June 2, 2009

Yes, It’s This Hot

As of now (3 in the afternoon) the official temperature is 82 degrees. That’s hot, well, at least to me it’s hot.  And the day is not over. In the Pacific Northwest, the real heat of the day doesn’t hit us at noon. It hits around 5 in the evening.

What’s a dog to do?

Not born with sweat glands, I must pant. Gretchen likes it when I pant because, as a puppy I had to have my bottom right canine removed. It came in crooked, making my other teeth all crooked and my bite all wrong.  So they had the doctor remove it. While this gives me a bit of a lisp when I talk/woof, it also means that my tongue falls to one side.

And when it’s super hot like today, my tongue falls to the side a lot!

But when it’s hot, I also get to go swimming and I don’t think I can describe how fun it is to go swimming.

Today we picked up Ollie and Lucy earlier than usual and headed to the off-leash park by the water. After a short walk from the parking lot to the fenced-in area, Gretchen released us. I went straight for the water whereupon a large lab name Chip stole my toy. Yeah, that’s what Chip has in his mouth in the picture to the right.

Usually, I’ll be a bit more pushy trying to get my toy back, but maybe because it’s so hot or maybe because Chip was kind of big, I let him play with it for awhile. I drank some lake water and swam around a bit. Eventually, Chip gave up my toy and I was ready for some retrieving action.

Though I went straight for the water, Lucy went straight to Gretchen’s backpack to try to find a ball.  Gretchen had one, of course, and Lucy was content to race across the sandy enclosed field chasing after the ball.

Lucy had to fight for her ball at times, though. There were a number of big dogs at the park today and they were interested both in Lucy’s ball, but also in Lucy. Lucy’s a nice girl, but she doesn’t always play well with others. Who can blame her, really. She’s little. She’s fast. She looks like something big dogs might want to chase and chase they did.

Again and again, we heard Lucy give her warning growl and bark telling the big dogs to back off. They listened. What she lacks in size, she makes up for with chutzpah!

Now Ollie…well, when he first arrives at the park he hasn’t a clue what to do with himself. He races off and then runs in circles just waiting for someone to notice him. He’ll stop and smell something for a split second, but then race off again bouncing speedily with a huge smile on his face.

The last time we were at this park, there were hardly any dogs at all. Today there were more visitors, but still the park was pretty much ours to play in. And the last time we were at the park, Ollie just waded into the water a bit.  He watched me swim, but he showed no interest in immersing himself for a swim.

I guess that’s why we were all surprised when he waded out a bit farther than before and then, all of the sudden, started swimming.

Ollie came out of the water happy and content — drying himself off with a hearty shake!

Lucy even gave it a try…brave little girl!

Gretchen didn’t get a photograph of Lucy actually swimming. I think she was as stunned as I was, but Lucy did it and she swam very well! Of course, she made it back to the shore very quickly because, after all, there’s more fetch to play!

We played at a variety of games at the park. Gretchen would throw the ball for Lucy and Ollie would chase after her. Then she’d throw my toy into the water and Ollie would chase after me. And sometimes, Ollie would just run around for no reason at all and Lucy would search for the culprit who stole her ball … Chip, no doubt!

We were all pretty refreshed and happy by the time we piled back into the car. We dropped Lucy and Ollie off and then went back home for some lunch. I ate my breakfast (I wasn’t interested in it this morning, but it sure tasted good after a swim) and Gretchen ate some lunch before we headed back out into the heat to fetch Gemma!

I got very excited when I realized we were heading to Gemma’s house. She can be a little pest, but when I let myself relax, we really do have a fun time!  Of course, it was really hot by the time we picked her up so our afternoon was play time followed by a cool drink and rest.

First, we went to the park to play some fetch…

Then we cooled off in the shade…they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and that is very true for dogs. I’d lie down with my back to Gretchen and Gemma would mimic me. Sweet…

Then we’d wrestle in the shade followed by some more fetch…

We went for a walk through the park and then Gretchen decided we needed some water because (have I mentioned this?), it was very hot! But little did we know, we were in for a treat. ICE CUBES!

I love ice cubes, but Gretchen had to teach Gemma how to crunch on them and lick them with her tongue.

There’s nothing like an ice cube to cool me down so I got a little frisky and wanted to wrestle some more with Gemma. She was game! We played at wrestling outside in the shade…

Then inside wrestling…

Then we rested in the shade…imitating each other again…

Then back to wrestling again…both outside and inside again…

We took Gemma home — all of us exhausted — and then Gretchen and I headed to the lake for my swimming lesson. No photographs of that because, well, we were both swimming.  I know how to swim, but Gretchen’s trying to teach me to swim next to her. I do pretty well, but I get kind of nervous the farther from shore we go.  This is frustrating for Gretchen because I turn into her and try to herd her back to shore.  Of course, when we turn back for shore I’m way out in front showing her the way. She also gets frustrated because every time she ducks her head under doing the breast stroke, I get nervous and swim right at her. The same thing when she does the crawl stroke. I don’t know…it’s something about all that splashing and her head going under the water that gives me a fright.

On the way home, I peed a thousand times and while spending the last hour posting this blog, I’ve had to get up 5 times to relieve myself. Gretchen says I drink more lake water than any dog she’s ever known. Whatever. It was fun and now I’m thoroughly tired!

I just checked the temperature report again…it’s now 84 degrees. 2 degrees in an hour. Man, it’s hot!