Ted Cruz knew. Rand Paul knew. Nikki Haley knew. Marco Rubio knew. Kellyanne Conway knew. Mike Pompeo knew. Glenn Beck knew. Rick Perry knew. Susan Collins knew.
Henry looks like Moxie’s friend Gracie . Moxie was an ugly mess when adopted, but she encouraged friends to adopt dogs. Several times someone would stop over and say look, I adopted a Moxie. They’d bring over Lady and I had the Tramp. It is what it is.
20.
prostratedragon
Puppy better!
21.
Annie
Henry is seriously adorable.
22.
The Moar You Know
I have a cute pup. I know cute pups. That is one cute pup!
@Laura Too: waving! i usually only see you now when I come to a thread late. Hope school is going okay.
26.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
Puppers! He’s such a good-looking guy. I just want to take his head between my hands and give him a head bump. That’s because I’m a cat person, but dogs don’t really seem to mind.
I just found out today that my son’s pup may have Cushing’s disease, so I’ve been researching that all evening. Not pleasant, but more pleasant that what’s on my TV. Now I feel guilty for being so annoyed with him these last few weeks, knowing that he’s been so annoying because he’s sick. But a quiet dog is so appealing, and chihuahuas are anything but. After all, they were bred to be burglar alarms, or so my son tells me. He’s been barking constantly because he’s been constantly hungry. I’m in charge of him while son is at work and daughter in law is finishing summer semester, and I’m catching hell for overfeeding him and letting him get fat, but he’s barking constantly because he’s hungry. All the time. So son finally took him to the vet yesterday with a long list of my complaints, and today I took the call with the test results while he was at work. And now the little fellow is really sick, not just spoiled and annoying, and I’m worried about him. Life sure does have a way of jerking us up short.
27.
Luciamia
So these dog pics, you guys are killing me. I’m missing my little girl so much.
Then I scrolled down to that flaming dumpster. Thank you, Watergirl . That perked me up!
28.
Ken
@Benw: Another card game, which my family played when I was younger. Works well for large groups and is suitable for children, with adults helping the younger ones. We called it “Garbage”.
You need about 1 deck of cards per 3 people playing, and a lot of tokens (we had a penny jar). Start everyone with about 50 tokens. Shuffle all the cards and pick a player to be the first dealer.
Each round there are five games:
Poker – All non-dealers ante two tokens. The dealer deals cards clockwise one at a time, putting them face-up in front of the players. Once everyone has five cards, the highest poker hand gets the antes.
Lotto – The dealer turns over cards one at a time, calling the rank. Players put a token on the matching cards in their hand. If a rank is called again, they put another token on the card. When a player covers all five cards, they call “lotto” and win the tokens from the other players. If several hit lotto at once the tokens are pooled and split evenly, the dealer getting any odd tokens.
Put – The dealer turns over five cards one at a time, calling the rank and counting one to five; thus “Three puts one, King puts two, Nine puts three…” Players with a matching card put that number of tokens in a center pot. If they have multiple matches, they put for each card.
Take – The dealer turns over five cards one at a time, calling the rank and counting down five to one; thus “Six takes five, Nine takes four, …” Players with a matching card take that number of tokens from the center pot that was filled in the “put” step, and if they have multiple matches take for each card. If the pot runs out of tokens, the dealer pays from his supply. If at the end there are tokens left in the pot, the dealer takes them.
Counting – The dealer turns over 13 cards one at a time, counting Ace, Two, Three, … King. If the turned card matches the count, all other players pay the dealer that many tokens (Jack counting eleven, Queen twelve, King thirteen).
Once all five games are done, shuffle the cards, and the next player to the left deals.
As you can see it’s purely a game of chance with no strategy, but is pretty good for teaching kids card values, counting, turn-taking, and so forth.
Much liked playing hearts, casino, cribbage and pinochle back in the day. Also, although only one time, a group of us filled an evening learning something the person who introduced us to it called hidden hand canasta, which required four decks.
Ask the vet if you can give vanilla wafers (or half a one) as treats. Years ago I had a cocker spaniel who was a total food hound and too heavy until we figured out that she had a thyroid issue, and he suggested vanilla wafers as good treats. I think they used to make regular sized and small ones – or you can break the bigger ones up.
@Ken:
Sounds like fun for kids, or adults when the point is to do something to generate a little conviviality. Seldom around enough people for card games, but I played Uno some last year and liked it.
33.
Gvg
I had a golden that stole my tomato’s. She was usually perfectly behaved and I blamed squirrels until one day she grinned at me with a mouth full of tomato.
today I picked 6 hornworms off my tomato plants but I probably shouldn’t have bothered. The plants are almost dead. I’ve been picking them off all month. They hide too well i guess. Going to have to do something else for next year, maybe Bt. This is the first vegetable garden I’ve grown in years. Seems like pests hit veggies much harder than flowers. I’ve never had as serious an issue with flowers. I got no bell pepper germination and squash borers got all but 2 of many plants. Only the pole beans worked. I..got kind of tired of them after 5 months of production and I love green beans.pole beans really out did bush, old fashioned ones did better than new kinds.
next year I need the pest control and bio weapons already in hand in the beginning.many new gardeners this year bought everything out and I couldn’t get stuff after the pests appeared.
Got it because it was my niece’s 8-year-old son’s favorite game, so we could all play it at Christmas.
it’s a good game. Some luck, some strategy. Good for kids and adults. I love games, wish I had someone to play them with these days.
Henry, for all his cuteness, does not play card games.
35.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Henry is so freaking cute I almost can’t stand it, and this is coming from a cat lady who is unmoved by cute puppy pictures in general, and thinks most dogs are boring (although I was much taken by the story of the Woofmeister).
When I was a sophomore in college, I shared an apartment with 3 girls who were all card players and we played a lot of Spite and Malice, which was a flexible game for 2-4 players, although I don’t remember the rules. I enjoyed it, but as soon as I moved on, I stopped playing anything with anyone else and went back to reading in my spare time (although I enjoy solitare in various versions on the computer).
A friend of mine had a dog who went blind in her old age, and she would sniff out the ripe tomatoes in pots on the patio and eat them.
39.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@WaterGirl: He is such a cutie! I especially like that last picture of him just after you had given him a trim. He looks like a friendly alien.
P.S. I may have overstated my disinterest in dogs a little. I love almost all animals (except fleas, ticks, mosquitos, and scorpions) and will pet any dog who comes within my orbit. But I have no interest in owning a dog. I did have one dog as an adult, a Wolf-Malamute mix who was a sweetie.
@WaterGirl: LOL, I’m always late to the party so I don’t post much, mostly for my own amusement. :) But I had to remark on that beautiful pup. A night filled with dogs, what a treasure. Contrasted by a night full of vile humans on the tube…thanks for the beauty you add to our world.
@NotMax: Great resource. I found my old college game of 52 card whist with a kitty (bid winner gets the book) quite easily, with rules as I remember them.
Here is a story that I read recently (names omitted). It’s a good explanation of one reason we love our Newfies, but not the only. It’s also just a nice story (overlook the part about insisting your not-water-liking dog go swimming). I wish I could post a picture of Tuffy–he has a terrific hairdo!
“Today is my 64th bd, and I’m still in awe that I’m alive to experience it.
My husband and I have a 6 year old cream Golden Retriever (McKinley) and an almost 3 year old Newfoundland (Tuffy).
The evening of July 5th, 2020, we brought both dogs to a small lake nearby that’s minimally used.
I didn’t expect to die that day; then I didn’t expect to live.
The Newf swims like a seal, the Golden just wades. But he’s fallen in a lake several times and freaked out, frantically dog paddling his way to shore. I don’t care if the Golden is a swimmer. I did want him to have more confidence in the water, in case of another slip and fall event. As the evening turned out it was anything but a confidence builder.
I’m 5’2”, my husband is almost a foot taller, a much better swimmer, and he’s stronger. Plus he and McKinley are besties. Or they were.
Anyway we had a plan based on our comparative strengths. He would support McKinley with his arms beneath McKinley’s chest and abdomen. (I think about it like kids learning to float, but needing those adult hands beneath them because at heart they’re scared.)
My husband and McKinley made it about 2 minutes before McKinley was dropped because the aforementioned husband was scratched by the predicted frantic dog paddling. (I’d suggested he wear a long sleeved shirt, but if the wearer has the sleeves rolled up above the elbow they’re essentially short sleeved. And it was a no big deal scratch, no blood.)
Paul was done. He quit.
It was go big or go home. At 5’2” I’m only big in attitude, confidence, and faith. I knew it was a deep lake but I didn’t know the topography. I was wearing a long sleeved scratch guard shirt from Costco and I went out with McKinley. I was just walking calmly in the water on sand, about waist/chest deep, my arms supporting McKinley. He went back and forth between the frantic dog paddle and real swimming. I was walking parallel to the shore. For whatever reason I followed the north shore instead of my regular south shore route that I use when I kayak.
Just walking and supporting him, nothing dramatic. A peaceful, beautiful, perfect summer evening with the sun starting to drop.
And then the lake bottom was simply gone. The lake drops off to 75 feet. McKinley went into high panic mode when my balance shifted. He’s 90 lbs. Together we sank like a 200+ pound stone. Nobody was around to see us disappear under water. It all went so fast, a millisecond. I didn’t have time to take a deep breath before we were way under. It was dark down there, so I guess we’d sunk a ways. I held my breath and kicked as hard as I could to try and get us up, but with 90 lbs of McKinley I just wasn’t strong enough. There was no point of reference in the water to really know if my kicking was making much difference. But I knew if I didn’t kick and try harder than my body is capable of, that we would die. I could only use my right arm and kick because McKinley was clinging onto my left side. I knew we were going to drown when I didn’t have any more air in my lungs and I didn’t have the strength to keep kicking and get us above water. I knew we were done. I wasn’t scared (until we were safe). I knew we were going to drown. The words in my head were “This is it”. All I had been thinking of was trying to get us to air. When I couldn’t kick anymore and had no oxygen left I looked up. I could see the sun glinting on the water. It was about 7:45 pm and with the setting sun and slight breeze it looked like flickering green Northern Lights above me. I couldn’t see the surface before so I must have made some upward progress. But I was out of strength and air. “This is it.” I knew that to my core.
Then I saw Tuffy’s nose poking down into the water with his air bubbles in the water, his paw up higher and to my left. My adrenaline flowed. l kicked for our lives; lunged, kicked, clawed, and then I felt his paw pad. I hung on for dear life, and essentially climbed him by his paw, his right foreleg, then by his hair, and finally reached his collar, with McKinley still clinging to me. When both of us were above water Tuffy turned and towed us back until I could touch the bottom again. (I later measured my height with my arm extended and I measured Tuffy from shoulder to paw. We were still 9 feet under water when I reached his paw.)
How did he know we were down there in that exact spot? He hadn’t been swimming anywhere near us. (You can’t overlook a 160 lb dog swimming close by.) Newfoundlands of course are water rescue dogs. But we went so deep, so fast, and were nowhere near him. I don’t know what rescue instincts kicked in for him, but I’m beyond thankful. God was watching over us. Seeing his paw was like seeing a life raft when there’s no hope. I wasn’t even thinking about hope. There was no hope. I knew that. I wasn’t scared, I was exhausted. I’d done all I could. I didn’t have anymore. I was dying for lack of oxygen but trying so hard not to inhale.
We’d disappeared in a split second, yet Tuffy came to the exact right place, right when I was done in. He wasn’t even treading water. It was like he just put himself in park in that one place. He was a rock, when I reached his paw, he let me climb him with McKinley still clinging onto me. Tuffy swam out from wherever and stayed in place, saving our lives and then he swam back towing a couple hundred pounds. He was totally chill, like this was an everyday occurrence. Uncanny instincts.
I came out bleeding in several places, scratches, punctured, cuts and bruises. While under water I felt McKinley’s weight and knew he was clinging to my left side so I could only try to stroke with my right arm and kick, but I wasn’t aware of being scratched, punctured, etc. until we were safe and I pulled up my shirt sleeves and saw the blood running. I was scared when we were safe.
It was miraculous that we were alive! Tuffy and the Almighty saved us. A matter of moments and we’d have certainly drowned. No doubt in my mind. I would have inhaled water, which would have panicked me, and that would have been the end of the story.
In the summer Tuffy always spends the nights on the tile in the basement laundry room, where it stays cool. That night he laid down next to my bed and he stayed there all night. I think he was still on watch. God Bless Tuffy. He saved my life. He saved McKinley’s life.
All of this is true. Excluded are the conversations between myself and my husband.
The following Sunday we took both dogs to a different lake. I didn’t want McKinley’s near drowning to be his lasting water memory. I’d also bought him an XL life jacket that he was wearing. This time it went better. Good enough anyway.
All of this is true. In the aftermath I still can’t think about it without weeping. God must have something for me to do for He was certainly there with us.
The following day Tuffy was still wet in places and too tired to lift his head. He had responded immediately from someplace and he’d worked very hard. See pic.
@MoxieM: What an incredible story! Give these good dogs treats from me.
60.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@WaterGirl: Lol chihuahuas are tiny! He only weighs 6 lbs. I don’t know if I could get the cookie small enough! My son makes his food, so the vet told him to just put more vegetables in it and let him have more of it, so maybe I’ll be able to give him 5 or 6 1/4 cup meals instead of just 4. He’s also supposed to start on prozac if Pete can find someplace that supplies it in a small enough dosage, so that may help with his anxiety too. Although, come to think of it, the excess cortizol from the Cushing’s may be why he’s anxious…
Although, come to think of it, the excess cortizol from the Cushing’s may be why he’s anxious…
If it’s anything like with my sister’s dog, I suspect he will.
Are you assuming he’s anxious because of the constant in-your-face panting? That was the first clue that something was wrong with my sister’s dog. They don’t feel right and they know something is wrong, plus the panting is a classic physical symptom in response to the disease, as I recall.
62.
CaseyL
@MoxieM: I think I was holding my breath through most of that story. Tuffy the Hero.
63.
brantl
Newfies have been known to pull boats to safety, across many miles of water.
Elizabelle
Henry! I love him.
WaterGirl
This is a great Michael Cohen ad:
Mary G
Awww, that face!
Yutsano
TONGUE!!!
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: I like that.
I wish a soft landing for Michael Cohen.
He laughs a tiny bit about “if he says it’s huge, it’s small.”
Benw
Henry!
Does anyone play Rage (card game)! Any card gamers have favorites to recommend?
Ken
Cracked had some interesting dog trivia today. My favorite: Their noses have a unique pattern of wrinkles, like our fingerprints.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Henry is adorable.
Ken
@Benw: I like the French game of Tarot, which I learned in graduate school.
mrmoshpotato
BOOM! How good!
Ruckus
That tongue looks bigger than the rest of Henry.
A real cutie. Please tell us he is just a bit mischievous….
WaterGirl
Another great ad:
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: Of course he is!
I should get a picture of him when he has just stolen a juliette tomato from the tomato plant, and it barely fits in his mouth.
Benw
@Ken: thanks I haven’t heard of that one!
WaterGirl
Henry thanks you all for the greetings and the lovely compliments.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Needs one final bit.
All these Republican senators voted to acquit Donald J. Trump. They could have impeached him. They did not.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: I think that was supposed to go without saying, but I totally agree that it would have been stronger to say:
Kristine
Pupster!
JPL
Henry looks like Moxie’s friend Gracie . Moxie was an ugly mess when adopted, but she encouraged friends to adopt dogs. Several times someone would stop over and say look, I adopted a Moxie. They’d bring over Lady and I had the Tramp. It is what it is.
prostratedragon
Puppy better!
Annie
Henry is seriously adorable.
The Moar You Know
I have a cute pup. I know cute pups. That is one cute pup!
Laura Too
What a cutie!
WaterGirl
@The Moar You Know: But he’s no Jack Kennedy, am I right? :-)
WaterGirl
@Laura Too: waving! i usually only see you now when I come to a thread late. Hope school is going okay.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
Puppers! He’s such a good-looking guy. I just want to take his head between my hands and give him a head bump. That’s because I’m a cat person, but dogs don’t really seem to mind.
I just found out today that my son’s pup may have Cushing’s disease, so I’ve been researching that all evening. Not pleasant, but more pleasant that what’s on my TV. Now I feel guilty for being so annoyed with him these last few weeks, knowing that he’s been so annoying because he’s sick. But a quiet dog is so appealing, and chihuahuas are anything but. After all, they were bred to be burglar alarms, or so my son tells me. He’s been barking constantly because he’s been constantly hungry. I’m in charge of him while son is at work and daughter in law is finishing summer semester, and I’m catching hell for overfeeding him and letting him get fat, but he’s barking constantly because he’s hungry. All the time. So son finally took him to the vet yesterday with a long list of my complaints, and today I took the call with the test results while he was at work. And now the little fellow is really sick, not just spoiled and annoying, and I’m worried about him. Life sure does have a way of jerking us up short.
Luciamia
So these dog pics, you guys are killing me. I’m missing my little girl so much.
Then I scrolled down to that flaming dumpster. Thank you, Watergirl . That perked me up!
Ken
@Benw: Another card game, which my family played when I was younger. Works well for large groups and is suitable for children, with adults helping the younger ones. We called it “Garbage”.
You need about 1 deck of cards per 3 people playing, and a lot of tokens (we had a penny jar). Start everyone with about 50 tokens. Shuffle all the cards and pick a player to be the first dealer.
Each round there are five games:
Poker – All non-dealers ante two tokens. The dealer deals cards clockwise one at a time, putting them face-up in front of the players. Once everyone has five cards, the highest poker hand gets the antes.
Lotto – The dealer turns over cards one at a time, calling the rank. Players put a token on the matching cards in their hand. If a rank is called again, they put another token on the card. When a player covers all five cards, they call “lotto” and win the tokens from the other players. If several hit lotto at once the tokens are pooled and split evenly, the dealer getting any odd tokens.
Put – The dealer turns over five cards one at a time, calling the rank and counting one to five; thus “Three puts one, King puts two, Nine puts three…” Players with a matching card put that number of tokens in a center pot. If they have multiple matches, they put for each card.
Take – The dealer turns over five cards one at a time, calling the rank and counting down five to one; thus “Six takes five, Nine takes four, …” Players with a matching card take that number of tokens from the center pot that was filled in the “put” step, and if they have multiple matches take for each card. If the pot runs out of tokens, the dealer pays from his supply. If at the end there are tokens left in the pot, the dealer takes them.
Counting – The dealer turns over 13 cards one at a time, counting Ace, Two, Three, … King. If the turned card matches the count, all other players pay the dealer that many tokens (Jack counting eleven, Queen twelve, King thirteen).
Once all five games are done, shuffle the cards, and the next player to the left deals.
As you can see it’s purely a game of chance with no strategy, but is pretty good for teaching kids card values, counting, turn-taking, and so forth.
NotMax
@Benw
Much liked playing hearts, casino, cribbage and pinochle back in the day. Also, although only one time, a group of us filled an evening learning something the person who introduced us to it called hidden hand canasta, which required four decks.
This site might be of interest:
Playing card game rules
1) By name of game
2) By number of players
WaterGirl
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): My sister’s dog had cushings and they had it under control for a long time.
Ask the vet if you can give vanilla wafers (or half a one) as treats. Years ago I had a cocker spaniel who was a total food hound and too heavy until we figured out that she had a thyroid issue, and he suggested vanilla wafers as good treats. I think they used to make regular sized and small ones – or you can break the bigger ones up.
WaterGirl
@Luciamia: Where is your girl?
prostratedragon
@Ken:
Sounds like fun for kids, or adults when the point is to do something to generate a little conviviality. Seldom around enough people for card games, but I played Uno some last year and liked it.
Gvg
I had a golden that stole my tomato’s. She was usually perfectly behaved and I blamed squirrels until one day she grinned at me with a mouth full of tomato.
today I picked 6 hornworms off my tomato plants but I probably shouldn’t have bothered. The plants are almost dead. I’ve been picking them off all month. They hide too well i guess. Going to have to do something else for next year, maybe Bt. This is the first vegetable garden I’ve grown in years. Seems like pests hit veggies much harder than flowers. I’ve never had as serious an issue with flowers. I got no bell pepper germination and squash borers got all but 2 of many plants. Only the pole beans worked. I..got kind of tired of them after 5 months of production and I love green beans.pole beans really out did bush, old fashioned ones did better than new kinds.
next year I need the pest control and bio weapons already in hand in the beginning.many new gardeners this year bought everything out and I couldn’t get stuff after the pests appeared.
the garden has been and always is my respite.
WaterGirl
@Benw: I like Skip Bo.
Got it because it was my niece’s 8-year-old son’s favorite game, so we could all play it at Christmas.
it’s a good game. Some luck, some strategy. Good for kids and adults. I love games, wish I had someone to play them with these days.
Henry, for all his cuteness, does not play card games.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Henry is so freaking cute I almost can’t stand it, and this is coming from a cat lady who is unmoved by cute puppy pictures in general, and thinks most dogs are boring (although I was much taken by the story of the Woofmeister).
When I was a sophomore in college, I shared an apartment with 3 girls who were all card players and we played a lot of Spite and Malice, which was a flexible game for 2-4 players, although I don’t remember the rules. I enjoyed it, but as soon as I moved on, I stopped playing anything with anyone else and went back to reading in my spare time (although I enjoy solitare in various versions on the computer).
WaterGirl
@Gvg: This is your best friend for squash beetles, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X952WC5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
WaterGirl
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Wow, that’s high praise for Henry. I will share it with him at bedtime.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
A friend of mine had a dog who went blind in her old age, and she would sniff out the ripe tomatoes in pots on the patio and eat them.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@WaterGirl: He is such a cutie! I especially like that last picture of him just after you had given him a trim. He looks like a friendly alien.
P.S. I may have overstated my disinterest in dogs a little. I love almost all animals (except fleas, ticks, mosquitos, and scorpions) and will pet any dog who comes within my orbit. But I have no interest in owning a dog. I did have one dog as an adult, a Wolf-Malamute mix who was a sweetie.
Benw
@Ken: yup, def played Garbage!
@NotMax: hearts and cribbage for sure! Thanks for the links
Adam Lang
The curly tongue!
zhena gogolia
Henry is a love. Love that tongue.
Benw
@WaterGirl: hahaha!
Yep, my Grampy loved Skip Bo. Fond memories of playing it around the farmhouse table when I was growing up. We got a deck for our kids
Omnes Omnibus
My new favorite song.
Sis
Oh my Lord. Who is this baby doll?!?!
Laura Too
@WaterGirl: LOL, I’m always late to the party so I don’t post much, mostly for my own amusement. :) But I had to remark on that beautiful pup. A night filled with dogs, what a treasure. Contrasted by a night full of vile humans on the tube…thanks for the beauty you add to our world.
Luciamia
@WaterGirl: she’s been gone almost three years.
prostratedragon
@NotMax: Great resource. I found my old college game of 52 card whist with a kitty (bid winner gets the book) quite easily, with rules as I remember them.
Benw
@Omnes Omnibus: lol!
I like this one too (Ice Cube, NSFRNC obvs): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIdeLjMqGd8
WaterGirl
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): My Henry steals tomatoes of all colors, but at least he eats them all, and doesn’t spit out the green ones.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Vote that Fucker Out?
Did you see that I added listening to that song for inspiration as one of the What We Can Do list?
WaterGirl
@Sis: I think you might be referring to my little Henry, up top?
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: No, I hadn’t, but that’s cool.
WaterGirl
@Luciamia: Oh. I should have realized. I thought maybe you were separated because of COVID somehow. It’s so hard to lose them.
AdamK
@WaterGirl: Wow
MoxieM
Here is a story that I read recently (names omitted). It’s a good explanation of one reason we love our Newfies, but not the only. It’s also just a nice story (overlook the part about insisting your not-water-liking dog go swimming). I wish I could post a picture of Tuffy–he has a terrific hairdo!
“Today is my 64th bd, and I’m still in awe that I’m alive to experience it.
My husband and I have a 6 year old cream Golden Retriever (McKinley) and an almost 3 year old Newfoundland (Tuffy).
The evening of July 5th, 2020, we brought both dogs to a small lake nearby that’s minimally used.
I didn’t expect to die that day; then I didn’t expect to live.
The Newf swims like a seal, the Golden just wades. But he’s fallen in a lake several times and freaked out, frantically dog paddling his way to shore. I don’t care if the Golden is a swimmer. I did want him to have more confidence in the water, in case of another slip and fall event. As the evening turned out it was anything but a confidence builder.
I’m 5’2”, my husband is almost a foot taller, a much better swimmer, and he’s stronger. Plus he and McKinley are besties. Or they were.
Anyway we had a plan based on our comparative strengths. He would support McKinley with his arms beneath McKinley’s chest and abdomen. (I think about it like kids learning to float, but needing those adult hands beneath them because at heart they’re scared.)
My husband and McKinley made it about 2 minutes before McKinley was dropped because the aforementioned husband was scratched by the predicted frantic dog paddling. (I’d suggested he wear a long sleeved shirt, but if the wearer has the sleeves rolled up above the elbow they’re essentially short sleeved. And it was a no big deal scratch, no blood.)
Paul was done. He quit.
It was go big or go home. At 5’2” I’m only big in attitude, confidence, and faith. I knew it was a deep lake but I didn’t know the topography. I was wearing a long sleeved scratch guard shirt from Costco and I went out with McKinley. I was just walking calmly in the water on sand, about waist/chest deep, my arms supporting McKinley. He went back and forth between the frantic dog paddle and real swimming. I was walking parallel to the shore. For whatever reason I followed the north shore instead of my regular south shore route that I use when I kayak.
Just walking and supporting him, nothing dramatic. A peaceful, beautiful, perfect summer evening with the sun starting to drop.
And then the lake bottom was simply gone. The lake drops off to 75 feet. McKinley went into high panic mode when my balance shifted. He’s 90 lbs. Together we sank like a 200+ pound stone. Nobody was around to see us disappear under water. It all went so fast, a millisecond. I didn’t have time to take a deep breath before we were way under. It was dark down there, so I guess we’d sunk a ways. I held my breath and kicked as hard as I could to try and get us up, but with 90 lbs of McKinley I just wasn’t strong enough. There was no point of reference in the water to really know if my kicking was making much difference. But I knew if I didn’t kick and try harder than my body is capable of, that we would die. I could only use my right arm and kick because McKinley was clinging onto my left side. I knew we were going to drown when I didn’t have any more air in my lungs and I didn’t have the strength to keep kicking and get us above water. I knew we were done. I wasn’t scared (until we were safe). I knew we were going to drown. The words in my head were “This is it”. All I had been thinking of was trying to get us to air. When I couldn’t kick anymore and had no oxygen left I looked up. I could see the sun glinting on the water. It was about 7:45 pm and with the setting sun and slight breeze it looked like flickering green Northern Lights above me. I couldn’t see the surface before so I must have made some upward progress. But I was out of strength and air. “This is it.” I knew that to my core.
Then I saw Tuffy’s nose poking down into the water with his air bubbles in the water, his paw up higher and to my left. My adrenaline flowed. l kicked for our lives; lunged, kicked, clawed, and then I felt his paw pad. I hung on for dear life, and essentially climbed him by his paw, his right foreleg, then by his hair, and finally reached his collar, with McKinley still clinging to me. When both of us were above water Tuffy turned and towed us back until I could touch the bottom again. (I later measured my height with my arm extended and I measured Tuffy from shoulder to paw. We were still 9 feet under water when I reached his paw.)
How did he know we were down there in that exact spot? He hadn’t been swimming anywhere near us. (You can’t overlook a 160 lb dog swimming close by.) Newfoundlands of course are water rescue dogs. But we went so deep, so fast, and were nowhere near him. I don’t know what rescue instincts kicked in for him, but I’m beyond thankful. God was watching over us. Seeing his paw was like seeing a life raft when there’s no hope. I wasn’t even thinking about hope. There was no hope. I knew that. I wasn’t scared, I was exhausted. I’d done all I could. I didn’t have anymore. I was dying for lack of oxygen but trying so hard not to inhale.
We’d disappeared in a split second, yet Tuffy came to the exact right place, right when I was done in. He wasn’t even treading water. It was like he just put himself in park in that one place. He was a rock, when I reached his paw, he let me climb him with McKinley still clinging onto me. Tuffy swam out from wherever and stayed in place, saving our lives and then he swam back towing a couple hundred pounds. He was totally chill, like this was an everyday occurrence. Uncanny instincts.
I came out bleeding in several places, scratches, punctured, cuts and bruises. While under water I felt McKinley’s weight and knew he was clinging to my left side so I could only try to stroke with my right arm and kick, but I wasn’t aware of being scratched, punctured, etc. until we were safe and I pulled up my shirt sleeves and saw the blood running. I was scared when we were safe.
It was miraculous that we were alive! Tuffy and the Almighty saved us. A matter of moments and we’d have certainly drowned. No doubt in my mind. I would have inhaled water, which would have panicked me, and that would have been the end of the story.
In the summer Tuffy always spends the nights on the tile in the basement laundry room, where it stays cool. That night he laid down next to my bed and he stayed there all night. I think he was still on watch. God Bless Tuffy. He saved my life. He saved McKinley’s life.
All of this is true. Excluded are the conversations between myself and my husband.
The following Sunday we took both dogs to a different lake. I didn’t want McKinley’s near drowning to be his lasting water memory. I’d also bought him an XL life jacket that he was wearing. This time it went better. Good enough anyway.
All of this is true. In the aftermath I still can’t think about it without weeping. God must have something for me to do for He was certainly there with us.
The following day Tuffy was still wet in places and too tired to lift his head. He had responded immediately from someplace and he’d worked very hard. See pic.
Tuffy gave me this birthday.”
Tata
What a face on Henry! So expressive!
WaterGirl
@AdamK: Good one, isn’t it?
Tata
@MoxieM: What an incredible story! Give these good dogs treats from me.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@WaterGirl: Lol chihuahuas are tiny! He only weighs 6 lbs. I don’t know if I could get the cookie small enough! My son makes his food, so the vet told him to just put more vegetables in it and let him have more of it, so maybe I’ll be able to give him 5 or 6 1/4 cup meals instead of just 4. He’s also supposed to start on prozac if Pete can find someplace that supplies it in a small enough dosage, so that may help with his anxiety too. Although, come to think of it, the excess cortizol from the Cushing’s may be why he’s anxious…
WaterGirl
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)):
If it’s anything like with my sister’s dog, I suspect he will.
Are you assuming he’s anxious because of the constant in-your-face panting? That was the first clue that something was wrong with my sister’s dog. They don’t feel right and they know something is wrong, plus the panting is a classic physical symptom in response to the disease, as I recall.
CaseyL
@MoxieM: I think I was holding my breath through most of that story. Tuffy the Hero.
brantl
Newfies have been known to pull boats to safety, across many miles of water.
rikyrah
That cute face??