Lounging about

What's this?

 

 

A dog!  Lounging about the pool deck! 

 

This short-hair, thin coated hound devours warm summer days, finding the hottest spot to lay, and soak in the rays, and the pool deck is one of his favorite spots.

 

 

He avoided climbing the ladder up to the deck, until this year, unsure of his footing on the thin, open steps, but finally took the leap - now, looks forward to bouncing up, every time the steps are lowered, walking the perimeter, warily eying the water and occasional mammals that float past.

 

Some dogs swim, some dogs sink.  This dog's a sinker.  One of the first times he ventured up, he tried to walk across the tarp, immediately discovering it would not support his weight!  He let out a panicked whimper, his front paw gently pushing, repeatedly at the tarp while he teetered at the edge, balancing on just one hind leg!  We pulled him back, and that's the last time he tried that.  He's decided that humans are crazy.

 

He exits the deck gracefully, with great savoir faire, dropping a sole front paw, two steps down, gently pushing off with his hind legs to start him forward, then kicks more powerfully as he begins to fall, launching away from the pool. 

 

Very rarely, he'll miss, and tumble slightly, usually finding an alternate step to push away from -- or, he'll just walk off on his front legs!  He gets very annoyed when this happens, giving a look of great disgust, but walks it off, like no big deal, too cool to let it phase him.

 

We are sad to report, that the sole black whisker, on the white side of his face, the right side of his face -- it is gone...

 

 

His whiskers are now, entirely uniform:  White on the right, black on the left. 

 

 

That's a lot of nose -- we need someone to draw the alot of nose.  Ari would be good for that:  She informs us, incidently, that the big floppy ears of the hound, actually serve to waft scents towards that big honker as the dog runs.  A very cleverly designed beast.