Gracie's Unexpected Swim

Gracie pranced down the dock near the boat ramp, tail waving happily, nose to the breezes of a cool spring day.

I watched her every move. 

A ways out from shore, she turned to the edge of the dock, and sidled up into an open space between the low guard rails.

Tentatively, she reached her front left paw down toward the water, as if to test the distance.

And then, before my eyes, she stepped off the dock and tumbled into the deep water below. 

She did not catch the actual fall, but my fourth-born's quick camera trigger finger captured much of the action during Gracie's rescue. 

I stood a few feet away, horrified by the considerable splash.. 

Peering over the edge of the dock, I watched her sink deeper and deeper from the force of her fall.

Body twisting, limbs flailing.

Long red hair waving under the water.

Bubbles rising to the surface.

Though she happily wades in lakes, rivers, and ocean waves, I don't know that Gracie has ever swum in water over her head. The experience seemed to take her by surprise. 

Within what was probably three seconds but felt like forever, Gracie's head bobbed back up into the air. Her face was streaming with water and filled with shock and surprise, her eyes immediately locked on to mine. 

Help, she silently pleaded.

Her first instinct was to try to climb back up on the dock.

And I had the exact same idea. But my brain quickly pointed out to me that hauling one hundred pounds of wet, wriggling dog a good half meter up to the level of the dock was a bad idea whose most likely outcome would be me in the cold water next to her. 

Thankfully, the wise first responder who lives inside me and comes out exactly when I need her most had a better idea.

"Come on, Gracie! Come this way," I heard myself saying.

As I called to my splashing, thrashing pup, our eyes still locked as we sought to solve this problem together, I applied gentle pressure to her long leash and slowly backed down the dock toward land. 

^ Once she got the hang of deep water swimming, 

my girl looked like a lush, red seal, swimming like a total pro.

She got the idea. Her panic slowly cooled as she discovered the rhythm of swimming. Still watching each other intently, Gracie put together a competent doggie paddle as I guided her down the length of the dock toward shore. 

Around the halfway point, Gracie began to tire. I noticed her pace slackening and her head drooping just a bit lower in the water.

"Come on, baby! You can do it! You're almost there!"

The moment when her feet touched ground.

The encouragement worked. Just a few seconds later, Gracie's feet touched what must have been the immensely satisfying solidity of the concrete boat ramp, and her relief was palpable. 

"Well, that was actually kinda fun!"

Finally, Gracie's eyes let go of mine as she marched happily up the boat ramp onto terra firma, shook hard twice, and then circled back round to greet me. Her tail wagged water drops all over me and I did not mind one bit. 

 * * * * *

Gracie's unexpected swim was an exciting opening act for our hike around Langus Riverfront Park in Everett. Though the rest of our adventure was full of interesting surprises, my crazy dog's fall into the brink was definitely the high point of the day.