Finally got Dad off his behind

COCO: We haven't posted for a while because we couldn't get Dad to do anything!

JODIE: That's being a bit cruel, Coco. You know that he's been without a good internet connection for a while.

COCO: Well, I was just trying to make sure that we didn't get blamed.

SANDY: I think Coco is just frustrated because she can't work off her excess energy.

JODIE: That's probably true for all of us. We haven't played fetch since we left the Hacienda and we haven't been in the surf since Perula. Let's take some time to bring our blog up to date.

When we got back to Hacienda Contreras there were some changes. Donkey Hotay is still there, but Ossa is gone. Neko is new and so is Bella. The Contreras have a house as well as the campground. Ossa was the campground dog and Neko was the house dog. Then along came the new puppy Bella and Ossa couldn't get along with the pup, so Ossa and Neko changed places.

This is Bella! As you may recognize, a Labrador Retriever.



Another picture of the pup.



This is Neko!

Neko is Barb's personal guard dog.

JODIE: Bella is a Lab like me and she looks just like I did a long time ago. She started out pure white, but we can see the yellow starting to come out on her back. Barb brought Bella down to see us a couple of times, but when she saw us three strange dogs she made a beeline back to the building. I'm sorry if we scared her. I'm sure we'll be great friend when we return next winter as she'll be almost full grown and as big as we are.

SANDY: Neko is a good dog, but she seems very quiet and shy.

COCO: She'll get used to all the campers and their dogs. She doesn't seem at all aggressive. Have you mentioned your sore foot, Jodie.

JODIE: Not yet. I guess I hurt my foot during some rough play at the Hacienda and it seemed to be getting worse. Mom and Dad took me to a Vet in Patzcuaro and he was very nice. I never even growled. He poked and prodded and said there was nothing serious and gave the folks some medicine for me. I'm feeling much better.

COCO: I also want to tell everyone that we have a lot of area around here, but we're always on the leash since I escaped the first day. There's PLENTY of room to play fetch, but the folks are afraid of the steer, the cow, and all the horses that walk free around here. I think they are over reacting to the steer that was going to butt Tilly. They're also afraid we may chase the animals.

SANDY: I'm the new girl on the block, but even I know that Coco can NOT be trusted. She got away the first day and the folks have taken no chances since then. We don't know where we are headed next, but are hoping for surf or at least an area where we can run and play.

JODIE: I guess that's it for now. We'll try to be better about the blog if we can get Dad and the internet to cooperate. Bye from all of us!

More from the beach

SANDY: I saw an appledater!! I saw an appledater!!

JODIE: Hold it Sandy, you're too excited. You're thinking of alligator, but even at that you are wrong. It was a crocodile.

SANDY: Appledater, alligator, crocodile.....who cares? What's the difference?

COCO: Gosh, people think that I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know the difference between alligators and crocodiles. Heck, I'm a Florida dog and I thought that all Florida dogs knew about alligators and crocodiles.

SANDY: So how come you guys know so much about alligators and crocodiles?

JODIE: Well, Sandy, alligators are a fact of life. That's why we NEVER get to go swimming in a lake or stream at home, we always swim in the pool.

COCO: Ya know Jodie, Sandy wasn't with us when we went all over the country, swimming in all kinds of lakes, rivers, and oceans. She missed out on swimming into the current of a river and letting it bring you downstream. Then we get out, run up along the shore and do it again.

JODIE: You are 100% correct. Mark this down......on this date Coco was right. I think we aught to explain what we're talking about.

COCO: OK, I'll go first. Nearly every day for the last several weeks we get to romp in the surf. We chase tennis balls or sticks and have a great time. Mom and Dad are very patient and let us stay out until we get tired.

SANDY: Actually, they let us stay out as long as we stay engrossed in the water. When one of us turns our attention to grubbing along the high tide line looking for fish bits, the day is OVER.

JODIE: They don't like us to roll in dead fish either.

COCO: Yes, yes, but the point is that we have been going out every day and each day is about the same as the last. That's why we've been behind in our blog. Now we have something new to add.

SANDY: Yup, the appledater.

JODIE: No!!! The crocodile! Dad puts us in the Jeep and drives way down the beach so we can play rough where there are no people. He drives beyond the place they call "The Lagoon", which supposedly has a crocodile in it.

COCO: Supposedly my paw! We saw that sucker on the way home. Dad didn't have a camera so there was no picture to prove it.

JODIE: Aha!! Today he had the camera and the crocodile was there and we have proof.

This is the "Croc". Dad says that if you look at the distance from the nose to the eyes, it seems like a lot of his tail is underwater and others have estimated his length at 10 or 11 feet.



This is the "Lagoon". It doesn't connect with the ocean except when extremely high tides was a wave or two far enough in to add to the lagoon. It really backs up to a swamp.



Here we are frolicking in the surf.

And here we are running back to get a stick or a tennis ball.

JODIE: So we just wanted you to know that there is a little excitement down here and we want to make sure that Sandy knows that crocodiles are not dog friendly. Crocodiles EAT dogs. Thankfully, Dad and Mom keep and eye out and don't let us get too close to danger.

SANDY: OK, I get it. What ever else we do, we do not get near alligators and crocodiles.

COCO: Now you've got it, Sandy. As time goes on you'll be swimming in a lot more places and you can be sure that Mom and Dad will make sure they're safe.

JODIE: And they always end up the same way, we go back to the camper and get washed down and well dried with a number of towels. AAAHHHH, what a life!

To the river and the beach

SANDY: Yesterday was kind of an unusual day. Dad dressed in his shorts and sneakers and that's generally the key to going to the beach.

COCO: Oh, Yeah!!! And we create quite a ruckus. We're going to the beach!! We're going to the beach!!

JODIE: It didn't go quite as we thought. Oh, we three girls were in the back of the Jeep and we were making a lot of noise. We REALLY like going to the beach and we DO get all excited. But when Dad drove out of the campground, he drove past all the streets that lead to the beach. That came as a shock and Sandy, Coco, and I got very quiet as he drove out of town and then took a left on the highway. Perhaps we were just going for a ride.

SANDY: A ride is OK, I like a ride. I like the beach better, but I like a ride, too

COCO: It wasn't just a ride. Dad took us to a river a few miles from the campground. He left us in the Jeep while he checked out the river. We could see the water and we were in an uproar, waiting to get in the water. The noise inside the Jeep was deafening!!

JODIE: The younger girls have no patience!

COCO: What the......you were making as much noise as Sandy and I were!

JODIE: I must have gotten caught up in the excitement, I don't quite remember.

SANDY: I'll continue if they're going to argue over nothing. Dad came back and started the car and drove the Jeep right down to the water. When he opened the rear hatch, the three of us FLEW out of the back and raced to the water. It wasn't quite what I expected.

COCO: No, me neither! The water was shallow, never getting up to my chest and the bottom was muddy. The water was nice and cool, but there was not enough to swim.

JODIE: That's right! Upstream the river was narrow and deeper and there was a nice current, but we couldn't get there because the land was fenced off. Where we were the river was very wide and very shallow.

COCO: Then Dad called us back to the Jeep, but I pretended that I didn't hear him. The river wasn't great, but it was better than going back to the campground.

JODIE: I'm ashamed to say that I didn't return to the Jeep either.

SANDY: I didn't hear anything!

COCO: I'm not surprised!

JODIE: Girls..... Dad solved the problem. He started the Jeep and took off. As much as we like the water, we DO NOT WANT TO BE LEFT BEHIND. AS he drove away, he left the rear hatch open, and when he stopped all three of us very quickly jumped in. I thought our swimming was over for the day, but Dad had one more surprise for us.

SANDY: Yup, on the way back to the campground he took a left turn and drove to our spot on the beach. We were in the surf in a dash, then we played fetch with the balls.

Here we are on the beach chasing sticks. Dad didn't take any pictures at the river. We did have a geat time, though.

This is Archie and we have an amazing story to tell about him. Some time before we got here he was hit by a car and his back end was pretty broken up. His people were sure that he would have to be put down, but they brought him to a local Vet. The local Vet couldn't help them and referred them to a vet in Puerto Vallarta. Xrays showed a lot of broken bones in his rear, but not his spine or legs. I guess it's the bone that connects the hips and legs and spine. There was no way to put a cast on it. The Vet put on rubber gloves and went in through the butt and very carefully put the broken bones back in the proper position, without surgery. A week later they went back and the Vet had to make one minor adjustment and now Archie is a lively pooch. To see him run and jump, you'd never think he had a problem. Amazing!!!

COCO: I don't know about tat kind of treatment, but I suppose that if it works........

SANDY, COCO, and JODIE: Hasta luego from the Perras at Punta Perula

We're back at a beach

SANDY: We're at the beach!! We're at the beach!! We're at the beach!!!

JODIE: OK, we're at the beach. Calm down a little. It was only a few short weeks ago that you didn't even know what a beach was.

SANDY: Yeah, but now that I know, it is AWESOME!!! I LOVE THE BEACH!!!

COCO: What a goof!! Was I ever like that, Jodie.

JODIE: Oh, Coco.....you're goofy about almost everything. Now, how about showing some pictures. Also we'd like to say "WOOF" to Riggs, Tucker, Sadie, the other Sadie, and all the other canine friends we have.

These three bathing beauties are US!!! Having the greatest time.



A couple of things about this picture of Dad tossing sticks. First, Mom is SO PLEASED to see dad get some exercise that she wants him to play wit us more often. Second, you can see Sandy on the left as she takes off after a stick, ears flying.



Sandy has a lot of energy as she is the youngest of us, but Coco is still the fetching champ. Even when Sandy gets the stick first, Coco will often take it away from her and return it to be thrown again. What Coco may lack in energy, she make up for with pizzazz!



This guy came a long the beach walking with a group of people . After a controlled smellathon, he joined us in the water. I think his folks were surprised to see him in the water. He was in the company of three beauties, why would he not follow us?



Unfortunately, we girls take fetching seriously and he couldn't keep up, so when he couldn't get a stick, he went back to his people. Males!!!

Dad got this picture of these two in the campground. We've heard them bark, but have yet to meet them. Dad says the one on the left is friendly and likes to be scratched, but the one on the right is protective of his people.

JODIE: It's mid afternoon and it is warm, so Coco, Sandy, and I are spending the time in our siesta, lying in front of the fan.

JODIE, COCO, & SANDY: Adios!

It's us again, and so soon!

JODIE: Yes, it's us again and I know a lot of you will be shocked. The truth is that Tilly and Osa didn't care for the pictures that were in the last blog, and we don't blame them. Sometimes when we want Dad to do something we get the bare minimum, and this was one of those times.

COCO: Yup, we asked for pictures of our friends and we got pictures all right, but they were hardly flattering.

SANDY: I couldn't believe it when Jodie told Dad to "take a hike and bring back some decent pictures this time. The last batch embarrassed us!!" Even harder to believe was when Dad grabbed his camera and walked out of the camper muttering something.

JODIE: Well, girls, you can't let things slide. If we let him get away with those poor pictures, we would have to resort to standard imaged from the internet or no pictures at all. It's not as if he didn't have a camera and the ability. He was just lazy.

SANDY: He still plays ball with us and walks us doesn't he?

COCO: Sandy, if you were paying attention you would notice that Mom walks us every morning and gets our breakfast. Sometime later on the Old Man drags his carcass out of bed for a cup of coffee.

JODIE: Coco's correct, but I didn't want to bring it up. I'd like to turn this blog into a new introduction of our friends. OK?

COCO, SANDY: OK.

JODIE: Very well, then. I'd like you to meet Tilly and Osa.

This is Tilly. She's a dool and here she's looking for direction from Brian, one of Tilly's wards

Here's another one of Tilly. Same situation. Tilly has a very sweet disposition and apparently likes to travel.



This is Osa, named for a bear. She is furry and might look mean, but she's a real pussycat! She'll bark at people coming into the park. That's her job, as the guard dog for the campground, but she is as sweet as can be.

Here is Osa again with Barb, the woman she has befriended and cares for. Fortunately it's often very quiet in the campground and you can see Osa taking a nap in the sun.

This last picture shows just a small part of our running area. As usual, Coco is returning a ball, Jodie is keeping Mom company, and Sandy is lying in the shade chewing a tennis ball.

JODIE: I hate to say it but this is the last of our stay at Hacienda Contreras for a while. Mom and Dad have decided to move to a spot on the coast. It will be good to get in the surf again, but we'll miss our friends here. If I'm correct, we'll be coming back here sometime in February, so we'll get to see some of our friends again. Osa will be here, but we're not sure where Tilly will be. Our next blog will be brought to you from some beach south of Puerto Vallarta, where ever that is.

Hello from Mexico

JODIE: Hello all! I'm sorry that it has been such a while since we posted, but we've had a hard time getting the Old Man to do his share. He moans and groans and says he's too busy to transcribe our thoughts, but he seems to have plenty of time for other things. He reads to much and, between you and me, he eats too much.

COCO: Aren't you getting on dangerous ground, calling Dad the Old Man?

JODIE: Who cares? He has been negligent in his duties as a blog writer and someone has got to give him a kick in the butt.

SANDY: I just want everyone to know that I have nothing to do with this mutiny. I love Dad just the way he is and I would NEVER refer to him as the OLD MAN.

JODIE: Sandy, you are a wuss!!!

COCO: I'm with Sandy, I love Dad just the way he is!! Think I can have another cookie, now?

JODIE: Oh, if I was only a biting dog, I'd latch onto a couple of butts around here. However, I want to bring things up to date. We've been having a pretty good time here, playing ball every day, sometimes twice. We've got some friends that we associate with.

This is Osa, which means bear, and she looks kind of like a bear. But, she is the sweetest dog. She is the guard dog for the campground but I don't know how that works out because she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She gets along with everyone and everything. There is a donkey, visitor's dogs, cats, and even cattle over the fence. She gets along with everyone. She does bark when someone new arrives and I guess that's part of her job, to announce new guests. She roams free and will sometimes join us at the far end of the campground.

This is Tilly. She takes care of Brian and Sue. Tilly is definitely a low key dog and though she will occasionally offer up a woof, there is nothing aggressive about her.

This is Donkey Hotay (Don Quiote, get it??). He got here after us and is apparently part of the campground staff, working in the landscape crew. Most of the time he wanders the campground trimming grass here and there or getting rid of the old corn stalks. He's very quiet, as we've never heard a bray out of him. Trimming the grass seems to be his only interest as he never wants to play.

This is part of the gang next door. They are quiet and mind their own business, but they're nice to have around.

COCO: What about those three little dogs??

JODIE: Patience! I was just getting to them. We had a family of three cuddly little dogs here for a couple of days. What is interesting is that we first met them at Celestino RV a month od=r so ago. I'm not sure what kind of dogs they were bit they were very small compared to us. There was the Mama dog, the Papa dog, and the little Boy dog. Sounds a lot like Goldilocks and the three bears, doesn't it? They came up from the coast for a few days, but their family decided to move on.

SANDY: I've been having a great time in Mexico. I thought that down here the other dogs would bark in Mexican, but that's not so. I guess dog-speak is a universal language. Osa is Mexican and we've met other dogs from Quebec and we all get along just fine. We have been getting in some trouble with Dad and Mom over.........

JODIE: STOP!!! STOP RIGHT NOW!!! WE are not going to discuss this with the public. It's bad enough that Dad and Mom are upset with our dietary supplements, we don't want to upset our readers.

SANDY: But I just wanted........

JODIE: ENOUGH!!! Don't bark another word!

COCO: Yeah, Sandy. We're in enough trouble already. Don't make matters worse. Besides, they may be taking us back to the beach to get away from Donkey Hotay and the cattle.

JODIE: No, I think that Dad is cold and want's to go where it's warmer. Anyway, at the beach we can supplement our diet with fish remains.

SANDY: You two are leading me astray!!! I was perfectly happy with the food Dad and Mom provided. Then you got me on fish remains and that wasn't too bad, but here........

COCO: If you say anything else, Jodie will bite your butt and if she won't I will. Just shut up about what we eat. Nough said?

SANDY: OK, nough said.

JODIE: I guess that will do it for now. The days have been pretty much the same for the last few weeks, but I understand that we'll be heading back to a campground right on the Pacific in a few days, so we'll have more to report. Hasta luego!

COCO: Yup, hasta whatever.

SANDY: Good bye until later, aloha, adieu, and caio!

Another day at the Recycle Resort

JODIE: Hello again, we've been trying to keep up with the blog, but we're having a problem with Dad. Most of you know that we rely on him to do the typing and he has been in a foul mood as far as the computer and internet are concerned. He CLAIMS that the wifi that was supposed to be available at this campground doesn't exist. Problems with the equipment made the owner suspend internet connections for this year. Therefore, Dad got some kind of stick that goes in the laptop to access the internet.

COCO: And very shortly after he gets on the internet he curses and shuts the computer down. So It's been hard to pin him down. Our only problem, though, is with the computer/internet service. We are all still having a ball down here.

SANDY: So true...so true. I got to really like swimming in the pool, but I had never seen the ocean. We have good surfing every day and today was particularly neat as there is a strong wind making even bigger waves. Running in and out of the surf is so cool. Below is a picture of the three of us chasing a stick in the surf. You might notice that as Jodie and Coco are in the surf, looking for the stick, I already have it and am making my way back to Mom.

JODIE: Yup, Sandy got the jump on us that time, but each time a stick is thrown it's anybody's game. I have to admit, though, that I am no longer willing to put in the amount of effort that the younger girls can. Pacing myself works for me so I may not always play as hard, I always play as long as the other two. Below is a picture of the three of us having a great time.

SANDY: Another great thing is that after the swim, Mom and Dad bring us back to the camper and wash all the salt water and sand off and towel us down. Mom does the washing with the hose, then Dad takes over and dries us very well using a lot of fluffy towels. He does it briskly and it sure feels great. A swim, a wash, and a massage....a dogs life isn't so bad!

JODIE: There is a reason why we referred to this as the Recycle Resort is because all the dogs here have been recycled. Every one of them is a shelter dog. The park host, Bryan, has Asker, a purebred Mexican Multibreed. Next is Marilyn and her pooch, Shelty, for Shelter dog. Next would be the three of us. Further down toward the beach is Taylore and her dog Sierra. Then there is Chica, more about her later.

COCO: Did you mention Pirate and the white dog?

JODIE: I will, I will. Pirate, we believe, is a local dog. He doesn't seem to belong to anyone but he has attached himself to a guy further down the park. Pirate looks like a full blooded Rottweiler, but you'd never know it from his disposition. He is so quiet and gentle that the people here are amazed at his temperament. He is often in the company of another local dog we call the white dog because he is white but so shy no one ever gets near him. We see him in the distance and then he has gone.

SANDY: Now I will fill you in on Chica. Marilyn, our neighbor to the left, takes Shelty for a walk every morning. She has a route that she takes, out to the road, a path to the beach, along the beach, and then back to the campground. A few days ago, on her walk, Marilyn noticed a puppy caught in some wood on the beach. The situation was that the puppy would not have survived an incoming tide, so Marilyn took her home. The puppy had no tail, nothing at all. Marilyn was going to take the puppy to a shelter in Mazatlan, but was able to find a home for her with another camper, Chantelle. A visit to a local vet let them know that the puppy was in excellent health and the lack of a tail was not due to it being cut off. This particular breed has no tail. We have some pictures below.

This is Shelty, Marilyn's trusty friend.




And...Sierra, loyal pet of Taylore.

And this little cutie is Chica.

JODIE: There is one more story I want to tell. A year or so ago, when Taylore was down here. One of the locals had left for a vacation of 19 days and left his dog tied outside. Someone was supposed to take care of the dog, but the care was insufficient at best and cruel at worst. Taylore simple went over and took possession of the dog, cared for it for a while and gave it to a good home. When the owner came back, she went over to him and told him what she did and paid the guy for his dog. These are the kind of people that Coco, Sandy, and I have met in Labrador Retriever Rescue of Florida. We are having a GREAT time because some people went out of their way to care. It's nice to be surrounded by more of them down here. That's all for me.

COCO: I don't have much to add but agree with Jodie. We have met some of the nicest people down here. They are not from the US, but British Columbia.

SANDY: That's true, but they all woof in English, except for Chica who still yips in Spanish.