These past 6 months have been a whirl wind, and little Amelia came to us just as things began to get crazy. Despite being a half sibling, she is the polar opposite of Winston, full of immense sass, a fierce independence, and more unbridled energy than the energizer bunny on 17 red bulls. Saying she has been a challenge to train is an understatement, especially when she rarely shows her affection and fights every opportunity to relax and trust me. I have never been this challenged with a dog and to work with her requires an vast amount of patience and time. This, paired with my frantic photography schedule, I haven’t had the opportunity to take her on a solo adventure and capture quality images of her. Until this week.
As the lake continues to brews up more heavy cloud cover, we ventured across the dunes to the beach. Amelia is only 6 months old, and has yet to learn how to swim. She is adventuresome and willing to stomp through puddles and the remains of waves, but as soon as the waves hiss their bubbly words, she scampers back to dry land.
She runs, lickety-split across the beach, picking up speed on the exposed sand and confusingly spinning circles on the windblown ice. She made sure to come clammer up on my legs to tell me about her disapproval of the ice. And then she was off again!
The beach gifts me the peace of mind in that Amelia can release her inner psycho and run rampant while still in sight. It however, doesn’t provide Amelia with enough mental enrichment as the effervescent dune grass does. So up to the dunes we climbed. She of course had to be strictly supervised and told a firm NO when she decided that she was going to try to superman off the tall dune ledge to the beach below. She protested and continued to push her luck with me allowing her to slide down the ledge. We finally found a safe area, and with my permission, she bunny hopped her way down the dune. Then quickly decided it wasn’t as much fun when I don’t bound down after her, so back up the dune she scampered to sit by my side.
With Amelia, it’s all about the small wins, and by the end of the hike, she voluntarily heeled by my side. It only lasted a few minutes, but for her to offer up a moment to settle her soul and bond, made me smile. Until tomorrow sweet hellion.
