After almost six months, Darla finally went back to dog beach. I think my mom was inspired by all the comments left by you guys, (P.S. Thank you!!!!) that and the constant pleading from me. So last Thursday we took Darla back to the beach. As soon as we said, "Darla wanna go-go?" (which is what we say to Darla when she's going somewhere) her ears flew up and she was wagging her Lil' butt like there was no tomorrow. So we put her in the back seat of my car and drove off. As soon as we started nearing the beach Darla knew where she was going, she went crazy and started barking and running around in the back seat. The plan was to avoid any potential dogs that looked as if they were a potential threat. (NOT trying to stereotype any breeds such as the pitbull, but I had to humor my mom) My mom wasn't really worried that Darla would harm anyone but more that Darla would annoy another dog and start a fight. So we set off for the sand, with Darla pulling the whole way. Lucky for us Darla was being a perfect angel on the way down and didn't bark at one dog! And then we got to the sand...there really isn't words to describe Darla's happiness and excitement. We walked a few yards away from the exit and then we let her off lesh. Darla took off running to the waves and jumped in and started splashing around. Then she ran back up to us and barked for us to throw the tennis ball. It was almost like before, us throwing the tennis ball down the shore and Darla catching it and bringing it back. The only difference is that every time a pitbull or germansheperd or something similar came down the beach my mom insited that we threw the ball in the opposite dirrection. (Which can be expected and really wasn't that big of a deal) We stayed down there for at least an hour and a half and nothing bad happened, Darla even played with a few dogs. It's still just a small step for Darla, but an important one still. We're still going to avoid dog parks and seek a trainer, but now

at least Darla can enjoy the beach like she used to.