Early Spring

We’ve had an interesting winter here in central California. I live at 5500 feet elevation in a small mountain community. Actually it’s not as small as it once was, but by most standards it’s still small. Thankfully I have permission to hike on private property that is basically right out my door. This property is mostly unused, although it is grazed part of the year by cattle belonging to the owner. In the winter Wally has a lot of freedom to run and be wild. In the summer his freedom is diminished because of the ungodly amount of foxtails and his propensity to inhale them into his olfactory system. Due to the foxtails (and the rattlesnakes he can’t seem to leave alone) we switch to more swimming and less running in the summer months. This suits Wally fine since swimming is in his top five favorite things to do. We are very fortunate that there is also a pond (actually two this year thanks to the wet winter) on the same property that we hike every day. With the weather warming and the ponds full Wally has taken to checking the water temperature every day when we pass by the ponds. It’s a hoot to watch. He goes down to the waters edge and walks in until the water hits his belly. If it’s too cold he just gives it a longing look and then moves on to another activity, such as digging in a squirrel hole. But….if he thinks it’s warm enough he looks to me for permission to jump in for a swim. (He has been taught that he can’t just dive into the pond, he has to be given the ok first.)

I did let him go for a couple late winter swims on days that he asked when I thought that it was warm enough. It was still cold, especially after emerging from the pond into 45 degrees. And he only swam for a minute or so, but he stayed warm enough running the hills on the way back. Then, when we got home, I would blow dry him with the dog grooming dryer.

Now that the weather is warming up, Wally got to swim 3 days in a row this past week, much to his delight. When it was still fairly cold his swims were short….test runs I suppose. With the warmer weather he is swimming for at least 15 minutes straight. This could probably be longer, but I only have about an hour to hike after work so I usually have to call him back to shore so we have time to walk back to the house. So far he only complained once, and that was the first day of swimming. He had been swimming for a bit and I said it was time to go. While I walked away he chose to stay at the ponds edge. As I got farther away he moved around the pond to keep me in sight. Once I got far enough away that he couldn’t see me he ran to the other pond where he could still keep an eye on me. When I got too far from that pond he ran to catch up with me and then proceeded to try to herd me back to the ponds. After a minute he gave up trying to turn me back and moved on to other things. Border Collies are so funny. I know a lot of people think they are just crazy, but if you have a little understanding of how they think you will see that a lot of what many people think is “crazy” behavior is just them trying to control the situation….which is what they were essential bred to do.

Enjoy Spring everyone! To me it always seems way too short, but I live in Central California where it it gets hot and dries out fairly quickly. Thank God we have some snow pack and water this year. It sure is welcome, even if it felt like the never-ending winter. Last summer we had a fairly dry winter, and Wally’s swimming pond was very low and a little unpleasant towards the end. The last few weeks of summer he had one deep spot left where he could actually swim. This year, with both ponds being full, I think Wally will be happily swimming until the weather turns too cold again!