Friday, August 14, 2015

A PURE POND-DOG POST

When Emma called and said, "Hey do you think we could get the dogs together for a play day?",  I immediately said agreed.


"The dogs" = Bear, Coquina, Peanut, and Bandit, one of the funniest canine packs I've ever hung with.
It was August, hot and steamy as August should be, and the pond was freshly filled after 2 weeks of near tropical rains.
(This is the same pond that I feared would dry up completely back in early July.)

Coquina was the first in as usual. She is part otter after all.
You'll notice in this picture and the ones to follow that the pond surface is covered in green.


This was a little disconcerting to some of my Facebook pals when I posted a pic of Coquina and I there. The green is just duckweed, a tiny 2-leaved floating plant. It's not a noxious algae or anything icky ... in fact, right now the duckweed is doing me a bodacious favor by shading out the pond and light-starving the bad guy algae from growing.
So no more dissing my duckweed!

This smiling wonderdog is Peanut and he is Coquina's biological sister. Like Coquina, he's a little bit cray-cray.

Peanut was definitely the best "getter of things tossed". His sister gave him a run for his money, but he consistently got to the old boat fender first.

In the background, THE BEAR has finally entered the water. He held back at first while the pups crashed and splashed, but after about 10 minutes of his black fur soaking up that Florida sun, he came in to play.

This is Bear "half-cocked" and about to launch an ambush on Coquina and crew. I love that intent look, ... but I love all his looks, so that statement probably doesn't carry much weight.

I love to see Bear run like a puppy.
He wasn't always the "ambusher" on this day, sometimes he was the "ambushee".

Yin Yang.
Forces that seem in opposition that are actually complimentary to each other.
That's Peanut and Coquina.

A few things come to mind when I look at this picture of Peanut erupting from the pond to snatch the boat fender.


One: Peanut is awesome!
Two: Jurassic World.
Three: I am instantly transported back to the Homosassa Springs attraction of my childhood. The handlers there had trained these big alligators to leap vertically out of the water for a piece of chicken. It was pretty impressive.



Peanut on the edge ...
Not seen in this picture is Emma pushing on Peanut's hindquarters.
He's staring at the boat fender toy which is just out of reach and he wants it bad.
But he's never jumped off the dock before, so he's having second thoughts.
Emma helped him make a decision by giving him a little nudge... um, it may have been a shove.

(Note: Even though this was just last week, the pond water has risen now to a point where Peanut's nose would be just touching the surface today.)

Here's Coquina getting the same decision making help from Emma.
Little did Coquina know that I was lurking nearby in "Duckweed Stealth Mode".

As soon as she hit the water, I emerged and snatched her up.

Or did I?
The hat in this pic seems dry and unweeded.
Hmmm...


After watching Peanut and Coquina get tossed off the dock, Bear strolled out onto the planks and did his best impression of a REAL BEAR, as if to say, " Yeah, just try that dog tossing thing on me."

We did not.

So what about the 4th dog, the one who shows up in the previous photo collection only as a headless body?

This is the guy.
Bandit.
He played just as hard that day ... maybe harder since he is closer to the ground with shorter legs than the rest of his pack.
He's just as happy,sweet, and lovable as this photo makes him out to be.

Bandit's cute mug seems like a great way to end this photo essay and so I will.






13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm jelly that you have a pond big enough to swim in. Well, this summer at least , thanks to all that rain. It looks like everyone had a great time! -Miz S

Pablo said...

So what do you do with wet dog after these sessions? I've been tempted to tempt Flike into the lake on our trips to Roundrock, but I don't want wet dog in my truck for the 2 hour drive home.

R.Powers said...

It was fun Miz S.
The pond does come and go, but stands a good chance of staying since the best part of hurricane season is coming up.

Pablo, Baths on the porch while still wet.

Julie Zickefoose said...

What a treat for these sweet dogs, their people, and us! When I imagine washing four dogs on the porch, I appreciate this post even more. Peanut mid-leap does bring to mind those chicken-loving gators, and JAWS.

Thought of you today as we watched manatees delicately sucking lettuce leaves off the surface of the water at Columbus Zoo. I never knew they had prehensile thumbs on their muzzles.

R.Powers said...

That explains the Wrasse Zick pic!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

How lucky to have a pack of Lab Granddogs to come entertain and keep Bear young. Looks like lots of fun.

Anonymous said...

What a great way to cool off. I'm assuming you knew ahead of time there's no gators in that there pond seeing as ya'll are in Florida. I would have been a little nervous even if I knew there wasn't any in there.

Jodi said...

I have to ask, are you not worried about gators in there?? Do you check it for gators before you go in?? I'm from Minnesota so I have no idea about such things really, but when I see water, especially a pond in Florida, that's the first thing I think of! :)
Your dogs are beautiful, by the way. :)

Anonymous said...

Loved reading this post and seeing the dogs in action. What a cool and wild bunch to spend the day with. Fun fun fun!

Wally Jones said...

Doggone but that was a refreshing post!

R.Powers said...

About the gator questions:
Yes, ALWAYS am concerned about Gatorade in fresh and brackish FL waters. Mostly, my dogs DO NOT swim in freshwater here unless the water body is so tiny or shallow that I can be sure it's gator free.
In the case of my pond which appears spooky gatory in this post, it was almost empty a few days before the dog okay day. A few days of heavy rains raised it overnight so we were pretty sure it was gator free. There is no good adjacent gator habitat. In 26 years, only one small gator has ever come to the pond.
All this, plus checking at night for eyes, made us confident we were gator free.
BUT, now that the pond has increased even more and been full to overflow for 2 weeks, it is OFF limits to the dogs. I've seen gators crossing roads nearby and the pond could be holding one. No sign of that, but too risky now.

Happily, the overflow has filled a small depression that is easily checkable for any Gatorade, so they still can splash n play.

R.Powers said...

Gators not Gatorade!
Although Gatorade is not good fir you either.

Jodi said...

LOL, I thought that must be a Florida thing...calling the gators Gatorade. :)

Thanks for your reply, very interesting to this Minnesota gal :)