It was such a nice day today that Little Vinnie and I decided to go to Magnuson Dog Park. I had hopes of getting him in the water, as I was told he was part labrador and everyone knows labs love to swim. This is Vinnie's first summer and if we have a summer that is as warm as last summer was, it would be nice if Vinnie could get in the water to cool off.
I took him to the lake on Saturday, and begged one of our friends to gently nudge him in. Vinnie was standing at the end of the dock, unsuspecting, and my mom's friend picked him up and gently dropped him in the water. Vinnie was fully submerged, and then panicked and clambered up on the dock. It was disappointing, to say the least. Especially since 20 freezing minutes earlier, I had eased myself into the frigid water, hoping that that was going to be the day that Vinnie would learn how to swim. Bleh. As soon as he clambered out, I followed, my lips a deep purple and my knees knocking together.
Anyway, back to today. We climbed in the Durango, which my family has graciously allowed me to borrow while my car is ill, and we headed off to the park. The sun was out and the sky was blue. A perfect day.
The first strong emotion of the day was terror. As I stopped at the traffic light outside my complex, I looked behind me and saw Vinnie trying to climb up to the front seat. Suddenly, his foot got caught between the revolving metal pieces of the seats, and he started yelping. Not once, not twice, but 5 or 6 blood-curdling doggie screams. I didn't know what to do. I had my foot on the brake and tried to reach back there, but I couldn't reach him. I looked to my right to see if the road was clear so I could pull over, but there were a couple cars lined up at the light. "It's okay, Vinnie. What's wrong, baby?" I kept saying, but he didn't stop yelping. Finally, he freed his foot and was quiet. I thought I was going to cry. It was almost as scary as the time he got attacked by the dog 3x his size; all that yelping, and me not knowing what to do or how to help him. I'm so glad I'm not in charge here.
After that ordeal, I quickly coaxed Vinnie up to the front seat, and started petting and kissing him. "It's okay, baby. How are you? Are you okay? I'm so sorry." He curled right up on the passenger seat and laid his head in the crook of my arm. Such a sweetie. We drove the rest of the way to the park with me scratching him under his chin.
We pulled into the parking lot of the park, and Vinnie suddenly got very excited. We had only been here once before, so I doubt he remembers the parking lot or the drive over. Maybe through the open car windows, he can smell all the dogs? Or maybe he has grasped the concept of the word "park" and is actually listening to what I say, regardless of how contradictory his behavior is sometimes.
We walked around the circuit, and he did a good job listening to me and coming when I called him. For some reason, he behaves so well at Magnuson! Or maybe he does at all parks, but I just notice it more at Magnuson because we actually follow the circuit and he is always by me. Anyway, we went into the water part, and he just got so excited! Must be the labrador genes in him, that tell him to get excited when he sees water. He doesn't even swim yet, but he crashes through the water, jumping over the waves, biting them and drinking as much as he can. He is adorable.
Today, as he was running around like a crazy psycho dog, darting through people's legs and under picnic tables and leaping over dogs, I noticed he was wading deeper into the water than he has ever been before. He would get entranced by some dog and follow them into the water, and it was like he didn't realize how deep he was going, how far he was following them. But again and again, he would jump into the water, seemingly undaunted by the fact that he was almost completely submerged. I stood on the "sidelines," cheering him on, saying, "Good boy, Vinnie! Good boy, sweetheart!" like some soccer mom cheering her son on to the winning goal. But I couldn't help myself. For the second time that day, my emotions for this dog almost made me cry. I was so proud of him for being so unafraid and unimpressed by the water. Especially since he didn't seem to enjoy himself at all on Saturday when he was bumped into the lake. :)
We are going to go back to Magnuson a few more times, and I think that the more exposure he gets to the water, the more likely he will swim on his own. I am looking forward to watching his progress.
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