Fearful Dog Vignette #4: Pond Ho!

No time for walks. Little time for play. Tom’s worries about high temps and rattlesnakes. All that means the pups get less time outside right now than usual. So, when we do have time, Ginko (in particular) makes a mad dash for the pond. Our goal is to give him freedom but keep him from getting soaking wet.

Last Friday, during a quick phone confab between me and Tom to trade tales about my mom’s latest health news from the hospital and about his mom’s latest health tests, he stopped mid-sentence.

“Ginko!” (insert whistling sounds here) “Come on, buddy. What are you doing?”

Lilly, pleased to have the time and space to get her full-speed run going, raced to Tom’s side for a wiggling, kissing fit.

“Ginko gave up the chase before the bridge,” Tom told me, referring to the rocked-in culvert that allows our driveway to span the creek.

When Ginko finally made his way along the edge of the middle pasture (known around here as the “ball field”), Tom had his answer … Ginko had gone swimming already, even though he’d only been outside for mere minutes.

“He’s soaking wet and headed for the door. I’d better go close it,” Tom rushed on. “Talk to you later.”

We’ve talked before about the sick dog steeplechase … I can only assume Tom did his own version … wet dog steeplechase. Who’ll get to the door first? Mud-averse dog dad, or happy, wet dog that’s a combo of lab + greyhound?