So it happened again.  Two fishermen supposedly saw a Great White Shark off the coast of Maine.  Luckily, it was a harmless Basking Shark, who often get confused for their more mean spirited relatives.  This most recent incident in Scarborough reminds of the time a couple years ago when as a puppy Asa was confused for a Great White Shark.  We had visited Wells Beach, and were quite amused the next day when a story appeared all over the news that a Great White Shark was seen one mile off the coast of Wells.  At the time, this 2015 “sighting” put me in quite a dilemma.  Do I embarrass the “experts” by telling them it was simply a Golden Retriever puppy with the sharpest, pointiest teeth, out enjoying a day at the beach?

I easily understood how he could be confused for a shark due to the fact he was always biting something with his razor sharp teeth even while he was swimming.  Asa really was an absolute monster in and out of the water during his teething stage!  I decided not to alert the media to correct this misconception.  But I did briefly debate expanding the hoax by telling the local fishermen that they could easily catch this scourge of the sea with a jar of peanut butter and squeaky toy.

In the end I just kept Asa away from the beach for awhile until all the excitement died down.  As for this most recent sighting, I’m happy to report we were nowhere near Higgins Beach in Scarborough that day.  Therefore, Asa is definitely not their shark.  But it was fun strolling…or in this case swimming…down memory lane.  I had forgotten about his annoying puppy teething stage.