stubbornness apparently runs in the family.

Claire was ornery today. Maybe it was because I left her at home for a couple hours while I went canoeing, or maybe it's because she's three and feels like she can be a big girl and do things by herself. Who knows. But when we were at the river this afternoon, she out and out disobeyed me by swimming across the river and scaling a cliff. It was only about seven feet high, but still. I saw her gazing longingly toward it beforehand and told her to leave it, and though she looked right at me, she still went and did it anyway. I called and called for her to come back down, but she didn't even acknowledge me until I told her that I was going to go home.

It wasn't until she started barking and crying that I realized that she was stuck and couldn't figure out how to get down - which is when I got scared. So I just jumped right in (fully clothed with sneakers on), swam across the river, climbed halfway up the cliff, and somehow managed to persuade her to jump into my arms so that I could carry her down. And then I didn't trust her to follow me to the car, so I carried her there, sopping wet, sneakers squishing all the way.

Now she's happily laying on the couch gnawing on a marrow bone without a care in the world. She doesn't even remember that just an hour ago, I risked my life in snake-infested waters to carry her to safety! But you know what? It's fine - because she's back on river restriction until she remembers how to do an excellent recall. Which we will start working on tomorrow.