Water Baby

Recently the weather has been very summerish here in Portland with temperatures in the 70's and 80's.  Not only has Athena been spending time soaking up the sun in her Andy Randy chair, but she's also been splish splashing in her new baby pool.

After the swamp incident, we thought that Athena might enjoy her very own pool (with clean water!) to take a dip in on warm days.  We already know that she LOVES the sprinkler, so we figured that the kiddie pool would be just the same.  It turns out Athena is in LOOOOVEEE with her kiddie pool too!

Of course at first, Athena was a bit afraid of the pool.  She initially thought it was a gigantic water bowl, but after we threw in a few treats, she got brave and poked her head under the water.  Athena didn't do a full splash in the pool until we threw her ball in though.

To make pool time more fun, we recently purchased a water toy make by ChuckIt that floats in the pool.  It turns out that Athena loves the thing almost as much as she loves her ball!  We like to toss the bumper toy into the kiddie pool, and then Athena chases after it.  It also make a great tug toy for practicing "drop it" and "tug."

All of Athena's pool splashing has got us thinking that we'd like to try dock diving in the near future with Cascade Dock Dogs!

Does your dog love the water?

Overcoming Fears: Water Play

Some of Athena's best pictures came from the photo shoot during her first time in the sprinkler on a hot day in Portland.  Today we will share some of the best pictures from yesterday's water play!

We have noticed a pattern in Athena's fear of new things and experiences.  The first time that Athena experiences something new she is usually very afraid, but will then be all for it the next time around.  This has been true for experiences such as playing in the sprinkler, approaching orange construction signs, watching the garbage can be rolled out to the curb, and drinking from the hose.

Last week B was watering the lawn and offered Athena a drink of water from the hose.  Athena was so afraid of the hose.  She kept running around it and wouldn't get close to take a drink.  When Athena is afraid of new things we show her that we are not afraid.  For orange construction signs we have gone up to them and hugged them, talked very gently to the garbage can, and drank from the hose.

Yesterday we busted out the hose again after a walk to see if Athena would take a drink.  She went right up to the hose and took a very long drink.  B began to water the lawn and Athena decided that she wanted more and more to drink.  This turned into quite the water play and we ended up with a soaking wet pooch (there goes the nice smell from her first bath!).

The many faces of not-so-fearful Athena!

Like the day Athena pranced around in the sprinkler, yesterday's hose play left us with some HILARIOUS photos.  Could Athena make funnier faces?  We don't think so!

What?!  A new pink towel?  I'm so spoiled!

Ok, you can rub my tummy if you insist!

Still showing off some pretty crazy faces even when drying off...

 What do you do to help your dogs overcome their fears?

-A & B

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Overcoming Fears: Sprinkler Time!

We have had some hot weather here in Portland the past few weeks.  Last week we had a few 100 degree days.  Today we got up to about 80 degrees, so B and I thought it would be a perfect day to pull out the sprinkler!

At first Athena wasn't too interested in the sprinkler.  She went up to it, took a drink of water, and then walked away without getting too wet.  After doing this a few times she got really into it and started to put her whole face right up to the sprinkler and ran in and out of it.

We thought it was pretty hilarious =)

How do you keep your dog cool in the hot weather?

-A

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