We drove up to my parents’ cabin in the Adirondack Park the day after the trial. I swear it takes the dogs about 5 seconds, from the time we release them from the car, to end up play-fighting in the lake. They were happy and full of the wiggles to see my parents. They investigated every room in the house. And, finally, they settled down with us on the deck for a late lunch.
We probably spent several hours every day playing by the lake. With the water level waaaay down, there was plenty of rocky shore for them to race along. It also meant an easy entry to the lake, all the better for fetching sticks and tennis balls.
Maxwell seems to have remembered his swimming skills from Maine, and was happy to plunge through the water in pursuit of a ball. And when he dropped it back at my feet, he’d dash back in to chest height in anticipation of the next throw. He ignored a loon in the middle of the lake, he ignored Sadie’s sticks, and he wasn’t bothered by the occasional boat passing by.
Sadie split her lake time between fetching sticks (then trying to eat them on shore) and stalking Maxwell.
Stick-wise, she seemed to especially love one that was as long as her own body. She snatched it from the water by one end, then swam ashore with it held forward like a cigar. Predictably, it caught on the ground when she reached the shallows and she was forced to adjust.
When she decided that chasing Maxwell was more fun, Sadie practically turned into a cat. She would adopt a hard stare, ears forward, tail out stiff, body slightly crouched. If Maxwell noticed her attention, she would crouch even more, and sometimes begin to creep forwards. As soon as Maxwell made a sudden move, it was on. They would fly along the waterline at top speed, leaping over boulders, ducking under the dock, sliding through the shallows to make 180-degree turns. Sometimes Maxwell would lead her up into the woods, and we’d hear them crashing through the underbrush. We could tell when Maxwell was done being chased by the snarls. Not bad snarls. Just the horrible-sounding noises of two dogs chest-bumping, tooth-clashing, and face-bopping in a sibling tussle.
If we were already up by the house when a chase started, they usually ended up doing laps around the place. We would either go up on the deck where it was safe, or watch out for our own legs as they whipped past. On each lap, we could first hear a rumble, then panting, then the actual footfalls as they blasted by. The heavy breathing would fade until they came around again. It made me dizzy just to watch!
They only raced off too far a few times. They would end up a few docks down the shore, or at a neighbor’s driveway down the road. Generally, we could just call them to COME. Sadie would come crashing back first with a sloppy grin. Maxwell would follow a minute or two later and ask for a tennis ball. Overall, we were very pleased with their attention to where they were and whether they had gone too far from us.
With all this running and swimming, the dogs slept very well.
Sorry for the poor quality.
It was dark, and Maxwell was under a couch.
