Willipa Pup

Swimming is my new avocation. Perhaps my lineage -- poodle and lab -- has ingrained in me the need to leap into great bodies of water, though it's not so much as a need as an overwhelming desire.

Recently, we traveled to Willipa Bay along the Southwest Coast of Washington. There we met up with my best friend Lulu who taught me how to romp on the beach, through the tidepools, and headlong into the waves. She is more timid than I and hence did not get as wet, but we played so long and so hard that all we could do was sleep at the end of each day -- like heavy stones in deep water.

I am growing bigger. I see it in the black pads of my feet. There is a ways to go before I am fully adult, but when I stand on the beach -- a canine stud, if I do say so myself -- I look like a big dog ready to conquer the whole world (well, at least the parts where there's water!).

Water

Having the genes of both a Labrador and a Poodle, it's no wonder this boy likes to swim.

We bought him a plastic pool and on these hot, hot days of July, he can spend hours in it digging around for a sunken stick or chasing his blue raquetball across the surface.

When his legs are wet and the rest of him dry, he looks very much like a lamb waiting for his first shearing. When he's completely wet, he looks scrawny as if he's shrunk to half his size.

We go to the lake often and he dives in without hesitation. The other day I threw a stick that sunk fast. I didn't think Rubin had seen it, but the next thing I knew, he dove head first under the water and pulled it out.

Now that's a swimming dog!