![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_5921-1024x768.jpeg?resize=525%2C394&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nHere in Waikanae it\u2019s been a beautiful warm, still day; literally the calm before the storm.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to believe that there\u2019s a cyclone barreling towards us, but I do believe it because meteorological science is a thing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If I can be bothered I\u2019ll take the dogs for a walk on the beach later. Between the two of them, they\u2019re a bit of a handful, since Goofy is a misanthrope and Ratdog is a dog hating psychopath, bless them. A few weeks before, my daughter and her mother in law, who was visiting from Canada, went for a kayak around the lagoon. At one point, a woman came out of her house and shouted at them\u201dGet out of the water! You\u2019re scaring the birds!\u201d At first Samantha\u2019s mother in law thought she was shouting a friendly hello but it must have soon become clear she was quite agitated, so they paddled away and left her to it.<\/p>\n Well you know, I love nature as much as the next person, but these sort of loonies aren\u2019t doing anyone any favours. It must be possible to advocate for wildlife without losing your humanity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here in Waikanae it\u2019s been a beautiful warm, still day; literally the calm before the storm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-3kX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8470,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/18\/barking-mad\/","url_meta":{"origin":12831,"position":0},"title":"Barking mad","author":"Interloper11","date":"October 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Took the dogs to the beach the other day. As my mother used to say, dogs and children love the beach. There\u2019s a stretch of beach at Waikanae that\u2019s far enough away from bird life and thronging humans that dogs are allowed off their lead. And they love it. Goofy\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/2A3144A2-4CC2-4422-BD6E-A5949B911C15-300x199.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1584,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/29\/a-tale-of-two-beaches-a-scientific-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":12831,"position":1},"title":"A tale of two beaches – a scientific report*","author":"Interloper11","date":"January 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Hotter\u2019n Georgia asphalt (as we used to say in Dixie) out there today. (Or, if you like \u201cHotter than an Aborigine\u2019s armpit\u201d - thanks, Australia!) And no wind! Metservice - I\u2019m sorry I ever doubted your story of an impending \u00a0heatwave. According to my husband, today was the hottest day\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8751,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/04\/cancer-dog-update-march-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":12831,"position":2},"title":"Cancer dog update March 2023","author":"Interloper11","date":"March 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Ruby is heading into her final days. The lump has grown, and she has been limping more. She has spent most of hers days in bed for a while but has just started losing weight, and wanting to be carried on walks. No topless photo as I\u2019ve had complaints about\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/A672C665-8E4D-4B3E-A0A2-50F044C8C05E-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7789,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/18\/timid\/","url_meta":{"origin":12831,"position":3},"title":"Timid","author":"Interloper11","date":"April 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Walking the dogs on the beach the other day, Goofy made friends with a couple of griffons and was bouncing around, in and out of the water, having a fine old time. Ruby, however, being the awkward dog she is, just kept pawing me with fear in her eyes. \u201cPick\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/5C653C28-9649-45BD-B553-9E304CFEB8BA-197x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12663,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/13\/doggus-interruptus\/","url_meta":{"origin":12831,"position":4},"title":"Doggus interruptus","author":"Interloper11","date":"February 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I was walking Maggie along the river on a windy day earlier this Summer when I spotted a group of well dressed people standing in a clearing. In the time it took me to figure out it was an al fresco wedding, the dog was already squatting to do a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11751,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/quelle-horreur\/","url_meta":{"origin":12831,"position":5},"title":"Quelle horreur!","author":"Interloper11","date":"May 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Got back from my walk with the dogs just now, and having fed them, got changed, and grabbed a beer, I realise that at one point on the walk I had a full poo bag, and I don\u2019t know where it\u2019s gone. My son is trying to reassure me that\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIn the middle distance you may be able to see the beach where my daughter and I were walking them last week. As we were on the other side of the river to the main beach, and there were no people or birds around, we decided to let them off briefly for a run around before swimming back across. It was a lovely day, and the dogs were happily splashing around in the water when a man shouted at us across the water. \u201cYour dogs aren\u2019t allowed here! Put them on leads or someone will shoot them!\u201d We were quite dismayed, and as we made our way to the dogs to get their leads on, a woman followed up with \u201cGo on! Call them! Get their leads on!\u201d Meanwhile, some young children, presumably theirs, were out on the water in a couple of kayaks, with no life jackets on, looking on with interest, no doubt learning at first hand how to talk to strangers that you don\u2019t agree with.
\nWe got the dogs leads on and swam back over the river, muttering under our breath of all the clever things we should have said, while still quite afraid that they might follow us and tell us off at close quarters. It was a quite disturbing encounter really. There was really no way in the world that anyone was going to be out shooting dogs in broad daylight, in an area full of people. I\u2019ve seen people on that beach with dogs off the lead many a time and haven\u2019t seen a single firearm.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_5925-1024x768.jpeg?resize=525%2C394&ssl=1\")