Cruisin' With The Tobe

July 6, 2007. It has cooled down a little today, only 30 Celsius instead of 35. No matter to me. Tom and I did our morning walk today at 9:00, because he slept in until 8:30. During the walk I got to meet several people who gave me all sorts of pats and hugs. It’s great, I love being cute. A lady named Kathy, who stopped to talk, says that she is from a cabin at 7K and that she has a bearded collie that looks quite a bit like me. We haven’t met him yet. We did a full 5K this morning.

In the afternoon, Tom took me down to the boat and spent a half hour trying to coax me to get in. He didn’t want to pick me up again because he wanted me to get in at my own speed and in my own time. He coaxed me with bits of pepperoni and with my Kong stuffed with wieners. None of that worked. He talked to me very gently and then finally started bouncing my tennis ball and that got me in.

He just sat there and let me look around and get comfortable before he started the motor. Then he strapped me into my very stylish life jacket and pushed off from the dock. We cruised around the lake for about 40 minutes. I moved around the interior of the boat finding the best seats and getting accustomed to being in it.

I sat in the rear seat and watched the water splashing out from the side; I sat beside Tom on the floor. I even sat up in the bow seats when we were going slower. A guy could get to like this kind of action. People on the shore were waving to me.

After we got back to the dock I stayed in the boat for a bit and then it was time for another swimming lesson. I am getting far more comfortable with being off my feet and dog paddling around. There was even one point where I swam out past the end of the dock, turned around and came back. I even ducked my head completely under water once trying to grab the ball in my mouth.

I still splash a lot when I paddle but there were a few times that I did the proper dog paddle and it felt quite nice. I could see without all that water splashing in my eyes.

After dinner we did another 5K walk, but we went earlier than normal. Partly because it looks like it might rain also because it is Friday night and there might be more traffic on the road later with weekenders coming to their cabins. Tom also wants to listen to the BC Lions game at 7:30. As soon as we started out, Tom heard an ATV coming and called me over to the side of the road. Well it wasn’t just one ATV, there were 26 of them, the riders ranging in age from about 50 to about 7. I sat dutifully by Tom until they all went past. I only barked at a couple.