Long Beach-Dog Beach

Hi all, so this Saturday we are off to Long Beach. The Beach for furry four legged surfers and tanners. I'm skeptically hopeful about this one guys, I mean Buddha (bless his heart) is a tad bit ummmmm SCARED of everything, not timid or shy, just a tiny bit fearful of noisy, wet, splashing, coldness...and yet I'm driving on the 405 right now heading South towards Long Beach to go face Buddhas fears with him...and pray he likes this park cause its kinda far. Well, beloved Map quest got me there quite easily (and that means anyone can get there) parking was adequate and easy enough to find, it was windy and chilly, but hey...its a BEACH, so walking towards the cones which marked the areas of doggie play land, Buddha became quite fascinated by the feeling of sand between his paws, I could tell by his demeanor he was unsure but open minded about this new experience we were embarking upon. Suddenly Buddha stops mid sniff and looks up, ears pricked up, nose twitching, and there it was, the glorious array of canines scattered a good half mile portion of the beach, some running, some digging, some swimming, it was a giant beach party for pups and all sizes shapes and breeds were participating. Buddha now began tugging and crying and pulling to get away from my grip and his leash, desperate to play with his future buddies. I walk between the cones and unleash the boods, watching him awkwardly gallop towards a nice looking retriever. After the numerous sniffing rituals subsided, I watched hopefully as Buddha approached the water, timidly and cautious, he tippy toed around, back and fourth, his mind going a million miles a minutes while watching helplessly as the retriever bobbed in and out of waves as if it were not only the simplest, but the funnest activity to participate in, finally Buddha took hold of his courage and ran head strong into the water, like a baby deer walking its first steps Buddha's wobbly clumsiness got the better of him at first, then the wetter and bolder he became the better he got, and in no time at all he was in the water swimming with the pros, the retriever played quite long with Buddha showing him tricks with her tennis ball and a stick he discovered. Buddha must have played a good strong 90 minutes in the ocean before running around a little and checking the other scenery's out. All in all I loved this park/beach, it was clean, fabulously beautiful and the dogs there were all great friendly personalities, I give this park an A, and I will go back tons of times during the summer, I must say though, if you do venture with Fido to this wonderful side of town...bring a jacket, oh, and a towel for the pup...cause it gets pretty chilly and they get pretty wet :) till next time this is me saying"yabba dabba dooooooo"  :):)