The Labraventures of Carbón, Spanish (ex-) foster dog extraordinaire

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Hola todos!

Mis amigos, today was so very aburrido, BORING, I cannot even say. ML spent the entire day on the sofa making travel plans. What is so complicated, I ask you, that she needs to stare at the computer ALL DAY? I am so very guapo, handsome, that whenever we want to take the big flying bus, we just walk up to the airport and say, "It is I, Carbon, and I am here to make your flying bus more guapo! Take me to see the Cookie Man!" Then I lay down for hours and hours and I eat treats from the first class kitchen and then we are THERE. Is that not how it works?

Planning? Pfft!

Por lo menos, at least yesterday we had very good walk. Te quiero, Cornwall! I love Cornwall!

Here we are at the start of our camino, at Mother Ivey's Bay. Mother Ivey was apparently an old bruja, an old witch lady who lived here a long time ago. Witch or no, she had excellent taste in where to put her house.
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It was very windy, almost like the Levante in my Spanish homeland. Just like the Levante, this big wind makes for good surfing.
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I hear there are dogs that surf and competitions in California. ML, can I try that?
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ML got very excited because she saw some seals. She thinks that we Labradors look like seals in the water and her puppy was even supposed to be named after the Irish word for seal. Then I came along and I was a "Carbón" and that was that. But she still loves the seals. As it turns out, some of the seals she saw were seals:
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And some of the seals she saw were Not Seals. She was a little embarrassed about taking 20 photos of an old buoy.
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Of course I did some modelling. What is better than Blue Steel in front of the blue sea?
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Then we walked all around the headland. There were cows...
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...and wonderful muddy paths.
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Then we sat down and enjoyed the view. Wee, look at my ears sail on the breeze!
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And I let ML give me big hug because it was SUCH a día bonito, a beautiful day.
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And that's my whole story. Ojala que sea mas paseos mañana, I just hope I get more good walks tomorrow!

Buenas noches a todos!
 

Lab_adore

Moderator
Staff member
I don't mean the black Labs shed less, just that yellow Lab fur seems to have little fish hooks on the end of each piece : impossible to just brush off!
This. 100%

I slept in the spare room last night due to insomnia and when I walked into our bedroom this morning to get ready for work I found my two boys sleeping peacefully and the yellow furry one on my side with his head and shoulders on my pillow

And our dark brown doona had a 1cm coating of hair that could be mistaken for being glued on.
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
And I’m so pleased that someone else also sees so many seals in the water!
I'm always looking for seals! They've been easy to spot in Wales and Ireland (and of course Calfornia where they've pretty much taken over some areas) but I hadn't seen one in Cornwall yet and was so excited on Saturday to see THREE! My eyesight isn't super but I was using my camera's zoom and shooting away knowing I could get a more detailed look once I got home and uploaded the shots to my laptop. Imagine my chagrin when I got home and two out of the three "seals" were buoys. :rolleyes: But hey, one was really a seal and it made me so happy to 'see' them all that...what the heck, right? :p
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Of course I went straight to google translate to look up the Irish word for ‘seal’.
The name I'd chosen was "Rónan". Which is actually "son of the selkie" or "little selkie" than normal "seal". Had it approved as a "real Irish name and not one of those fake Irish names Americans use" by my Irish (and Irish-speaking) friend. All that and then I get "Carbon" and the joy of explaining to everyone that, "No, I have more creativity than to name my black dog 'coal' but that's what he came with, you know?". 😬
 
I'm always looking for seals!
I once had a job—years ago, just out of university—taking people snorkeling with dolphins. There were a few resident seals who used to tease us terribly, zooming up to our masks at high speed and then turn at the last possible second. And jumping up on our shoulders. I was quite scared of the large male, and he knew it! He’d bark at me and he had massive canine teeth! He sometimes would grab my harm, although he never hurt me. They reminded me of dogs so, so much. I guess they are called sea-dogs in other languages for a reason. I wonder now, with my new insight into dogs themselves and with my new knowledge, if I’d have a completely different relationship with them. I bet I would. Then, it wasn’t much fun feeling so intimidated by that seal. Maybe he just wanted to play and I had no idea!
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
I rather like 'SELKIE"
Just for the uninitiated thanks to wikipedia:

The legend of the Selkie is told along the Western coast of Scotland and as far down as Ireland. Selkies are seals in the water, but once on land, they take off their skins and become human. If an ordinary mortal sees a Selkie in human form, they will inevitably fall in love.

So "Rónan' is the child of a Selkie or just "little seal".

I bet there isn't another dog in the UK called Carbon :)
True! I don't have any problem with his name in English-speaking countries. It's in Spain, France and Italy where the meaning is obvious (carbón=charbon=carbone). Then I get the eye-roll: "You named your black dog "coal"?". :rolleyes:
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
I once had a job—years ago, just out of university—taking people snorkeling with dolphins. There were a few resident seals who used to tease us terribly, zooming up to our masks at high speed and then turn at the last possible second. And jumping up on our shoulders. I was quite scared of the large male, and he knew it! He’d bark at me and he had massive canine teeth! He sometimes would grab my harm, although he never hurt me. They reminded me of dogs so, so much. I guess they are called sea-dogs in other languages for a reason. I wonder now, with my new insight into dogs themselves and with my new knowledge, if I’d have a completely different relationship with them. I bet I would. Then, it wasn’t much fun feeling so intimidated by that seal. Maybe he just wanted to play and I had no idea!
That's amazing! The whole thing - the dolphins and the seals. Wow. Those teeth would have scared me too, I think, but it does sound like he wanted to play. They really are fascinating!
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Carbon is very tired tonight after playing with his donut toy and very successful 'stand' training session. I think it finally clicked what 'stand' means. AND we did it sossige-free, with celery! I got celery as a "low value treat" but turns out he's bonkers over celery. What a weird dog.

After a lot of plotting and planning, my trip to California is coming together. Carbon and I are leaving Cornwall to drive to Beanwood on 29 February and then flying to San Francisco the next day. I do NOT want to leave Cornwall and need to plan a much longer stay next year, but I'll try not to cry too hard when we drive away. Maybe just a little banging my forehead on the steering wheel and quiet sobbing.

My original plan was to fly direct Heathrow to SF. However after I bought my tickets and contacted United to confirm Carbon in cabin, I found out that the City of London charges GBP390 just to check his microchip and paperwork (which they say on their website takes "less than five minutes"). This is because Carbon is not ADI certified.

Brogan was ADI certified but the rules have changed: now ADI does not allow testing and certification unless you attend the school in person for a year. Remote training - what I do with Carbon - isn't an option. There is one school in Germany (Berlin) and one school in the US that permits this. Suffice it to say that unless things change, Carbon will never be ADI certified.

I do not mind paying a fee for a service, but frankly the City of London is taking the **ss with that price. Plus I can't even tell you how unhelpful United Airlines was. There's a reason I always fly Lufthansa. :mad:

So I cancelled my United ticket and went back to the drawing board. An idea came to mind: when coming in by ferry from Ireland to the UK, there aren't any animal checks. If I flew through Ireland and bypassed London, maybe I could avoid United Airlines AND the crazy chip scanning fee.

I called Aer Lingus, on a Sunday morning no less, and the woman on their Medical Services desk was delightful and knowledgeable. Long story short (ha, ha) Carbon and I will fly out of Bristol, change planes in Dublin and continue on to San Francisco. I've roped @Beanwood into it by begging her to take us to the airport at an eye-watering hour. I've told her to leave on her PJ's and just open door and boot us out when we get to the terminal. :D

Of course all of this may go pear shaped. It's always a gamble the first time I try a new route. Aer Lingus was AMAZING with Brogan the many times we fly them from mainland Europe to Ireland, so I'm hoping for the best. Fingers and paws crossed: it's Calfornia or bust!
 
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