Woo Hoo! 4 Legs in the Water!

[Guest WoobiesMom]

I took Woobie out this morning to walk before the heat set in. Supposed to have heat indices of 105-110 today.

 

He did really great, even did some awesome heeling once he was a bit tired. We walked right next to big scary trucks with construction equipment on them without spooking. But the best part was when we got to the lake, there were some ducks who approached because they're used to being fed. He got interested and went in up to his elbows!!! Once he realized it was cool and fun, he seemed interested in swimming out to the ducks, but I only had him on the 6ft. lead and didn't want to risk him running off or getting into trouble off it. We walked along the lake for a while and he seemed to enjoy tromping around and cooling off. A few times he seemed really eager to go in deeper so I think I'll take the 20ft. lead this evening or tomorrow and see if he'll go farther out. May take his frisbee or a ball to entice him in.

 

I'm so happy whenever he stops being afraid of something and has that realization that it's fun! YAY!

 

I'll take the camera too. I looked at my area with new eyes after the other thread about exploring, I live on a darned pretty lake and am SO LUCKY to have so many miles of walking trails and a public park with forests to explore.

[IronHorse]

You may want to keep him on the shorter lead and just go out in the water with him rather then to risk him becoming tangled in loose lead and freaking out.

 

Jasmine was water shy as a pup and I made the mistake of letting her get her feet wet on a long lead which became tangled and really spooked her.

took me quite some time to get her back in the water.I just went in with the other monkeys and kept enticing her to join us.

Now its hard to get her to come out.

[Guest WoobiesMom]

Ewww! Have you seen my lake???

 

Thanks for the heads up though. Wouldn't want to do anything to frighten him. But my lake is gross, no way am I getting in there! Wonder if I could rig something on the lead that would float and prevent it from getting pulled under where he could tangle himself in it? Or maybe a retractable leash that would have some tension on it and stay on the top of the water? Hmm.....

[sweet_ceana]

You could place some styrafoam every couple feet and it would float... or put little kids water wings around the lead

[OurBoys]

We use a retractable lead. Just don't give him any slack. He'll learn how to maneuver his around the lead.

 

Just out of curiosity....Is this a golf course pond/lake?

[Guest WoobiesMom]

Now those are some cheap workable ideas! I think I have an old retractable leash around here somewhere. Quickly gave up THAT idea with an Airedale! I'll check that it's not dryrotted or anything. The water wings sound like a good idea, plenty of those at the dollar store!

 

I call it a lake, but it's actually a large, man-made reservoir. Serves up the drinking water round here after they went and killed the closest real lake. No gas powered boats or swimming allowed. I worry a little about the currents because we had two kids drown after their canoe flipped, so I'd keep him on a leash, just to be safe. Or buy one of those lifejackets for dogs. Here's some pics:

 

http://media.gatewayva.com/photos/rtd/spec...creek/index.htm

 

It just gets pretty scummy and sludgy at most of the shoreline. There's a few sandy beaches that aren't so bad, but the little waves worried Woobie so I don't know that he'd go in around those spots.

[OurBoys]

That's a nice looking lake!!

 

Glad it's not a pond/lake at a golf course. I don't know if it's true but DH forbids our boys to swim in anything that might have water run off from a golf course. He says it contains too much fertilizer.

[Guest WoobiesMom]

That's a problem here as well. Lots of warnings for us to use a special reservoir friendly fertilizer and the local golf course here in the community uses it as well. I guess we're also part of the Chesapeake watershed so they try to stay on top of the water quality.