The morning seemed to come around quite quickly so we were out on the field at just after 06:00. The Full Moon is tomorrow so soon we shall be able to walk by moonlight in the mornings. Today, dawn seemed a little reluctant.
Our walks were calmer than the past couple of days as I decided to take it easy and not do any jogging. We met a man with a goat on the beach to the west of Plakaki Hotel. The man was sitting and the young goat was nearby. I called the dogs to me so that we could pass by the goat without incident. However, the goat thought it a good idea to run which complicated matters a little. The dogs investigated the goat without actually chasing it and I was able to call them back to me so we could make progress. Some of the dogs wanted to remain behind and then the goat trotted off with Obi in pursuit. I called him but he was far from me so I gave him some more long-distance encouragement which caused him to instantly break off and come rushing back to me bringing the others with him. We continued westwards and the man, presumably the goat guardian, remained seated.
Someone else was approaching but was still some distance away so indistinguishable. I started to put some distance between us however they changed to an intercepting course. It was Alma, from Estonia, who’d said she’d like to meet the dogs so I suggested a walk might be a good approach. The dogs greeted her and we continued towards the Promontory for the second circuit. Alma had not explored there before so I took some time to point out some of the more interesting features. We parted in the car park whereupon I took the dogs back over the field into the camping.
It was 08:25 so the workmen were busy on the building site and a large truck was delivering something very noisily. Some more concrete arrived soon after so there was a little more concrete-shouting to be done.
I fed the dogs, prepared breakfast, fed the cats and put on a wash for Alma. I then got into a conversation with Nikos and Alma’s husband about cycling routes through the mountains. I warned Nikos that Sunday is likely to be showery and the next few days unsettled.
My breakfast was not ready so I set about pruning the carob trees on my side of the fence. I intend pruning those on the other side too but not so drastically as on my side. I’ve cut them right back to try to encourage them to become denser rather than taller. The carobs block out the sunlight now that the sun is lower in the sky. I suspect that during this operation I caught the lanyard of the original controller on one of the tree branches as it was still in one of my side pockets. I’ve searched but have not found it so far. I’m pretty certain I’ve not lost it on the Promontory and that is what happened. It’s not the end of the world as I can add the collars to the other controller but it’s easier to control six dogs with two controllers.
After breakfast, it was soon time for my weekly call home. The remainder of the afternoon was taken up with a trip to Petrakis, a brief search for the missing controller followed by a tour of the camping with a couple planning some sort of group activity. By the time I’d completed the tour and answered their questions, it was walk time so I put the collars on all of the dogs hoping that they wouldn’t notice I had only one controller. There were several cars in the car park and at least one other dog about. I could still control, Obi, Skinny and Isabella but Luis, Charlie and Oskar were none the wiser. My voice and whistling was enough. The other three can cover more ground and, when they turn back, so will the others. I may add the other three to the bigger controller for the Early Walk tomorrow.
The couple who’d visited the camping were sitting quietly at the end of Alonáki Beach as we were coming back off of the Promontory. I’d forgotten Isabella had been swimming so they were pleased when she introduced herself to them in her usual, bouncy way. We talked briefly about the dogs. They were surprised they were not on leads but I explained the collars gave everyone more freedom and meant they got more exercise.
The rice for the Doggy Dinners was not quite ready so there was a slight delay before supper was served. I ate breakfast rather late due to my tree activities so am not feeling particularly hungry right now.
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