Today is a gorgeous spring-like day. Bright, sunny, 17 degrees celcius - in other words, the perfect day to skip out on the housework and take the dogs out to the river. It only takes about 10 minutes to drive to my favourite spot to take the dogs out for a good walk and a swim in the Murray River.
Even though it is a friday I was surprised that I didn't meet anyone else walking their dog. There is a paved walking/bike track along side the river which is normally quite popular as it is nowhere near any houses nor roads.
Gromit must be part retriever. He was happy when we got to the part of the river that he could swim and splash around in. If I threw a rock into the water, he would run out to that spot, look around for the rock, and even stick his head fully underwater in the search for the rock.
Maple, on the other hand, is not so fond of water. She did brave the river up to about her elbows but then would run back to the shore and run along the shore waiting for Gromit to come back out of the water. The longer we were there, the slightly braver she got, but Maple never got to the point of wetting more than just the lowest part of her undersides.
I had my first suspicions that Maple might not be a water loving dog when I had to give her bath at approx 10 weeks of age, and she fought it like a cat - and repeated the exact same behaviour the next time she had a bath.
Both dogs had a great time playing along side the river and running around the river flats. They are both sound asleep outside right now.
Since the walking track seemed to be deserted, I decided to try walking Maple off leash. She was very good and mostly kept very close to Gromit. I did practice lots of recall with Maple, and she was fairly good at it, but she still needs a lot more practice before I would be comfortable allowing her off leash with anyone else around.
I didn't take the camera with me, so no pics or videos - hopefully next time.
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