Swim Time

July 2, 2007. It’s another new day with more new tasks to complete. This is an amazing adventure so far and I’m sure it will get even better as time moves along. This morning Tom and I did a 90 minute 6 K walk which betters our previous distances by 2K and 30 minutes. I’ll get him in shape this trip if it kills me.

Later on after breakfast we went down to the lake together. Tom was in his bright yellow Corona bathing suit, so that’s something different already. He began my lessons by throwing a stick in the water and then went and got my tennis ball. He would throw it in the water where I could walk out to it, no problem. Then he started throwing out a little bit further each time.

I kept working on ways to get to that ball. I tried stroking the water with my paw to see if I could get it to come closer. I tried walking out a little further. Nothing was working, so I jumped up on the dock and studied the situation from there. That gave me an idea and I jumped back in the water. This time I kept walking until I grabbed the ball and before I knew it, I was completely off my feet and floating. I dog paddled a couple of strokes until I could stand again and then walked in.

We did this a few more times and while I am improving, I can’t say that I am completely comfortable with actually swimming yet. It’s a start and I have the whole rest of the summer to master it.

Tom then did something that I did not like at all. He had to put the boat mooring float in place, in preparation for putting the boat in the water. To do this he stuck some tools in his pocket, put on his swim fins and then sat in an inner tube. Then he started paddling, until he got way out where the temporary float is. He undid it and then attached the proper big orange buoy and paddled in. I did not like having Tom so far away from me with just water between us. So I barked, not much, but enough to let him know I wasn’t happy.

Afterwards we went up and I lay down in the sun to dry off. Later in the day, Tom decided to launch the boat. Of course, his timing was impeccable. Just as we were about to leave, we saw the Cookes heading out on a fishing expedition, so there went our ride back to the boat launch. Then when we went to get in the truck, the right rear tire had gone flat with a slow leak. Then I would not get in the truck. I really love it here and don’t want to leave.

We got down to the launch, put the boat in the water and then Tom came to get me. We got down to the water’s edge and he picked me up and put me in the bow of the boat. No way Jose, I jumped right back out and was having no part of this idea. Finally Tom coaxed me closer to the boat and picked me up again, I growled at him, but he got me in and held the leash closer and pushed off. At this point I was not even thinking of jumping in.

Putting on my life jacket was going to be impossible. I sat on the bow seat in front of Tom, looking at him. He put the boat in gear and started to move slowly forward. When he started to put a little more speed on, of course we had two boats pass by on either side, so their wakes converged, making for a very bumpy few seconds. Just long enough to freak me out even more.

Tom finally coaxed me back into the passenger compartment with him and I got on the seat behind him and then climbed over the back and literally sat between him and the seat. I guess I felt more secure there, nice and close to Tom. Once we got back to the dock, he couldn’t coax me into getting out of the boat. Finally he did and I went and got my ball for him to throw for me. We spent awhile with me chasing the ball down the beach.

Just to put the capper on the day though, as soon as we got here, the wind started blowing up, the clouds rolled in and it looks like a storm, so Tom had to move the boat out onto the mooring float. I again was not at all happy about this and even less so when Tom jumped in the water off the boat and swam in. What an adventurous day!