The Cottage

Diets had his first trip to the River's family cottage in the great Canadian north. For those of you who know where Bancroft is, it is about 30 minute drive from there - just east of the southern tip of Alqonquin Park.

The area is rugged, the population sparse, amenities few and the insects fierce.

Diets adjusted like he had lived up there his entire life and it was a joy to see this dog tearing around the property, chasing wildlife, sun bathing on the dock, going for canoe rides and swimming in the lake. Yes, I said swimming. He even jumped off the dock 2-3x after his wubba toy....

Previously he had not seemed to be able to piece things together in that department - however the warm weather, nice gentle slope of the beach area and motivation of having myself or husband in the lake seemed to provide the right learning environment. With no further ado - here is the photo proof ....... (there is also video, but I don't have the time right now to upload).

On arrival -

Had to switch to his remote collar due to his love of chasing kayakers down the lake -

And what you have all been waiting for - the photo evidence of him retrieving his new kong wubba using his newly acquired skills of swimming.

After 5 days at the cottage - his foot pads are worn down to nothing (a bit raw in some areas), his coat smells like lake water (which is good - it is a very clean lake!) and his evenings were spend like this -

Or Like This....

I still wouldn't trust him to swim well if he were to accidently fall into a body of water or something of that nature. However for occasional recreation and exercise - it is a great skill for a dog to know how to swim.