Finally Home-Lessons on Life from a Free-Spirited Dog (13 page)

The ocean was another story as it was a bit easier
for them
to swim.
Since they were able to feel
the sand
under
neath their feet, they would only swim until they could no longer feel it
.

In the pool, that was not the case.
They
knew how to swim just fine
, but would
come
directly to
us
and
latch onto us.
We needed to wear t-shirts in the pool to prevent the monstrous scratches they would put on us if we did not.

To give them something to grip, w
e decided to get them Nerf
rafts
.
This worked out
rather well, but I’m sure y
ou’ve heard about dogs controlling their owners?
Th
e rafts
took that to the next level.
Both of o
ur dogs would lounge
on these with expectations
for
us to pull them around.
I half expected them to order a frozen, tropical drink topped with a mini umbrella.

Brandi was more of a passionate swimmer as she would swim from one raft to Buddy’s raft just to be
next to
him
—
or just to intimidate him, depending upon her mood.

They
became
completely overjoyed and
hyper
with excitement
each
time they got the opportunity to go into the pool.
Although we complained as
if it were
a nuisance,
truthfully we
had a great time and loved every minute of it.

Without fail, each time they would
exit
the pool, Buddy, full of adrenalin
e
, would do approximately ten laps around the pool and the
n
run to the “bathroom pen” to take care of business.
Brandi would skip the laps and run straight to the pen to do the same.
Not once did they ever go to the bathroom in the pool.
It was safe to say we were relieved about that.

It became
moderately
funny when we had visitors over.
They would be relaxing in the
tepid water
,
blanketed by
the
warmth of the
hot summer sun, when
out of nowhere,
two huge masses of fur
would jump
in the pool
and splash
them.
Some people laughed and others may have
grimaced
.
I don’t think we ever invited
those who grimaced
over again.
A
fter all,
it was
our pups’ house
,
too.

There were some days when we wanted to experience the salty air of the beach.
On Long Island,
however,
there
we
re not many public beaches that allow
ed
dogs.
While
we knew that
they were not allowed, we simply could not resist.
How could you have a golden retriever (or two) and not let them swim in the ocean? That
wa
s one of my major gripes with Long Island.
As big as it
wa
s, there
we
re no real dog-friendly beaches or parks for that matter.
To us, however, it was
well
worth the risk.
We had to go and venture to the ocean with the dogs.

We decided quite a few times that we would risk it and were going to take our chances.
The reward was just too great.
We piled everyone into our van and meandered on down to the beach.
We always had
an incredible
time.

As soon as the pups smelled the saltwater in the air, they would
become
a bit uncontrollable
, complete with whimpering and/or
barking
.
This would temporarily
grate on our nerves
until we
arrived at
our destination.

Seconds later, when it was time to get out of the van, they were overcome with excitement.
They could hardly contain themselves.
It was always such a great pleasure to watch them
just be dogs
.
Before we even slid open the door to the van, they were jumping and wagging their tails.
We had to stop them from hanging themselves with their leash.
All this excitement
—
just to go swimming
.

Typically, even though the air
could
be hot and humid on Long Island, the beach water d
id
not really heat up until August.
Prior to August, it
wa
s somewhat cold; however, the pups never seem
ed
to mind.
In fact, they absolutely loved it
.

The first time they went in the water, we tried to put on one of those doggy life preservers.
Similar to the seatbelt, it just did not work.
The extra
-
large size was not large enough.
Buddy and Brandi were not overweight by any means, but they would not fit.

We had to
implement
the next best thing.
We bought fifteen
-
foo
t leads and allowed them to
venture out into the water.
If they
drifted
too far and it did not seem like they were coming back anytime soon, we would gently pull on the lead to guide them back
toward our direction
.

Once or twice, Michael had to go swimming in the ice
-
cold water when it seemed like th
e dogs were not listening to us. S
ecretly
, I thought
it was a hoax to see if they could get Michael to swim in that water
.
In all seriousness, I
believed
Buddy would have swum to Connecticut if he could.
He was having that much fun and Brandi was thrilled as well.

At one point, we
met another couple who had their golden retriever with them.
Their dog was somewhat afraid of the water until he watched ours fearlessly go in.
He followed them right in and frolicked with them for a while.
Buddy and Brandi accepted him immediately as one of their own.
Our dogs always had a way of getting along with other dogs instantaneously
as if they had known them their whole lives.

We continued raising them with me living at my mother’s house
,
and then s
oon after we adopted
Brandi, Michael and I got married.
We were engaged in May of 2002 and tied the knot in January of 2003. This made it a bit easier to train the dogs now that there were two of us living there…or so we thought.

Brandi
never caused any issues.
Aside
from
her initial feast consisting of furniture á la carte, she
was
truly the
most
well-
behaved dog I ha
d
ever
encountered.

Although we
did
use a leash on her,
it was never needed
.
The only time that s
he venture
d
off
would be
to herd Buddy back to us
,
but other than that, she
remained
by our side at all times.

She never whine
d
or bark
ed
unless approached by another person who ha
d
a dog, but after she g
ot
to me
e
t the dog, she
wa
s fine.
This dog
wa
s completely content doing whatever it
wa
s that we
we
re doing without any complaints.
We
joked
that she
wa
s the only mentally stable one in our family
.

Buddy
continued
to be a lot of work.
We
grew
used to it
,
and
we would not
want to
change a thing.
As
odd
as it sounds, Buddy’s antics
often
sent us into fits of
uncontrollable
laughter.
We wonder
ed
what this dog
wa
s thinking but
could not
always
figure
out the depths of his insanity
.
As mad as we c
ould
get at him, he usually change
d
our mood rather quickly when we realize
d
all he really want
ed
to do
wa
s play.

He love
d
having us around to take part in his world
,
and we
grew
to feel the same about
having
him in ours.

There
were
only
a few
certain instances
when
our tolerance
level was
tested so severely
that
we could not even think straight.
Our next major life decision
was
one of those disastrous times.

There are always stressors that can turn a normally peaceful and happy person into a stark raving mad lunatic.
Everyone has a breaking point
—
even if it is subconsciously concealed!

A few years after we were married, we made a major life decision to
pack up our belongings and
move to Las Vegas, Nevada.
We were not thrilled with our neighborhood in New York, and the weather in Las Vegas
was unbeatable
.
There
wa
s something to be said for over
three hundred
days a year filled with beautiful weather and clear blue skies
.

We had purchased a summer ho
me
there th
e
previous
year, and we
decided
that it
would be a great starter house in Las Vegas until we
were able to
look for another.

It was a
charming
two-story, two
-
bedroom house with a loft and tiny balcony overlooking the quiet street. It also had a small but
attractive
backyard.
Land for houses in Las Vegas differ
ed
vastly from the land allotments in New York.
While yards in Long Island rarely
were
less than a half
-
acre, Las Vegas land
wa
s measured in feet. We literally had about five feet of backyard from the back of the house to the brick wall that was known as a fence
—
and we paid a premium to get that
.
It was adorable
,
though
,
and served its purpose for us to get there.