….sweetie-pie did so well!…..

…Boucle is 9 years old……and he used to really dislike the water…..
…didn’t like getting his feet wet at all….
…bought a small baby pool when he was little and tried many years to get him into it.  Tried luring him in with toys…..he would stretch and crane his neck as far as possible to get the toy before he was put one foot in the water……and then…maybe the other….and then…QUICK….out of the water………

…so I let him be…..
…but last year I would throw the stick closer and closer to the lake water…….
…and then one day he went exploring in the water…….off a big rock  platform……
here is the post from last year
…since then he has gone in, but only to the bottom of his shoulder……

This year…..he was excited to see the lake water…….and wanted to go in……
…but still only to his shoulder max…….

So I decide to try and teach him to swim.  Nine years old.  And he loves it.

A pic of us before the lesson.  Both of us just barely in the water.

…My technique was to gently hold under his chest, in deeper and deeper water. At first, his heart was beating so big.  He was afraid, and only came further out of trust for me.  After the first attempt, his heart was still going, but much less.  Such a brave and trusting Boucle.   And then across we went, very slowly.  And gradually over several trips across, I released my hold and let him do it on his own.

…Today – lesson 1, was to get the front feet off the ground, and let him keep his back feet on the ground.
….For the front feet, I encouraged him to paddle.  He figured it out after a few back and forth attempts.

And look!  Boucle went all the way out to his stick, by himself – he could still touch the bottom with his back feet, but he definitely was doing some paddling on the way back with his front feet.
Next lesson, will be getting the back feet off the ground too.

A pic after his first swimming lesson – watching the water, wanting more.

Happiness is a swimming lesson……

….at first…he almost had it…..
…but not quite….
…then……horrors…….it started to float away…..
…what to do…..
…sweetie-pie decided to try and stand on a rock in the water….
…still out of reach…….
..ah ha!….a little wading off the rock…..
…and he has it…..

First time going into the water this summer for Boucle.
If you remember, Boucle is not much of a water dog.
And last year was the first time he put his feet in.
So this was very brave.

….he had a wonderful time going in and out of the water this morning……

…so sweetie-pie and I had the fun filled morning at the lake, with Boucle running up and down the beach with the stick….

…later that day…we headed out to a local street festival…..
…but found it wasn’t much….
…so I turned the car around and went back to the lake……..a different waterfront park…..
…and we did a nice walk…..

…sweetie-pie in front of the Toronto skyline…..

…he was completely tuckered out from such a big day….
…happiness….