For the big Memorial Day weekend, we took Charleston out to the beach. He loves the beach, but not the way you would expect. I’ve always said that he’s a terrible Retriever… swimming is not his strong suit. Whenever we get to the beach he runs straight for the water, but as soon as the tiniest wave hits him he runs away.

All the same, he loves running in the surf, rolling in the sand and being off leash. Here’s proof:

The pain killers Charleston is taking are slowing him down quite a bit. Even at the beach, he only played for a few minutes and then settled down to chill out for the rest of the afternoon. We cut his dose in half after the first day… because he was positively stoned!

We’ve continued to spoil him like crazy and I will continue to post on a lot of the stuff we’re doing for him. This time has made me even more sad that he will not get to be an old dog. Being on drugs have calmed him down and given me a glimpse of what he would be like as an old guy… and he’s perfect. I didn’t think Charleston could be improved upon, but recently he’s been even more loving, reliable and sweet.