Overcast, Having a Blast

It really is a nasty day in New York.  The sun is nowhere to be found, and the clouds are hanging low overhead, almost ominously.  The air is dry and frigid, and the general lack of warmth is compounded by a breeze that'd make you think it's winter.

No better day for a walk than this one.

I had planned all day to take Marge to the beach, as Tuesday's agility class woke me up to the realization that the weather is finally starting to cool and Marge is going to be in need of much more exercise.  Since it was so quiet out, I decided to take the short walk to the beach rather than drive my car there.

(We did almost have an encounter with an off-leash yellow lab, but thankfully the lab was far enough away from us that he never got too close and actually seemed to be under decent control for a change.)

She frolicked on the beach for a while, stopping to sniff every rock only to take off in a casual lope towards the next one almost instantly.  

The crashing of the waves mutes the sounds of the surrounding city, so there is nothing for Marge to worry about while she's walking on the sand.

She recalled beautifully before this shot.  She was off sniffing, and I called her, and once she realized what I had said, it registered with her that moving towards me would be in her best interest because she would be rewarded cookies.

Before we left, I played her favorite game with her where I throw pieces of treat and she has to chase them to get them. She went down into many play bows in anticipation of the food coming her way.
We had a nice adventure.  It was one of the longest walks we've been on in a while that wasn't behavior-modification intensive.  It's so nice just to stroll with my dog, with almost no care in the world about anything else.