Maggie's Beach Games

We’ve been going to the beach with Maggie every morning since we got here and she’s developed quite a repertoire of games. Each day before we head off Maggie chooses her toy for the day from her collection. There’s a different game for each toy. The yellow kong with the tails is for throwing in the water, the Frisbee is for chasing along the sand, and for each of the balls there’s a specific activity. Here she is playing with the small soccer ball that Santa brought. The game with this one is volleyball—a great crowd pleaser at the beach. She’s unerring in returning the ball with her nose but doesn’t seem to have too much control over the direction it takes. Sometimes it goes straight up in the air and then she hits it again, and occasionally even a third time. You can see from the photos that Harry’s getting his exercise catching it and sending it back.


This morning we took a little rubber ball along and she developed a new game best played on a sloping beach when the tide’s gone out. She lies down at the top of the hill and lets the ball roll down into the waves. Then she runs into the water, grabs it and then heads back to the top to start again. We’re particularly fond of this game because it doesn’t involve us at all; she plays it all by herself.


Aside from the ball games, Maggie likes to make friends on the beach. She’ll play fetch with anyone who looks at her. Sometimes she’ll just go up and drop the ball in front of a child and get into her play bow pose. Very few can resist. And the tourists whose dogs are left at home really enjoy a visit with her too. We’ve met a lot of nice people this way.