Water dogs!

 I don't remember teaching our dogs to ride in a kayak.  We must have taught Archer along the way since we didn't have a kayak when he was a puppy.  Archer was such a low maintenance,  up for anything dog I don't remember it being an issue.  By the time Sisko came into our lives, I think we just tossed him in and he adjusted.

But Sisko's personality is VERY different than Booker's.  Booker is way more high-strung and anxious.  He also does not have a lot of patience.  (This is not meant to be critical of him - it's just his personality.)

Not to mention that he is now over 9 months old so introducing something new gets more challenging as a dog gets older.

So I have been thinking about introducing Booker to kayaking for a while now and having some anxiety about it.  As the weeks have dragged on with cold, rainy weather, I have been frustrated.  The lake is my happy place so I wanted to get the kayaks in the water AND I wanted to introduce Booker to this adventure sport.

While the weather was far from ideal today, it was relatively warm, but overcast and we thought we could launch without a lot of people - AKA distractions.

So off we went.

We kayak in calm waters so usually we don't worry about life jackets (for ourselves or the dogs) but this being his first time I was a bit concerned that he would jump out, so the lifejacket went on.  

 Then it was time.  It took some persuasion to get him in the kayak with Marc and his first instinct was to immediately jump out.  Marc held him in and then he watched as Sisko happily jumped in with me and immediately laid down - this is old hat to him!

Then we began to paddle.  Much to my surprise and relief, Booker was more curious and fascinated by this new experience than scared.  He did have a few moments of apprehension...

The biggest challenge was getting him to sit in a way that he wasn't crushing Marc's legs or preventing him from paddling.  Once he got used to it, I convinced Marc to take off his life jacket - which is a bit bulky - thinking that this would allow him to lie down comfortably.

And.... SUCCESS!!

Could he be any cuter??!!

We made our way over to the beach area.  Then it was time for a walk, some playing, digging and lunch. 

We then had to make a short trip back to the launch area.  I was waiting to see how he would react to getting back into the kayak.  He could not wait to jump back in and then proudly rode like, I have to say it - the king of the world.

I know terrible right?

 There was a slightly tense moment as we arrived towards the launch and some geese and their babies let us know how displeased they were with us invading their space and when Booker saw him I thought he was going to leap out, but a sharp "NO!" from Marc reminded him to stay put.

So the first trip was a roaring success and I could not be happier!!  There will be many more trips this summer and I am so glad it appears that he will love every minute!