Dog Day of Summer

At the end of the summer season our pool has a Doggie Day Swim.

  (Sadie meet Grace meet Sadie.  That big boy is Champ.)

Sadie was right at home.

She was tentative for about thirty seconds before jumping in, nose first.

 

Although there was an attempt or two to cheat the system by paddling the ball to her.

 She usually wound up going in after it.

With gusto.

Champ lived up to his name.

This two year old Golden swam circles around Sadie.

But they would both come back with their prize.

 

Sometimes, however, Champ liked to bring it up a notch and come back with.....two tennis balls.

Show off.

But with age comes wisdom.

 

 (Gracie, the black lab pup, elected to shy away from the pool herself.  She is the second lab I've ever met who preferred to be on the dry side of water.  Dear baby had herself a great time and hid under lawn chairs when her owner tried to coax in her in the water.)

Sadie figured out if she ran the perimeter of the pool first to get the ball, it would cut her swimming time in half.  She used her shortcut to outsmart Champ every time.

 

Everybody had an awesome time.

 

We did too, just watching her.

She even met a cute boy.

 
Evidently, he makes her smile.

*Oh, funny aside story, at one point, Gracie, the puppy, came over check out Grayson and Abby.  I glanced over to see Gracie grab something in her mouth.  It was Sheldon, Grayson's hermit crab who had become lunch.  I yelled, "That's a hermit crab in her mouth!" and her owner got her to spit Sheldon out.  Poor thing, his first day out on the town with us was almost his last.  He's looking for his way back to Petco.)