On Tuesday, we went to Sence Valley Forest Park again - and this time we took a camera. It was warm out and it's a 2 mile drive, so by the time we got there Mollie was starting to overheat slightly. We threw the ball as we walked (off and on - when produced from a pocket and squeaked it provides an excellent distraction from other dogs) and by the time we got to the first bridge, Mollie was panting hard. I walk down to the 'stream' to see if I could persuade her to have a drink, but she decided that was enough and flung herself in. We spent a few minutes chucking the ball from one bank to the other, with Mollie swimming across the current, then walked further down to where the path slopes down towards the water, and Trace threw the ball - and off went Mollie. As you can see, she really enjoys swimming now!! When we took her to Bosworth Water Park in April, it took several attempt to get her in the water and she wasn't very confident at all. Since then she's really toned up and got stronger and generally more confident and that obviously helps with the swimming as well.
There are some more photos here, in a slide show. The white gravel in some of the photos shows where the paths were eroded by the flood, and the straw across the path shows where the water was up to at the weekend.
Back in the car, Mollie (with the aid of her wet fur) managed to slip her harness and escape onto the parcel shelf. She then spent almost the entire trip from Ibstock to Loughborough (we went to visit some friends) drying herself and nesting. Here she is drying her muddy face on the shelf - her tail was wagging so hard that it's just a blur!!The rear windscreen is now a bit filthy... and the harness is going to be adjusted somewhat before it's used again - it was new so I didn't quite tighten it enough...
3 comments:
Brilliant pictures, and brilliant fun by the looks of it! Prince doesn't mind swimming, but prefers a sedate paddle. Incidentally, following on from your comment on bones on my blog - I bought Prince some extraordinarily expensive rawhide chews the other day that I hadn't seen before. Like Molly, there aren't many he hasn't sampled. Anyway, he didn't like them. Rubbish. Horrible. Is Mollie as fickle as Prince is? There are only one or two types of bone he likes, even if others look similar they're simply not good enough!
Thanks! It was great fun, although I feel the need to acquire a super-absorbent towel...her fur's so absorbent she could be patented by JML...
Mollie's the same with her chews. I bought her some normal rawhide chews and although she gets excited for a couple of minutes she bores of them really easily. But if you give her a pork & beef one, she'll quite happily settle down. In fact, she was crated while we were out last night and made a mess of her bed - while I was sorting it out again after we came back she kept impatiently shoving her nose in the crate to see if she could spot her half-chewed pork & beef twister.. obviously the crating experience left her mortally traumatised... sigh..
Great that Molly swims and plays in the water. Ben & Jenny won't swim, normally, though they enjoy playing in the water. And they like going right out to their stomach -- to drink. Hmmm. Today Jenny got in the water. I think, by mistake... but she enjoyed it and from now on I suspect she'll get in more often!
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