Bashir, Sisko, and Toby walk at the harbor

Oceanside, Calif. is a mid-sized city just south of the US Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. For most of its history, Oceanside was defined by the Marines. There were bars galore, tattoo parlors, strip clubs and other businesses that catered to young men away from home. In the last twenty years, however, the city has grown up. At the same time, the Marine Corps has taught their young men different manners, too, so the base and the town now get along fairly well.

Although still known for its proximity to the base, Oceanside is now also known for its harbor. A small but nicely protected harbor, there are slips for boats of all sizes, from kayaks to yachts.

It’s also a great place to walk. From one tip to the other and back is about three and a half miles. It’s one of my favorite places to socialize puppies because there are a variety of sights, smells, sounds, and people for puppies to meet. About eight months ago (give or take) I took Sisko for a walk at the harbor soon after Paul and I adopted him. Sisko was born and raised to the age of five months on a dairy goat ranch in the mountains east of Tucson, Arizona. It was major culture shock when I took him for a walk at sea level at a harbor that opens to the Pacific ocean.

But now Sisko gets to be the old hand. My friend and fellow trainer at Kindred Spirits Dog Training, Melissa, has an English Shepherd puppy named Toby. Recently Melissa and I took Bashir, Sisko, and Toby for a walk at the harbor. There was some uncertainty in the beginning, but soon Toby had decided the very best place to walk was alongside Sisko. Even better, if he could, he’d walk in between Bashir and Sisko. His whole attitude said, “I’m with my friends!”

During our walk, the dogs heard sea lions barking. Bashir is calm about such things and although Sisko perked up at the sound, he opted not to go searching for the source of the barking as he did months ago. Toby heard the noise, listened, looked at Bashir and Sisko, and continued walking. Good boy!

The dogs watched sea gulls, saw a pelican on the rocks, heard the boats creaking and groaning as the tide came in, and saw surfers out on the waves. The harbor has a small restaurant area and as we walked the dogs past, one gentleman pushed his plate of fish and chips close to the edge of the table. As I told my boys “Leave it,” and we walked past, I saw him pull his plate back and laugh. Wonder what that was all about?

We also met a variety of dogs walking with their owners. The vast majority were well behaved, but one man was walking four Shih Tzus on four retractable leashes. All four dogs were reactive towards other dogs and he let them have all twenty feet of the leashes. Needless to say he had absolutely no control. Again, we told ours “Leave it! Watch me! Yeah, good!” and walked past. Good dog training!

Top: Toby, left, and Sisko use a retaining wall as an agility obstacle.

Bottom: Toby and Bashir peer at a pelican. She was tangled in fishing line but we called in help for her.

Photos by Liz Palika

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