Pictures from a stream and hiking

We're visiting my parents for the weekend again. It is over 100 degrees F, and Cai is surprisingly mellow. At least, while I'm with him, he's mellow. The moment I leave the house to buy groceries, or even leave him downstairs while I shower, he starts throwing a fit. Ugh. My mother usually starts playing with him or gives him a bone to chew on, which is good because it shows him that he can still have a good time without me.

Both yesterday and today, I took him to play in a stream at a nearby park. He now happily enters shallow water, but doesn't want to go in much past his belly. He has accidentally gone in deep enough to swim a few times, and he was able to turn around and swim back to shore without a problem. I hope that with continued fun, low-pressure exposure to water, he'll learn to like swimming. I've always wanted to have a dog who enjoyed swimming.

I discovered that he will happily retrieve a bumper from shallow water, take it back to shore, and drop it and wander off. He did that over and over. Funny guy.

Click on any picture to see it pop up in a larger size.

Yesterday there was a 14 year old, blind German Shepherd at the stream as well. He would get excited and start barking and following other dogs around once he realized they were there. Typical GSD. Cai has learned to be cautious around big dogs (got knocked over and stepped on a few too many times), but is willing to play "you can't catch me" after a while.

Back at home, he was tired out.

Here are a few recent hiking pictures: