Stick-stealing Beach Boys at the Oregon Coast

We recently had a wonderful day with Baxter and Kirby at the Oregon Coast. The boys ran constantly for hours and my arm is still tired from throwing sticks.

Despite a total lack of training, Kirby is a much better retriever of sticks than Baxter is. While Bax will retrieve from the water (all day if your arm can take it), he doesn't like to retrieve on land...he much prefers running off with the stick to chew on it. Kirby, who doesn't much like the water, seems to truly enjoy fetching sticks on terra firma. Of course, with the two of them, it's always a competition. But Kirby and I got in a few rounds while Baxter was off sniffing something.

It's hard to feel too bad for Kirby when Baxter comes and steals the stick from him...because Kirby is notorious for stealing Baxter's toys right out from under his nose. Kirby will sidle up stealthily, wait until Baxter stops to look at something or lick his paw, and then dart in and snatch the toy and run under the sofa so Baxter can't get to it.

In fact, just yesterday Kirby tried a new tactic... Baxter was proudly prancing around with one of the toys. From under the sofa, Kirby barked suddenly. Baxter was startled and dropped the toy so he could bark too. Kirby darted out, stole the toy and ran back under the sofa. Crafty guy!