One sunny weekend in mid-March we decided to take our mini Aussie pup to Crissy Field for some ball time. (Yes, I realize at this point, this outing was almost two months ago. Like I said, tax season and upcoming wedding on 7/3.)
This time since Dash's recall has sort of improved, instead of sticking to the grassy field area we ventured over to the beach where there were several dogs and children playing in the shallow stream running into the ocean. I could only imagine Dash was looking at all the other dogs and people splashing around in the water and thinking, "I dunno guys, this water looks awfully cold and wet..."
Little by little Papa tossed the tennis ball in and made our mini Aussie puppy get his paws wet. It seems like herding dogs don't have the same affinity for water as some of the other breeds. For example, I've seen a lab at Fort Funston love water so much that he'd stick his paw into the little water dishes and kick up the water just to try to get himself wet. The owner said the dog would do it repeatedly whenever anything with water was available to spill.
One day soon Dash will have to learn to love the water, because when we eventually move back home to Hawaii there will certainly be many beach outings in store for him. For now we'll let him continue to stick his little paws in the
water and get adjusted. Maybe this spaniel in the background will inspire our landlocked mini Aussie puppy to jump in.
As the play session moved on Dash progressively became braver and moved into deeper water. By this point he's went in far enough to have to shake his coat out... Perhaps we may have a swimmer in the family after all! LOL... although it may not be Dash. Note Papa's shoes are on in this picture and his pants are not rolled.
I love all the pictures of Dash you post with Golden Gate in the background. Bandit doesn't seem too keen on water either. We leave for our annual vacation to the Oregon coast at the end of June. We'll be anxious to see if he's more interested now that he's older. Once the trails going to Lake Washington dry up, we'll be taking him down there as well. I tried to get him interested in a doggy pool last summer when we had some sweltering days and he was miserable, but he always had to be put into the pool. And then he was super anxious to jump out.
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