learning to swim.

For a dog who is part lab, it took Claire a little longer than expected to learn how to swim. We had headed to the river on multiple occasions since she was about five months old, and she loved prancing around in the shallow water, but my sweet girl didn't learn to actually paddle those paws in the "deep end" until she was about a year old - which was around this past Memorial Day. For the rest of the summer, I only had to mention the river (or water, or swimming), and she would wait by the door for me to grab my shoes and her leash so we could get going.


When she first learned to swim, we were with some friends who brought their dog too. My friend's husband was part swim-instructor and part coach. (I apparently played the part of the overeager lifeguard; when Claire went in a little too deep and lost her footing and started flailing around in the water, I was about to jump in and grab her...) He shook a branch right under the surface of the water, and waited for Claire to grip it between her teeth. Then, when she had a good grip, he would drag her around until she started to paddle. Pretty soon, she was jumping in and fetching tennis balls with the rest of them! Now that I think about it, Claire's experience learning to swim was a lot like mine - minus the branch, that is...

Showing off her new swimming skills!