Faulkner's thread on Daisy in the creek and he reluctance to leave got me remembering.
We had a black Lab named Duke. Duke never saw a body of water, from a puddle to the Pacific, that he didn't want to take head on. He was like that with most things, but especially water. We sometimes had to literally DRAG him out of a pond or lake.
Now, one time we decided to go camping for the weekend. We'd go up and find a place to camp in the hills as it was cooler up there. We finally found a place to camp right where the road crosses a fairly good size creek. It was about 30 feet across and moving pretty good.
We set up camp and my brothers went off exploring while my folks sat and had a cup of coffee. I had recently convinced my mom to buy me a toy plastic boat, and I wanted to play with it in the creek. My mom took a look at the creek rushing along and started to say no, but my dad said there was a small eddy just upstream where I could play with it as long as I stayed dry. When I went down to the creek Duke went with me.
Now usually he'd be in like a shot, but he sat right there and watched me play with my boat. Most likely ready to haul my *** back to shore.
Inevitably, the boat floated out of my reach, so I got a stick and tried to get it back. Well, my thrashing at it with the stick did 2 things: it pushed it out of the eddy and into the current, and it clued Duke in that I was upset about my boat floating away. So, he jumped right in and swam after the boat, which was now picking up speed. Now when this creek got to the road, It funneled into a metal culvert about 12 feet in diameter. When it came out the other side it fell about 6 feet into a small pool, before continuing down to the ocean.
Duke was a good swimmer and he caught the boat right away, but the current had gotten him and he was fighting it, but losing. I was yelling and screaming which brought the whole family down to the creek in time to see Duke get swept into the culvert. Now my Dad was running alongside the creek trying to reach Duke before he made it to the culvert, afraid his collar might get hung up on any brush inside. But Duke was swept into the culvert.
My dad made it across the road to see Duke come shooting out the other side, boat in his jaws, and land in the pool. As Duke swam to the side, Dad kinda leaned over and put his hands on his knees and sighed. Duke came out of the water went over to my dad, dropped the boat at his feet, and my dad swears he winked at him.
Right before running right into the creek and swimming straight for the culvert. Shooom! Out the other side and right to the shore. My dad tried to catch him as went by but missed. Shooom!
We had quite a rodeo trying to catch that dog. 5 of us after him and he did it 6 times! We finally got him corralled and tied him to a tree in camp. But that dog had the biggest grin on his face!
We had a black Lab named Duke. Duke never saw a body of water, from a puddle to the Pacific, that he didn't want to take head on. He was like that with most things, but especially water. We sometimes had to literally DRAG him out of a pond or lake.
Now, one time we decided to go camping for the weekend. We'd go up and find a place to camp in the hills as it was cooler up there. We finally found a place to camp right where the road crosses a fairly good size creek. It was about 30 feet across and moving pretty good.
We set up camp and my brothers went off exploring while my folks sat and had a cup of coffee. I had recently convinced my mom to buy me a toy plastic boat, and I wanted to play with it in the creek. My mom took a look at the creek rushing along and started to say no, but my dad said there was a small eddy just upstream where I could play with it as long as I stayed dry. When I went down to the creek Duke went with me.
Now usually he'd be in like a shot, but he sat right there and watched me play with my boat. Most likely ready to haul my *** back to shore.
Inevitably, the boat floated out of my reach, so I got a stick and tried to get it back. Well, my thrashing at it with the stick did 2 things: it pushed it out of the eddy and into the current, and it clued Duke in that I was upset about my boat floating away. So, he jumped right in and swam after the boat, which was now picking up speed. Now when this creek got to the road, It funneled into a metal culvert about 12 feet in diameter. When it came out the other side it fell about 6 feet into a small pool, before continuing down to the ocean.
Duke was a good swimmer and he caught the boat right away, but the current had gotten him and he was fighting it, but losing. I was yelling and screaming which brought the whole family down to the creek in time to see Duke get swept into the culvert. Now my Dad was running alongside the creek trying to reach Duke before he made it to the culvert, afraid his collar might get hung up on any brush inside. But Duke was swept into the culvert.
My dad made it across the road to see Duke come shooting out the other side, boat in his jaws, and land in the pool. As Duke swam to the side, Dad kinda leaned over and put his hands on his knees and sighed. Duke came out of the water went over to my dad, dropped the boat at his feet, and my dad swears he winked at him.
Right before running right into the creek and swimming straight for the culvert. Shooom! Out the other side and right to the shore. My dad tried to catch him as went by but missed. Shooom!
We had quite a rodeo trying to catch that dog. 5 of us after him and he did it 6 times! We finally got him corralled and tied him to a tree in camp. But that dog had the biggest grin on his face!
