Hi, I’m Dr. Maja! Read my introduction to study extra about me and my two crossbreed canine, Lava and Hela.
So, as a canine born and raised on the attractive island of Kefalonia in Greece, you’ll assume that swimming would come so simply to Hela. Well, issues aren’t at all times as they appear. After assembly Hela for the primary time final spring after which seeing her clumsy makes an attempt at staying afloat this summer time, it turned apparent that in her time in Greece, she in all probability had no thought she was really dwelling on an island and had by no means been within the water. But she is an adventurer at coronary heart and can attempt most issues a minimum of as soon as.
Shouldn’t All Dogs Know How to Swim?
Swimming comes so naturally to many canine breeds, that it’s straightforward to overlook that not all are such nice or enthusiastic swimmers. With Hela being a presumed Hungarian Viszla cross, primarily based on her appears, countless drive, vitality ranges, and my modest vet guessing, I anticipated her to be thrilled on her first encounter with a close-by lake. However, she was extra thinking about all of the sounds made by the frogs, whereas insisting on discovering every one. Luckily, she didn’t get any in any respect. But she additionally confirmed no intention to get into the water any deeper than her wrists and ankles for the primary few occasions. I used to be fairly disillusioned.
Learning From Lava’s Example
Luckily, my different canine Lava loves swimming, which additionally took her nearly two years to understand. Lava will swim moderately far, pondering she will be able to really catch a duck that’s miles away, however I wouldn’t need to burst her bubble. Anyway, Hela has now had a number of alternatives to study from observing Lava swim with confidence and ease, nevertheless it nonetheless took her one 12 months to truly attempt it out for herself, and it was something however swish. Truthfully, it wasn’t one thing I’d proudly share on social media, nevertheless it was very entertaining to observe and nonetheless makes me smile.
It’s Hard Not to Laugh
Well, it was a sight for sore eyes and an instantaneous temper lifter. Alongside Lava, who was swimming gracefully and sliding throughout a nonetheless lake, there was Hela, doing one thing between swimming and leaping, making her approach via the reeds. She was additionally attempting to shake her head on the identical time, as clearly she hadn’t but found out how to not get water in her ears. She was on the lead, so I used to be prepared to drag her out if she received caught, however the sight was too humorous to intervene, and he or she appeared to have it underneath management. At least I hoped so.
Luckily, Hela Has Turned to Other Hobbies
It appeared that Hela herself was conscious that swimming was not her sturdy swimsuit, and he or she shortly turned to her different favourite actions. One of them is digging, and he or she is simply superb at this. Unfortunately. All my efforts of retaining the grass wanting tidy had been in useless. Every day, there may be one other gap, and it’s nice when there’s just one. Besides digging, Hela can also be nice at discovering all of the smelly and rotten wild animal leftovers, lots of unrecognizable origin, and consuming them within the blink of a watch, in addition to finding voles and rodents. She is so proficient at this that I can’t even let her dig for greater than 30 seconds, as I do know she is going to dig one thing up.
There’s Always Hope
We went again to the lake a number of occasions over the summer time, with unchanging outcomes. Hela was working and leaping via the water, whereas Lava was trying to chase geese. I attempted my finest to faux neither of the 2 canine was mine, which was particularly laborious when a gaggle of native fishermen checked out us with very severe facial expressions. Hats off to them for staying so cool when wanting on the three of us. Must have been a sight! Despite Hela clearly not being a gifted swimmer, or any kind of swimmer for that matter, I continued taking her to the lake. Seeing her run round fortunately, stumping via the water and in search of frogs, was sufficient of a purpose.
