufus.

First stop: historic Trafalgar lighthouse. But paid parking was in force and so were the dog police. On a Monday? Escandalo! Ok, on to the next...

Second stop: Caños de Meca hippy beach town. Free parking? Score! Entrance to the stairway down to the beach? No 'no dogs sign? Score! But at the bottom of what felt like five flights of windy stairs, there it was: big old 'no dogs' sign and clearly no dogs amongst the sunbathers. Ok, back UP the stairs and on to the next...

Third stop: Barbate Nature Park. We'd been there before and I knew it was too hot for the beautiful trail that hugs right along the cliffs over the ocean. Bummer. Instead we tried to pine forest route. This shows you how much I love my pups, because I am not a fan of trees. Yes, I'm the only person I know who is tree-phobic. Individually, I love them. Stick them together in a foresty manner? Gives me the creeps. But there was free parking, a nice 'dogs welcome on leash' sign and lots of shade on a 31 degree day. Here we go!

Turns out both dogs LOVED the forrest. So many great smells and little animals to chase (or pretend to chase). I told Paul there were TONS of these 'tree places' in Germany and all Germans are crazy about dragging their dogs into them on the weekends, so he will totally love his new country. Carbon liked it too, but not with quite Paul's passion. For it to be perfect for Carbon, there would have needed to be more people. Preferably people with picnic baskets.

Technically it was only 4km in total, but Carbon kept having to take rest breaks. I don't know how serious these were, truth be told. The first two, I let him sit as long as he wanted and offered him water. Paul was very patient and licked Carbon's face in concern. When I tried to give him a big rest once we got to the ocean lookout, he just wanted to keep walking. Then back in the forest he plopped down again about midway and frankly it looked a bit dire. I had visions of a heart attack or aneurism. Instead of standing and waiting, I sat down next to him and let him lay in my lap. It was really worrying. What was wrong with my poor Carbon?

Then next to us, Paul starts to dig a hole in the sandy dirt. I mean, concern for one's fellow dog can only last so long, right? Might as well have fun while Carbon is dying right next to him. Heartless little twerp. Whack, whack, the dirt was hitting Carbon's backside. Suddenly Carbon leaps up, gets right in the same hole as Paul and starts digging like a fiend. As I looked on speechless, he finished up the digging and trotted off down the path, right as rain.

Carbon, you faking faker.

Anyway, I guess I'll have to sort Carbon's psychology out one of these days, but for right now, I've got two tired and happy pups snoring on the sofa. Time to get me some good puppy cuddles!

First of many drink breaks...


That's a lot of trees and one droopy Carboncito (and a perky Paul)...


We made it to the tower! And today we can watch...


...the cows which seem to have taken over the coastal path. Bummer!


But we can still see the ocean...


And even the annual tuna fishing...


Then it was time to turn back and more rest breaks for Carbon!

 

Tatze would be just the same, black dog = hot dog.

You are doing the right thing, plenty of shade, drinks and rests.

Great photos.