Water Rescue At The Dog Park

This past Monday, Ray and I decided to take our 50 lb puppy to the dog park in Lincoln. Ebony LOVES the dog park! She is a very well mannered, curious and social dog and she can practice all of that there.

Now, Ebony is a mix. We know she has lab and german shepherd in her. She has the webbed feet, tail and coat of fur that labs are known for. Her head, ears and personality however are all shepherd!

Back to the story. We got to the park and she explored and played for a bit. Then we ended up over at the creek and pond. She is a lab mix who is not so happy about being wet. She has webbed feet for goodness sake! So, this could not last for long. We tried to get her to go into the water and check it out, assuming that she would like it if she jumped in. No success! She would sniff the water, drink the water, but didn't even want her paws wet.

With that, we decided to take action. A dog with webbed feet should be swimming on a hot and sunny summer day. Ray took her around to the other side of the pond area, and bumped her into the water.

She fell into the water and immediately climbed out. But then, she seemed a bit curious. So, into the water she went again with a little help from Ray. And then it happened....Ebony froze. She did not fight the water, but she sat down and would not move or try to get out. At first we thought she was just getting used to the water. Then we realized she didn't know what to do and she was unsure about swimming in deeper water that she would have needed to go through in order to come out the other side toward us.

After about 15 minutes and her making no attempt to even really move around, it was time for a Ray style water rescue! He took off shoes and socks, and went in the water to bring her out.

And that fast, Ebony was again the happy and playful pup she always is, although very wet. She immediately started playing with another dog and running around.

We stayed for a while to let her play herself tired and to dry out a bit before getting back into the car. Next time we plan to take waterproof shoes or sandals, some towels and treats and see if we can get her to follow us into the water. It would be such a shame for those very cute webbed paws to go to waste!

Oh yeah, you did not see double. Ray and I are wearing matching t-shirts. Totally unplanned, but neither of us felt like changing that morning. No jokes please ;-)