In May of 1995, BiJae and I moved to San Diego, California. We were on the first of our big adventures. I had driven to San Diego two times over the few months prior to find a place for us to live. I selected a small apartment two blocks from the beach in ocean beach. This put us two blocks from Dog Beach.

BiJae and I had been to the beach a few times together over the years. Our travels in Oregon and Northern California took us to several beaches. This was a little different one because it was in the city, and two because BiJae was no longer living in the country. This required a couple of adjustments to his mountain dog lifestyle.

Gone were the days of living on the ranch where I would turn BiJae out first thing in the morning. Gone were the days when BiJae would be following me around work all day long, sneaking off at times of need to take care of his business. I didn't realize that this was going to cause BiJae some stress. I always knew he was private about his business, but I didn't realize it was a requirement!

The first day living in San Diego was exciting. I was very excited to move to the city and start my life living at the beach. The apartment I chose was selected because of it's proximity to Dog Beach. The north section of Ocean Beach in San Diego is a leash free dog beach. Here all the dogs get to roam free. I wasn't sure how BiJae, or more importantly, how the other dogs were going to get along. So I kept BiJae on the leash for a while.

BiJae had been in the apartment while I unloaded the car and the u-haul trailer. I knew that he had to do his business. I was prepared to follow him and clean up after him. I guess I forgot to mention to BiJae that his old ways, of running off into the woods to take care of business, were changing. We set out to the beach together. We got to the beach and BiJae started to get anxious.

BiJae knew what he had to do, but he didn't understand why I was staying connected to the leash. He looked back at me to beg his release. I explained to him that we were in a new area and I wasn't sure about letting him off the leash. His eyes grew slightly larger and a little watery. He looked to say, "Dad, I gotta go take care of something.. and you don't want to be around to see it!" His confusion was clear to read. We walked further inland toward the taller grasses in the sand. BiJae would take a few steps and look back, asking again, "can you Please let me go take care of this?"

It took close to twenty minutes for BiJae to yield and do his duty. The relief was visible on his face when he finished. Since BiJae lived in the woods his whole life, he knew what to do next, cover it up! What he didn't realize is I was going in behind him to pick up his business. As I reached down with my plastic bag BiJae started scratching sand up to cover what he'd left behind. The confusion he felt was clearly visible on his face. BiJae looked at me like I was nuts. Why on earth would I want to pick up this when he'd take care of it by throwing some sand on it.

It took a couple of days for BiJae to get comfortable with our new routine. It took me a couple of days to get comfortable with the idea of letting him off the leash. Eventually we adjusted to a good routine. I would let BiJae off the leash as we crested the jetty. He would run down the hill and into the grasses to take care of business. I'd follow up behind him and pickup after him. By the time I got to him he would be off sniffing his p-mail and visiting with the other animals. It was a new way of living for both of us, but one that we both adapted to so we could live near Dog Beach.