Beanie has had her first “real” swim at the park! It’s not the best of photos (heavy tree cover) but here’s the moment she took the plunge:

It’s a landmark moment for our pup, and proof that those swimming lessons have done some good. Admittedly the fact that it was a really hot morning probably helped too – she waded right into the cool water and swam without any prompting from us. We’ve booked another lesson for her next week to keep up the momentum, and I’m very hopeful that she’ll become a regular swimmer in the pond and streams at the park.

So it looks like we’re well on the way to conquering our Beagle’s inherent dislike for water. The other Beagle-ism I’ve been trying to break is her total disinterest in playing fetch. For a long time she would run after the ball/stick/frisbee/whatever only in response to competition from other dogs. I have perservered though, trying short fetch games in the garden whenever she seemed receptive.

Dog walkers in one of our local parks seem to have an addiction to those ballistic ball throwing thingies. Being naturally stubborn (I’m from Yorkshire) , I’ve been determined to resist this flexible plastic virus, but I have noted that lately Beanie has shown much more interest in balls whenever they’re in use. Well, last night we succumbed:

Damn you Tesco, damn you and your cheap pet products!

It only cost £1 from our local Tesco. It came with a poor quality orange tennis ball, and as I picked it off the shelf I said to Susan “that’ll last five minutes”. I was wrong, because in fact it lasted just 3 minutes.

Our little Olympian chewer Beanie was the first to puncture it’s delicate orange epidermis.

Hmm, I’m sure that ball was spherical a moment ago

It was all downhill from there, of course.

Penny and Sophie finish it off with a tug of war

Still, it does enable you to throw much faster and further, and I think it could help us to break the Beagle Fetch Taboo. It’ll get another outing this afternoon, albeit with a more robust ball!

Swimming is just as good for dogs as it is for humans. It exercises muscles in ways that walking and running can’t, and does so without loading the joints. Unfortunately Beagles tend not be keen on entering water – a trait that Beanie shares. She became a little less reticent after the “Pool Party” at the Pets A & E therapy pool, so we decided to give her another, longer swimming session on Tuesday.

She was a little uneasy and splashy at first, but with gentle coaxing from the excellent staff she started to relax. By the end she was confident enough to show an interest in one of the toys.

The session concluded with a quick shower and good rubdown with a towel.

I think some kind of perfumed gel was used for the shower because Beanie smelled unusually fresh as sat in my lap on the way back home. Perhaps that’s the real reason why Beagles aren’t keen on swimming – one session washes away the delicate eau de toilet built up by hours of rolling around in dead frog carcasses and assorted wildlife droppings. Aagh! There’s never a pile of fox poo to hand when you really need it!

The day after her session at the pool I did note that Beanie was quite happy to wade through a stream at her local park, so it seems to have done some good. Maybe another session or two will make her brave enough for a little solo swim in the park’s lake. It would at least enable her to gobble up the bread that the silly two-legged types keep throwing at ducks :)