Henry's swim camp is all about fetching. We have lots of toys that float, but his favorite is an orange lobster. I think he likes it because it is easy to grab out the water and easy for him to hold in his mouth.
Henry's routine is to stand on the first step and wait for someone to throw the lobster. He then jumps from the step and is off to fetch the lobster. Once he wrangles up the toy, he swims back to the step and jumps out of the pool with his catch to take a little break. Once he is rested, we throw the lobster back into the pool and Henry happily fetches it again.
Out of the 3, Henry gets in the most swimming because he actually swims up and back the whole length of the pool. Unless someone throws the lobster short
Henry has also mastered pushing off the edge of the pool to gain momentum when turning around to swim back to the step. You can get a good look at his turns in the video
Despite being a land lover, Benjamin is a very good swimmer. Rather than swimming laps, Benjamin prefers to swim circles. This completely makes sense for him because when he gets excited on dry ground he runs circles around everything. The coffee table, the bench in the yard, the sofa. Since circles come naturally to him we don't insist that he swim a more traditional lap.
Benjamin starts standing on the first step. And then he jumps. Yes, he jumps just like Henry. It took him a while to work up to it, but now he just leaps into the water. Watching him jump in makes me one proud momma.
Once he pops back up after his dive, he starts his circle. He swims one big circle and then heads back to the step. Once on the step he promptly jumps out of the pool and then runs a circle around the table on the lanai. I guess you could say that he prefers cross training. Perhaps, we could teach him how to ride a bike and then he could be a triathlete?
After a little rest, it is back to the step and then Benjamin begins his circle routine again.
Little Luna would get the camp's 'Most Improved' award. Not because her swimming has improved, her swimming skills have always been stellar, but because her fear of the water has decreased tremendously.
Luna's normal swim camp routine is to be carried to the far end of the pool and then swim to the step at the other end of the pool. At first she didn't want to leave her camp counselor accompanying her in the deep end. You would put her down and she would just circle you. So we started swimming to the step and she happily followed. After doing that a few times, she figured out how to swim to the step all on her own and no longer needed to be escorted.
And when she is swimming to the step, she is a woman on a mission.
And then she gets to take a little break on the step before she does another lap.
In our quest slim down the pugs we have brought back swim camp (more here as well). Swimming is not only great exercise for the pugs, but it is pretty much the only way they can exert themselves during the summer. The risk of them overheating is still there, but soaking their bodies in cool, pool water does a lot in helping to regulate their body temperatures.
To avoid shenanigans, we changed things up and the pugs now attend individual swim camp sessions. Which means, swim camp is a two camp counselor event. One person conducts swim camp while the other keeps the other two pugs occupied and away from the pool area.
A swim camp session lasts a total of 10 minutes. Each one of the pugs likes to spend their time doing different things, but the goal is to get in as much swimming as possible. They swim a bit, take a break, then swim a bit more. Repeat this process for ten minutes and then you have a swim camp session.
While one pug is at swim camp the other pugs do various things to pass the time. Depending on the time of day, they may go for a little walk, or they may assist in pulling weeds from the garden. Sometimes, we just sit under a tree in the front yard and enjoy the shade.
Completing 3 swim camp sessions takes about 45 minutes. Even though there is only 30 minutes of swimming, the exchange and suiting the pugs up takes time (life vests/harness). We try to do swim camp 3 times a week. That frequency seems to work well for the pugs. It keeps them from getting over exhausted.
This weekend, the pugs hosted media day at swim camp so I was able to get some pictures and take some underwater video. I was going to tell you about one of the pug's swim camp adventures each day this week, but I thought it would be more fun if I let you decide the order. So tell me, which pug would you like to hear about first? Although, I'm pretty sure I know your answer
Benjamin has a bit of an obsession with ping pong balls. He has been this way since he was a pup. Playing with a ping pong ball is the closest Benny comes to fetching. Toss the ball across the living room, making sure it takes a few wild bounces, and Benny happily bounces behind it, jumping and bumping into things.
Once he finally tracks it down, he rarely picks it up on the first attempt. Instead, in his excitement, he attempts to pick it up, but it just bounces away. Not at all discouraged, Benny goes bounding after it and keeps at it until he finally picks it up. With the ball in his mouth, he runs back to you and gets sorta close before he drops it and is ready for you to throw it again.
We repeat the whole process again and play our little game until Benny inevitably crushes the ping pong ball and it thuds instead of bouncing.
I have been trying to work on capturing action shots of the pugs to help improve my photography skills. Well, that, and my collection of photos of the pugs sleeping or being lazy is getting out of control.
While my skills as a photographer haven't really improved, I have been getting a good laugh at some of the photos I have been taking. Today's photo is a prime example.
I have found that the best way to get the pugs to "do something" is to play our treat catching game. The game never disappoints as it always gets the pugs moving and me laughing.
In this case, we have Henry intently focused on catching a treat I just tossed in the air. The focus, and the touch of crazy in his eyes just kills me. And Henry subscribes to the theory that the pug waits for no treat. His technique is not to wait for the treat to get to him, but to jump up and snag it out of the air.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this case I think this picture is a way to see the the different personalities of Benjamin, Henry & Luna.
First, we have Henry the adventurer that can't stay out of the pool. Then we have the worriers, Benjamin & Luna, that pace around the pool concerned about their brother. But the real moment of truth is when Henry jumps out of the pool. As you can see, Luna is giving Henry and earful, but Ben is in the back, running as fast as he can because he knows Henry is going to shake. One big shake from Henry will get Benny all wet. And Benjamin's number one rule when swimming is that no one can get wet.
Saturday morning, before it got too hot for the pugs, we took them to a nearby school to have some fun on the playground. The boys absolutely love going down the slide. Many people have asked if the boys do this all on their own. I always answer yes, but I thought a picture would be more fun. Here is a shot of Benny getting ready to head down the slide and Henry climbing up the stairs on his way to do the same thing.
And here is one of Benny getting ready to stick the landing.
Luna is not a fan of the slide or climbing up on the jungle gym. This is where her vision troubles really slow her down. Instead she waits for the boys and gives them a good chase once they are back on the ground
