Puddle-Plopping Pleases Puppy

It's Monday Mischief time and this morning Rita's mischievous idea was to plop down in a puddle on our muggy morning walk. Swell. The girl can sniff out a puddle at 50 paces. She finds puddles that I don't even notice and suddenly plops down or pounces with her front legs into them. And the muddier the better! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, but fortunately, she dried off before we got home.

Awww. Every hike needs a stream!

Rita loves to get in the water, but doesn't like to swim. When we go to the beach, no matter the temperature, pretty much the first thing she does is to plop down in the water. (I *need* to bring my camera or Nano along so I can get a photo/video of it. It's so funny to see her plop down then belly-crawl along.)

On vacation, no treats/coaxing could convince her to swim!

But this weekend she actually swam! It was so cute! It was hot at the beach, so I waded out as deep as I could without soaking my shorts. I got her to chase me out, and before she knew it, she was swimming. I wish we'd had the camera! I got her to do it a second time, but she wouldn't go for a third, so I don't think she's converted into a Missy Franklin yet, but I'll keep trying.

It's fun to see her swim since she is our first swimmer. Abby never swam, which was a bummer because, for one thing, swimming is great exercise for tripawds, and also she had webbed feet so we thought she might be into it, but nope. Like Rita, she loved to get wet and wade/run through the water, but she would never come out far enough to swim. Not once in her little life!

Bailey swam three times in her life - never by choice. Once as a pup when we first got her in Canada, she ran out onto the not-exactly-frozen ice covering the stream near where we lived and broke through! Mike was walking her and watched in panic while, luckily, she managed to scramble back up onto the ice by herself. Mike used to be a lifeguard - but cold water is his nemesis, so he didn't relish the idea of going in after her.

At our last house, we once put Bailey in the pool, since we wanted to teach her where the stairs were in case she ever fell in while we weren't around. Well, she didn't need the stairs - she was such a water-hater that she swam straight to the edge and pulled herself up and out like a person would! It was amazing! She was a strong little thing.

The third time she swam was when my lovable but moose-like niece, Dannie the golden retriever, hip-checked B into the pool in her frenzy to run after the ball. Bailey was NOT impressed.

Hopefully there will be more mischief-making in the water with Rita this summer - but at the beach, while swimming, and not in the neighborhood mud puddles!