Dogs

K9 Kamp Weekend Warriors

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

Here in Florida the water temperatures are still balmy and the heat remains intense. Swimming is the only real refuge from our hot, humid temperatures. This weekend Tanner and I took to the pool for a bit of canine vs. human racing. Our K9 Kamp assignment was more or less a tag game with our pups, but my modification allows me to give Tanner a good workout. With a gimpy knee, I seem to be doing a lot of modifying.

Racing with Tanner requires some strategy. He's pretty fast in the water, but I'm faster, especially after I get a good racing dive in and start out ahead. The downside is that IF he catches me, I'm likely to get scratched by his paws in his enthusiasm. My solution to this dilemma is simply to swim along the bottom. It totally confuses him and he sometimes even turns back and looks for me. When I come up at the other end of the pool his facial expressions are just too funny. I wish I had a photographer to capture these, but all I can share are pictures I've taken of Tanner and my daughter swimming recently when she was home for a visit from college.

Our tag games have tuckered us both out and tonight he's looking like an over-fetched snoozer. It's all good. We've had fun and we managed to get our time in over the weekend while things were not as hectic.

By this time next month I won't be willing to swim; I'm a total sissy when it comes to cold water. It needs to be 80 for me to swim without a wet suit. Go ahead and laugh. I'm a warm sissy!

K9 Kamp has been a lot of fun for us. Our hosts Koly and Kelly have asked us to share something we learned from this experience. My answer to that is probably not what they want to hear. Unfortunately I've learned that it's time to get my knee looked at. I've been telling myself it would heal, but 10 months after the injury, I'm still finding it difficult to run, so I guess I need to drag myself to the orthopedist for a good once over.

I've also learned that athletic events are not Oliver's forte. He loves to chase me in a good run, but he's pretty clueless about tug. I guess that could be a safety mechanism; after all, he only weighs 10 lbs. so what chance would he have against me?

We did determine that no matter what rambunctious activity I'm doing with Tanner, Oliver wants to be there to watch. He keeps his distance if we get splashy, but he doesn't want to miss a thing. He ran up and down the pool deck while we swam, occasionally barking as if to tell us we were nuts! He's probably right but that's okay. We had fun. Thanks to Jodi and Peggy for hosting. We'd love to do it again. Happy tails!

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