Oreo and Cookie loved going to the “dog pond” to cool off after a hike up the hills. Cookie would swim while Oreo would splash in the shallows. I think, due to her deep chest, swimming has been more difficult for Oreo. Last year we got them both life jackets and they both would swim, as long as I threw treats in for them to retrieve. They never did have any interest in tennis balls or any type of retrieving toys.

Today, many dogs were swimming. I put on Oreo’s vest and she hopped right in the shallows, turning to me for the expected treat. I threw the treats out far enough to get her up to her shoulders. She seemed to have a great time but, was tired after about 5 minutes. As I was preparing to load her into the HoundAbout stroller, some ladies at the pond asked me if the stroller was for my dog. I shyly admitted it was and they exclaimed, to my surprise, what a good “doggy mom” I was. (Reactions previously had ranged from eye rolling to scoffing, concerning the ‘dog stroller.’) Oreo has always loved to go fast. She and my husband (on his roller blades) would pass cars driving on the street on many previous occasions. Now, she can lope (lope? can you call it that type of gait in a tripawd?) along until she fatigues, then get in the stroller for some more speed (if I hook it up to my bike as a trailer), or at least some more fresh air/sights/smells if I jog behind. I am so glad I got the HoundAbout. I will post pictures shortly.

Oreo’s scar still has some crusty scabs so I gently pulled them off this evening as I was doing some scar mobilizations. Now her incision site seems much smoother. I had a doggy-parenting moment when she tried to eat the scabs (eeewwwww! gross!) but, got them to the garbage before she could ingest them. In her more senior years she has become better at “drop it” or “leave it” commands. 🙂