Beach Bums

We've had Heidi, our Labrador Retriever, for nearly 11 years now, and she has never ONCE gone out into the water without it being a very grudgingly. She'd slowly walk into the water to go after a tennis ball, but as much as she LOVED her tennis balls, if one went out past about 10 feet from the shore, she'd turn tail back to the beach and call the ball a total loss.

Over the weekend, we had some sunny weather (first time in WEEKS) and took advantage by walking the family and the dogs down to the beach in our neighborhood to spend a few hours playing. Heidi trotted right down into the water, and even did some swimming back and forth between the shore and part of the dock. I was amazed! She went out into the water, totally on her own decision, at least 10 different times.

I guess our water loving breed of dog is a late bloomer?

I got this hilarious picture of her shaking off after one of her little swims: