I'm like a proud mama...

Last night, I went for a walk with my "boys" (ie. Jerod and Cache) down to Norm Schoenthal Island on the Yellowstone River. Now, if any of you know my dog Cache at all, you have learned that he LOVES the water....as long as it is no more then 3 inches deep. He keeps claiming to me that he's part Lab, but I don't buy it. The dog is DEATHLY afraid of deep water. He'll go in to where it touches his belly and then he'll do this squatty move so that he cools off his backside as well. He had a few traumatic occurrences when he was a puppy that I think caused this paranoia, but I have constantly tried to acclimate him to swimming. I'm tried throwing him in, coaxing him in, chasing him in. Nothing works. I have recently just come to the conclusion that he's never going to swim. I stare in envy at those labs that just jump in recklessly into the deep water to fetch the stick or toy that their masters have just thrown in. I also stare enviously at them collapsing in a tired heap after dragging themselves out of water. A tired dog is a GOOD dog, and my dog is NEVER tired. If any of you doubt me, you come over and try to run my dog until he's tired. I DARE YOU.

Anyway, back to the story....Jerod and I started wading into the water in one of the slower areas of a small tributary of the river. Cache was not about to let us have all the fun without him, so he waded in slowly after us. Once he got to the point where he couldn't touch the bottom anymore, he tried this move where he kept his back feet on the bottom while he paddled and splashed frantically towards us. It was quite humorous until he reached us and tried to climb up the front of us making footholds with his claws. After a few tries, we managed to show Cache that if he kicks with both his front and back feet, and he keeps his paws under the water, it all works a lot better. Pretty soon, he was swimming back and forth between the two of us and his frantic paranoid look of "Please help me!!" turned into a look of determination like "Ok, I can DO this. I WILL have fun!" I was so ecstatic. I just kept praising and hugging him. When we got out of the water, I made a comment about how that was cool and everything but he would NEVER go back in without us being in the water to coach him in. Jerod suggested that we try to throw a stick in the water and see if that interests him.

Sidebar: There's something you have to know about Cache and "fetching" as well. He will get very excited about a squeaky ball or a yummy stick, and he will even chase after it if you throw it for him. But he is also a very easily distracted boy. If the wind shifts just right, or a butterfly flutters by, or someone THINKS about driving by my house, the fetching is forgotten and he's off to investigate this new and extremely exciting turn of events.

So, I wasn't very hopeful about this stick in the water idea. We started off easy. We threw it into the shallow part and he loved splashing in the shallow water to get the stick and he even brought it back to us! We kept throwing it further and further into the deeper water and pretty soon, my little "puppy" was charging into the deep water determined to swim out and get that stick. He was like a normal, non-water-fearing lab that ran into the water with reckless abandon. AND actually bringing the stick BACK! I just stood there in awe and kept asking, "Who are you and what did you do with my chicken dog??" I was so proud of him, that we just HAD to stop by McDonald's on the way home to pick him up a double cheeseburger. And the best part?? We got home and he collapsed in front of the A/C register, a wet and VERY tired puppy.

So, in honor of my full-fledged Labrador SWIMMER, I'm posting some pictures of some of my favorite wet-Cache pictures.