More Milestones and Some Dampness

Yesterday, Thane and I went on a Grand Adventure.

Well...he probably viewed it as a Grand Adventure, anyway.  For me, it was at least a Moderate Adventure.  :P

We drove twenty minutes to Iona Lake - but wait!  Before that, we had another Milestone.

So I got Thane into his harness, gathered all the stuff I was bringing to the lake, walked with Thane to the truck, and opened the door - and Thane jumped up into the passenger seat all by himself!  That's right - with no prompting, no coaxing for ten minutes with bacon bits, and no dancing away to the end of the leash.

This is Big News, people!!

And, lol, it makes it sound like life with my dog is really hard.  I promise it's not - probably 90-95% of everyday life with Thane goes perfectly smoothly.  He's just got a few quirks that are probably mostly my fault (my to-do list to avoid similar problems with Puppy #2 is growing ever longer - handle her paws regularly, take her driving a lot, brush her often, etc.), and it's exciting to see him starting to get past some of those issues.

Anyway.

We drove to the lake and parked at a friend's camp.  It was a super hot, muggy day, but the breeze coming off the lake is always SO much cooler than the temperatures in town.

Thane followed me willingly down into the shallow water at the edge, but it quickly became clear that he wasn't eager to go deeper, so I went back to the truck for a long line to tie to his six-foot leash.  I went out a little ways - with some gasping as I adjusted to the cool water, lol - and called to Thane.  He played around for a while, coming closer, then dashing back toward shore.

Lol, he also spent a little while trying to catch dragonflies.  It's hard to see, but it's a bit in front of him, about level with his eyes:

Sniffing it...I wonder what a dragonfly smells like?

Snap!  And no, he did not catch it.  :P

But then, all of a sudden, he walked toward me - and he kept walking toward me, and then he was swimming!!  He did one little lap around me, huffing and puffing, with his nose sticking out of the water.

Lol, and then, of course, he dashed up into the brush on shore and got the zoomies, and I had to climb barefoot up onto the bank to untangle his leash and rope.  

I let him offleash after that, and he spent most of the rest of the time dashing through the trees and making occasional forays into the shallows.

So that was Milestone #2 - swimming.  Apparently Collies are generally not all that much into swimming, so I don't know if Thane will come to like it eventually or not...but it was fun to try.  And it tired him out pretty good, lol:

One last milestone for the day - we stopped by a groomer for a nail trim on the way back, and when we went out to the truck to go home, Thane once again jumped up into his seat without hesitation - good boy!!!

So...I was grateful that God gave us a fun morning at the lake yesterday, and that Thane is growing ever more mature!