Dog Days at the Beach

Saturday I took Isaac to the doggie beach at Alum Creek State Park.  It's a fenced in area, like any dog park, but it's on the lake and the fence extends into the water so that dogs can swim in the lake but are still in a safe, enclosed area.  Isaac loves water (except for in the bath tub) and I was sure he would love the lake.

He did.  Isaac has a routine he follows at dog parks.  First, he sniffs every tree, bush, clump of grass, fence post, etc.  Then he pees on all those things.  He usually spends the first 20 minutes or so sniffing and peeing.  Then he wants to say hello to any people at the dog park.  He likes people more than he likes other dogs.  After he greets the people, then he is ready to greet the other dogs and to run around.  He loves to run, but he always sticks to his routine.  That means unless we stay at the dog park for more than half an hour, he doesn't end up getting to do any running.  It takes him that long to sniff, pee, and greet all the people.

So he did the same thing at the doggie beach.  I couldn't wait to see what happened when he realized there was water and he was actually allowed to get in it.  Isaac, self-entitled dog that he is, just naturally assumed he would be allowed to get in the water.  He didn't hesitate, didn't glance back at me to see if it was OK, or anything like that.  He dove right in, after he'd completed the necessary sniffing, peeing, and greeting rituals.

There was a guy there throwing sticks into the water for his dog to chase and of course Isaac wanted to chase them, too.  Mike was with us and he tried to throw some sticks for Isaac (I could not bend over to pick up sticks due to my back pain) but Isaac ignored those sticks.  He wanted the other dog's sticks.  At one point, he swam up to the other dog and snatched a stick right out of his mouth!  How rude is that?

He had a great time.  He got soaking wet, of course, and smelly and now my car smells like a wet dog.