Some of you may remember my post last year about our "rescue" puppy Luca. The vet at the rescue and our vet once we got him home both felt that he would top out at 40-45 pounds.....they were both wrong! He is now about 90 pounds! He is a great dog......He just doesn't like to get wet. I didn't force the issue with him last year as I didn't want to traumatize him. This year, I have been taking him for walks along the area rivers and lakes and coaxing him into the water with treats....he still doesn't like it, but his tummy won't let him miss out on a treat. We spent a good bit of time last Summer and this Spring playing with a canoe in the yard. He has no issues getting in/out and responding to "sit", "stay" and "down" commands. This past Saturday I decided it was time to take him to a local lake and get him out for a paddle. I figured the hard part would be coaxing him into the water to step into the boat. I was already in the boat on my knees and had a rubber pad for him to sit on. I put a few treats into my PFD pocket in case I had to coax him in......which I did. Once I got him in, I told him "down" and he responded...I then told him to "stay".......As soon as I lifted my paddle, he shot out of the canoe, taking both of us for a swim! We were only in about 1.5' of water, he must have nearly landed on shore from his leap as he was barely wet. I of course was soaked from the waist down......After he shook off what little water he had gotten on himself, he walked over and sat down next to my wife in the grass....she of course was laughing hysterically. The 2nd attempt went a little better, we paddled around for about 20 minutes...He started getting a little antsy then so we called it a day.....At one point he actually laid down and rested his head on the gunwale and looked fairly comfortable.......
Mike
Mike
