Maple Reach

August 16 passed without a great deal of fanfare, but we celebrated Henry’s gotcha day with extra love, scratches, cuddles and cookies, and that seemed to suit Henry just fine. It has been extremely hot here of late. As I spent the day working in my office, Henry settled into in the chair across from me — which also happens to be right over an air conditioning vent — looking out at the happenings in the yard. Henry definitely knows how to chill.

Life has finally settled into a nice “normal” for all of us, Henry included. Since his latest bout with cancer, he shows no signs of recurrence, though he has developed a chronic case of dry-eye, manageable with eye drops. His coordination and his muscles have recovered well — he runs (albeit with his odd gait), plays with his ball and gets the zoomies with the same zest he had a year ago. Possibly even more!

Having gone through so much with him, we cherish every day we have with him in our lives. When we have to work, we take frequent Henry breaks just to let him know how very loved he is. It’s good for all of us. And we’ve been cultivating more of a carpe diem attitude as well, when it comes to our free time.

A major element in Henry’s convalescence — and ours, after a few challenging years — has been making frequent trips to the beach, particularly Neahkahnie Beach at Manzanita, Oregon. It is one of our favorite beaches for three great reasons:

1. It is a haven for friendly dogs (and dog people) with a long, sandy beach, rocks, tidepools and driftwood.
2. All those rocks and driftwood provide an abundance of material for Jamie to use in his beach sculptures.*
3. Being at the foot of Neahkahnie Mountain, there’s always a pretty coastline view.

Henry has a ball

Henry starts to whine when we get within a mile or two of Manzanita. The car simply cannot go fast enough for him. As soon as we get to the beach (after he’s completed his obligatory “I’ll wait until we walk way out on the beach to do my business so Jennifer has to carry a bag around”), his focus is 100% on his ball. It’s his favorite thing.

Henry has honed his ball handling skills over our many beach visits in the last six months, digging his “dogapults,” dribbling like Messi on sand and in water (slightly different skill set) and kicking the ball out behind him so he can chase it, catch it and start all over. He particularly enjoys the incoming tide, because it makes the ball dance and run up the beach all by itself. So he now positions himself, looks back at the water and kicks it into the incoming waves.

He is a master. And he now attracts crowds. People frequently stop just to watch him play all by himself. Every time we go to the beach at least a half-dozen people tell me, “I’ve never seen a dog do that! Will he just keep doing that all day?” The answer is “Yes.”

Video montage coming soon

I haven’t had time to finish the editing. Ok, I’ll be honest, I haven’t had time to START the editing. But I have saved off 11 video clips — so watch this space, because I have a pretty awesome collection of Henry’s finest ball-handling performances on the way…

To get Henry off the beach we have to carry his ball so he’ll come with us. If we rely on him to carry it, he’ll be back in soccer mode in seconds.

We don’t know when Henry’s actual birthday is…based on a genetic sibling we think it might be February…but his Gotcha Day is a day we are extremely grateful for. We cannot thank OTAT PDX enough for allowing us to adopt this very special dog and trust us with his care. He has done more for us than we can ever truly express. And we look forward, hopefully, to many Gotcha Days in the future!

* See more of Jamie’s beach sculptures on Instagram: @concretewheels.

Posted: 17 August 2023