Hazel swims - Woohoo!!

Hazel just spent her second weekend at the lake. The first weekend, she swam a little bit but this last weekend, she swam quite a bit and even fetched the canvas trainer a few times. Parker swam too, not quite as much and he's not as graceful as Hazel, but he even fetched the trainer. Parker tries to keep his paws on top of the water, so he splashes himself with each stroke until he gets going. It is quite funny to watch. Parker will whine at you and do false starts before he'll actually swim. Hazel kept swimming in circles right in front of him like, "here, see how easy it is?" LOL Parker also "saved" a friend of ours. Our friend was in the lake, up to his neck in water and Parker was staring at him. Ray hollered at him "Parker, save me!" and Parker swam out to him and presented his tail. Ray let Parker drag him to shore (he wasn't letting Parker pull his full weight) and thanked him for saving him. Ray turned around and went back into the water and Parker looked at him like "WTH! I just saved you, you idiot!" Parker gave him this disgusted look for a minute and then layed down on the bank. LOL Parker was also much more interested in all the kids in the water. He would stare at them really hard like he was trying to decide if they needed saving or not! I warned them not to call out to him unless they really needed him.

Anyway, hubby and I are both so happy that Hazel swims (and Parker too)! It was one of the reasons that we decided on newfs! Since they both liked the canvas trainer so well, maybe I'll start looking for a small dummy so we can work on water rescue training.

I took some pictures, but not with my digital (I really suck at action pictures with the digital) so as soon as I get them developed, I'll scan them and post a few. :crazy:

Can't wait for the pics!! We used to have a newf, long ago! He used to jump on TOP of us as we were swimming!! He thought he was saving us but he really wasn't!! Crazy dog!

How great is that! I'll bet they love it, my Lab hates the water - go figure...
I can't picture trying to dry a newf after a swim though :eek:

We used to have a newf, long ago! He used to jump on TOP of us as we were swimming!! He thought he was saving us but he really wasn't!! Crazy dog!

I've had a Rottie do that to me..xD It's funny...

I did notice that Parker tried to push Hazel under while they were both going for the canvas trainer, so I held one of them while hubby threw the trainer for the other one. I guess I'll have to buy another one! I am just happy that she likes the water. We can't use the spray bottle as a behavior modifier though - she likes to be sprayed and will close her eyes and stretch her head towards the bottle! :D She'll even turn to the side so that you can spray her down evenly!

We have a Kiyack (sp?) park here and a kiyacker was telling my hubby about a newf that he saw at a kiyack event. Apparently a kiyacker had fallen out of his kiyack, and the newf jumped into the river to get him. The newf swam to the guy and offered his tail, but the guy wouldn't take it. The newf swam a circle around him and offered his tail again, but again the guy wouldn't take it. The newf circled again and grabbed the guy's life jacket and drug him to shore. Apparently the guy was trying to save his kiyack and that's why he was ignoring the dog! :D Of course, the dog didn't give a rat's butt about the kiyack! I guess this dog wasn't trained in water rescue but there are lots of stories about newfs saving drowning people with no training.