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.
Thank goodness Benjamin was not around when this incident took place, but here is a little video of Henry playing with Benjamin's Puffy. Benjamin has very strict rules for Puffy and Rule #1 is, "No one touches Puffy except for Benny. Rule #2 is "Puffy is not a toy and should not be used for play."
Henry must have suffered some sort of momentary lapse this weekend.
The pugs were all loaded up in the car and we were on our way to a park, when we decided to make an impromptu visit to the dog beach. The pugs hadn't been to the beach in months so we thought they would like it for a change. The only problem was that it wasn't an ideal beach day. It was cloudy, windy and cold. But we weren't going to let a little thing like the weather stop us. Plus, with the weather not being ideal we thought there was a good chance we would have the dog beach to ourselves and it turns out we were right.
Everyone had a good time except Sol was a bit disappointed. The lovely folks that she coaxed into giving her a hamburger the last time she was there were not at their pavilion. As soon as we passed the spot, she went to look for them. She smelled every inch of the picnic area, but alas they were not there. With no hamburgers, Sol didn't really see the fun of the beach.
The pugs all got baths yesterday and after their time in the tub each one of the pugs was pretty fired up. For once, I managed to get a video of Sol playing. I simultaneously shot the video and played with Sol so the camea is a little all over the place. The game - catch the camera. You'll see she came close a few times.
This past week the weather has been absolutely gorgeous in FL. The pugs have been loving it, although it seems some have been enjoying it more than others.
Luna loves to chew as much as the boys, but she has her very own way of doing it. She doesn't really chew a bone, she gums it. She'll take the tiniest piece of bone and gum it to death. Here is a little video of Luna in action.
There is a certain smell that Luna picks up when we are out on a walk that makes her just plop herself on the ground and roll around like a fish out of water. Out of the four pugs she is pretty much the only one that feels the need to roll around on the ground to mark a spot. It is quite a sight.
Sol loves to bark at anyone that passes by the front door. In fact, she likes to keep barking even after the person has long passed.
She has such a cute little bark, that I have been trying for a while now to get a video of her giving anyone that passes by a hard time. However, as soon as I sneak up with the camera she stops. She doesn't want any of her bad behavior caught on film.
How the deaf dog hears me every time, I don't know, but here is proof.
