Costa Rica and my dog envy

When we were in Costa Rica, Thomas and I took a walk down by the beach. We were on a rocky part, wandering around. Suddenly, an adorable dog started following Thomas around. Isn't she just the cutest?She didn't appear to belong to the other people on the beach and started following both of us around. It was quite a bit of fun and only helped to stoke my dog envy. She'd run back and forth between Thomas and me, playing with sticks and splashing in the water. We tried not to be too friendly since we didn't want her following us to our cabin (wanting to protect the wildlife). She followed us anyway.
We found out later that she had a home and has the run of the beach. Apparently this is not uncommon where we were, as another dog followed us the next day. He was just as sweet. Unfortunately, we didn't have our camera with us.

We did see this sign the next day:I had never seen anyone renting dogs before. Why would someone rent a dog? If you want to play with one, just go down to the beach and one will find you!

I've added Dog Kennels Center as a link on my sidebar. Although I do not have a dog (yet!), I like to help support small businesses, and this one donates a portion of their proceeds to animal rescues. I'm thinking about buying one of their dog backpacks for use with the birds. I really think Rocky would like to go hiking with us.

Anyway, they have some really cool products and I thank them for helping to support animal rescue!