The Boys and Water

Okay, I am going to try and write a story about Cody (Aussie pup) and trust me, it was hilarious but it may be one of those, 'you have to be there to get it' type of stories. Or, I may suck at writing comedy.

At the time, Cody was about 2 years of age and a 75 lb bundle of energy. This energy was only slightly dimmed by the energy of Rocky, his older brother (black lab). Anything that Rocky did Cody had to follow. It was next to impossible for Bob and I to walk either dog and if Bob got too far ahead of me with Rocky, Cody would freak out in spades.

Now, Bob is considered Alpha male by both dogs but, even they know he is a complete pushover. That said, Bob would walk Rocky because Rocky had managed to pull me off my feet on too many occasions (one in a spring thaw that had me covered in muck head to toe and we had just left the car) and Bob was much stronger and fleeter of foot than I was.

Uh, yeah, that means I'm a klutz. Note to self - story about stop sign.

So I walked Cody. As much as Rocky could pull me off my feet, Cody could have me running in a dead sprint, clinging to the end of his 25' leash in a matter of seconds. It's not a great trade but, it is better than having the skin removed from most surfaces of your body while surfing tarmac.

Ooops, backstory. We have a park nearby where we let our dogs off their leashes if no one is around and play ball with them to run off their excess energy. There is a nice meandering stream that the dogs run to at a pace not to be matched by the two-footed animal. They leap in the air and splash in the water with the fury of two whirling dervishes. The water is only about a foot deep and the dogs chase each other up and down the stream until they poop each other out.

Okay, more like they play until Bob and I are pooped out. Our dogs love going to the park and when we load them in the car all hell breaks loose because they know where they are going.

Well, on a nice hot summer day Bob and I decide to take Rocky and Cody to a new park. A Conservation park. Both dogs are in training (puh-lease, Bob and I suck at it because it isn't the dog that needs training it's the people - we failed) so there I am trying to keep Cody at pace beside me. Bob, meanwhile gets way ahead of me with Rocky and Cody begins to get that crazy look in his eye. I start to dig in my heels to keep Cody from sprinting but then, I hear the splash.

Game over.

Rocky has disappeared from sight and water is obviously over the horizon. Cody bolts and to this day I don't know how I managed to keep my arm in my socket but, there I am tearing ass after him screeching to let Bob know we are right behind him. Okay, I could have been screeching in terror but at least the loud high pitched squealing sound lets Bob know we are coming and coming at a pace no man or beast is going to be able to stop.

I see Bob on the crest of this hill, waving his arms above his head like he is trying to wave Cody off. I don't see Rocky anywhere and I'm not thinking all that much except 'oh God, oh God, oh God'. I see Cody, straining at the farthest point of the 25' leash, leap into the air and throw out all his doggy legs like he is going to bear hug somebody. His floppy ears fly straight up as he disappears from sight. I am still tumbling through the high grass, rushing to the top of the hill, worried that my legs will give out and I will get dragged in Cody's wake. Bob reaches out and grabs me to keep me from barreling over the hill and I come to a halt.

Down below I just catch the tail end of Cody's magnificent swan dive which is about 10 feet below where I am standing and then, blam, he hits the water.

And disappears?

WTF? Then, in the distance I see Rocky swimming for bear and completely freaking out. Cody breaks the surface of the water and the look in his eyes say 'holy shit! Where the hell am I!?'. I start laughing my ass off as Bob tries to reel in Rocky like a fish. The dogs have just discovered that not all water is the same depth. They are in over their heads, literally. Bob and I didn't know the water was deep or we would have been a lot more careful. Rocky reaches shore first and I begin to pull on Cody's lead so he knows which way to go. Once both are safely on dry land, neither go near the water again.

We had taken them to the park to cool off in the hot weather but both of them kept well away from the edge of the water. We kept getting this side long look from Cody whenever we tried to coax him into the water again. He was so not going to trust us near this body of water!

I swear if the boys could talk we would have gotten an ear full that day. That said, the next time we went to our local park it was all Cody could do to not perfect his swan dive. I swear, these two get even a sniff of water and they're gone - oooh, another story for another time. Lord, now that I think about it, our dogs must have covered us in mud or snow head to foot at least once for every year we have had them.

Wow, you forget when they get older just what a menace they could be. Now, they are sweet old puppies but then again, I stopped trying to walk them on a leash a few years back - that's the stop sign story. We have a large enough back yard that we throw the ball back and forth for them so they can spill off some energy.

Oh, and don't even think about splitting them up. The one left behind will howl until they are hoarse. Funny though, the one that is with me is happy as a lark because they are off on their own without their shadow. Sad thing is, they are usually going to the vet when this happens.

Yeah, happy lark turns into 'are you fucking kidding me!? The vet! You brought me to the vet!'