There's an old mill pond (actually there are 3-4 ponds) just outside of town where I've been taking Annie to swim. We walked down there after work last week so she could have a "dip". I knew there was a family of geese that were hanging out in one of the ponds, but had let it slip my mind before I let Annie off the leash. Usually I check out the ponds first and then take her to a pond devoid of birds.
As most of you know, Annie cannot be trusted around birds. Last year living in Seattle, she would take after ducks in Lake Washington. She really believes that she can catch them from water. It's always the same: she's tug-boating along about 10 feet behind them and as soon as she starts closing the distance, they fly along the surface of the water about 10 yards and the whole thing starts again: Annie picks up the speed, closes the distance, the bird skids along the water a few yards...
Annie took off in her usual fashion: sniffing around, spastic unpredictable movements. I threw the ball in the pond and she brought it back. Just as quickly, she was back in the water. Immediately I knew she was up to no good and scanned the pond. In the far left corner were the family of geese. "Shit," was the thought that went through my head.
I yelled her name, "Annie, come on!" but it was too late, she had already turned her ears off. I tried again, "Come on! Annie, HERE! Let's go." If you recall, this is pretty much the same routine that happened last winter when I took her skiing. You get the picture.
The geese were started; as Annie grew closer, their honking grew louder and more frequent. The goslings dove underwater just in time and the male goose got closest to Annie to distract her. His tactic worked. He skimmed the water in front of her, leaving her about 10 yards behind. She swam after him. This went on for quite some time. Annie swam after the goose up and back the distance of the pond several times over. I ran up and down the length of the pond with Annie and the goose, yelled and made crazy horrible noises to see if that would work to distract her. She looked over at me one, just briefly, saw that I was just making weird noises, then ignored me as usual.
At first I was frantic, then pissed, then just gave in to the situation and sat down and waited. I could see it all unfolding: Annie would swim after the goose until she could not swim anymore. At that point, she would start to snort and panic just a bit: her head would look back and forth, ears flapping around, eyes bulging just a bit. Then she'd start to flail: her back end would drop down in the water, her front paws would make vertical slapping pulls at the water like a puppy learning to swim, she's bob once or twice, then go under. At that point, I would have to swim out and try to pull her back to shore before she needed doggy CPR and without drowning myself in the process. What a terrible way to go, by the way: in a nasty sludgy mill pond, trying to save my 2-neuron brained dog!
25 minutes and a dozen or so laps up and back the pond later, Annie suddenly made a turn away from the goose and toward the shore. I was shocked and a bit confused. She was looking a bit fatigued and starting to snort, but was it possible? Was she stopping on her own before making me come in after her? Just as she was about to reach the shore, she took another turn and headed toward the end of the pond, but in the opposite direction of the geese. I followed her around, encouraging her to "come here", "let's go".
She finally made it out, gave a good shake, and looked at me, ears flopped back, pathetic tired eyes, then crouching down into her "pointing" position, took a big dump! I guess with all that excitement, she couldn't take (hold) it any longer: when a girl's gotta go, a girl's gotta go.
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