Buddy’s happiest place in the world is swimming in water. It was a few months after I adopted Buddy when I found out about his aquatic love. I arrived home from work one day to find the house empty of both humans and dogs. When they all returned my housemates were all excitedly telling me how Buddy had transformed into a happy seal while on a walk by a local canal. They showed me photos and said he turned into the happiest dog in the world and how much of a struggle it was to pull him away. I never took him to the canal myself because he spends a lot of time on my bed and I don’t want a slimy snuggle monster sleeping next to me.
Shortly after that Blake took him to the beach and said he had to tie too leashes together to keep him from swimming out to sea. I always assumed Buddy might have been raised by cats given how well he curls into a ball, licks himself like a cat and enjoys laying on tummies like a cat. Perhaps he was actually raised by seals. Lacking the ability to drive I never took him to the beach to witness him trying to swim back to his blubbery brethren.
I finally saw Buddy in action in the water when all the housemates and dogs and friends of the house went to my housemate Beth’s family property out in the country. On the property there were giant cow troughs, basically big enough for become a miniature play pool for Buddy. He was hesitant about getting into the troth, uncertain, we encouraged him in. He stood for a moment in the slimy water and then made a splash. After the splash his demeanor changed from unsure to utter joy, he proceeded to go around in circles in the troth making splash after splash smiling like he was on the best roller coaster ever. All the human’s sat down and marveled at the sight of pure joy. Buddy’s happiness was infectious, it was like when one person is laughing and another person will laugh, we were all happy because Buddy was so happy. I was then informed the drinking troth automatically fills with water so it is in fact never ending fun, Buddy could play splash splash off into oblivion.
Buddy enjoying some splash splash.
After about half an hour to an hour the sun was starting to set and we still had to wash and dry Buddy off before the country temperature got cold. I sternly tried ordering Buddy out of the troth. He ignored me. So I tried walking off to see if he would follow. I made to about a 100 metres down the hill and started calling for him, he stopped splashing only to yell some noises at me, if I had to compare the noises to anything it would be an adolescent child whining about how they didn’t want to go to school. I went back up the hill. My friends were uncertain if he could get out. I was certain he knew how he was just being a spoilt jerk. Sure enough after another stern ‘Buddy out.’ He hopped out looking like a slimy cow seal dog. My friends woke up early the next morning so they could take him to another drinking troth for a final round of splash splash before we left the property. I was severely hung over\asleep and missed it, I did wake up to Buddy jumping excitedly on my bed covered in slim, licking my face.
Over the course of proceeding months, I kept hearing different stories from my housemates about taking Buddy to the beach or rivers and letting him swim. I still had never seen him swim. I did see him have a failed attempt though. We were walking by a duck pond on a cold late night, I was a bit worried that Buddy might jump into the water but he was behaving himself. Until he heard a duck quack, he promptly belly flopped into the pond. He quickly headed back to land as soon as he realised how cold the water was, he had such a sad face with ears pointed down. The water had betrayed him. I ended up once again sleeping next to a stinky wet dog.
I finally did get to see Buddy swim in a local river. He starts out as ungraceful as a child learning to swim for the first time, lots of frantic splashing and not much motion, he however steadies out to become a graceful cow seal. He lacks consistency with direction however, he zig zags through the water randomly changing direction from upstream to downstream. He seems to prefer upstream though. Maybe he’s swimming to his innately known spawning pool. Buddy ignores all calls to come ashore, if he needs a break, he makes sure to take it on the opposite side of the river from the humans. He comes out to the human side when he is completely exhausted. It still takes a lot of calling for him to actually leave the shore.
Christmas 2015, we did secret Santa in my household. Blake had gotten me, but instead of buying me a gift he bought Buddy one. A doggy life jacket for when he goes swimming. Whenever my housemates took him for a swim they were always a bit afraid that he might drown. This marvelous gift alleviated their fears and made Buddy’s swimming a lot easier – also longer.
Buddy’s latest swimming exploit was at a friend’s house for a celebration for a beagle named Cody’s birthday. All of Cody’s doggy friends were invited along. Cody also has a pool at his house, Cody’s human entered the pool and as soon as Buddy heard a splash he ran up to the side of the pool and instantly tried getting in. Cody’s human was happy for Buddy to have a swim, and swam he did. Buddy would give any Olympic swimmer a run for their money, endurance wise anyways. He was smashing out lap after lap for the better part of an hour before he hopped out for a break. On his breaks he would sit on the deck and stare at the pool in amazement at the best thing in the world. Over the course of the next 4 hours he would get into the pool, pop up at the side to be lifted out, stare at the pool, get back in for a few more laps and repeat. He also had the other dogs at the party watching and almost cheering him on.
Jenny sporting her classic rotti smile.
Buddy saying goodbye to the pool.
When I we got home after his laps, he looked at me with the most love I’ve ever seen in his eyes. I felt that this was a little undeserved as I hadn’t actually done anything. Blake drove him over to Cody’s while I was still trying to wake up, Cody’s human let him into the pool. Looking back, I haven’t taken him once for a swim of any kind. It was always the people around us that have always shown him the super fun times.
There are the standard important things that people get told about when caring for a dog, what to feed them, walking them, training them. I think an overlooked aspect is who you surround the dog with, which I think is an important part of a doggy’s enjoyment of life. I get pretty caught up in my own work, which is also during the night time, so Buddy doesn’t get to have all that much fun with me, plenty of cuddles, but no swims or wrestling – I’m not an active person like that. Fortunately, the close friends around me have very little in common with me, and they love showing Buddy a good time. If it wasn’t for the people around me, Buddy wouldn’t be smiling so much. I sometimes think of Buddy before I adopted him, being alone in a cage, wanting someone to cuddle and somewhere to swim. Instead he was trapped, without any comprehension of why he had no one around him. I’m grateful to my friends for going out of their way to make him smile, he’s certainly made up for lost time in the past year.
Shortly after I adopted Buddy, Blake told me that taking in a rescue dog is one of the most rewarding feelings. Initially I thought he meant what he said along the lines of ‘I’ve done a good thing’ kind of rewarding. I’ve realised now that the rewarding feeling is getting to find out about Buddy, all his weird quirks, bowling, skating, snuggling, swimming, his happy pony prance that he does when my father visits, and getting to be his friend. Buddy seems to appreciate every moment he has. Especially the slimy ones. When he’s happy, I’m happy.
If you’re thinking of getting a doggy companion, please consider adopting. There are other Buddys out there (especially given that Buddy is probably the no.1 generic rescue dog name). They don’t know why they’re in a cage without anyone. Perhaps you could surround them with wonderful people. Maybe you could be the person to take her/him for their first swim. I hope you do.
