Shanti: To the beach!

On 8/8/08 the Murthews (Mark, Cat, Wes, Shanti and Bec) left for a long weekend trip to the beach. We woke early, packed into Mark's van, drove 7 hours to Hilton Head Island and then took an hour long ferry ride over to Daufuskie Island. The island is private, quiet and gorgeous. While Shanti enjoyed his morning and evening walks, Bec's legs got chewed by mosquitos.

The first afternoon we were there Shanti got to spend some time swimming in the ocean. He loved running and jumping in the water. He also loves to bite at the water and apparently swallowed quite a bit of it. After 20 minutes or so of play, Shanti kept trying to take the leash handle out of my hand. When I gave it to him he would start going out of the water. I took it out of his mouth and we went back out and played a few more minutes... until he was trying to take the leash lead again. This time we went out of the water and he immediately led me to a slightly grassy area where he proceeded to poop (sorry to those of you weak-stomached who may be reading this) first his normal chunky stuff followed by pure water. (presumably ocean water). He then barfed a good bit of the same watery stuff. Once he emptied himself he was, of course, ready to play again. However, I decided at that point he probably needed a break from the water. Walking back to the condo I had to chuckle. I figured with all the salty ocean water he consumed, he basically gave himself a Fleets Phospho Soda treatment. Any of you who have had to drink one of these for a medical procedure know exactly what I am talking about.

Shanti is a such a smart dog. He is a great communicator and this is not the first time he has "talked" to us. He tells us he wants to eat or drink by bringing a bowl to us. He also tells Wes when he wants to go outside by bringing his wheelchair "feet" to him.