Kitty Swimming Lessons

Our new dog Walter

Our furry family of pets have gained a new member.  Yesterday Marcy, Jessica (our daughter visiting from KC) and  I, went to pick up Walter at the Western Mohave Animal Rescue.  Marcy and I had gone there last week looking for a new dog. Walter, who is a Chocolate Lab/Great Dane mix, was sitting in his cage just waiting for us.   The next step was to bring Sammy for a  "meet and greet".  Sammy wasn't quite sure about Walter at first and there was a lot of tension, however, after a short while the two seemed to be getting along  pretty good. So we did the adoption paperwork and Walter became ours.

Walter immediately jumped into the back seat of our Jeep the second I opened the door and he rode home as happy as a clam, tongue hanging out and smiling at the other drivers.  Once home he went to exploring the back yard with Sammy following right on his tail (get it tail...never mind).  After some rough housing between the two of them both seemed to accept the new dynamics alright and things settled down.

Walter also showed us he doesn't have a fear of water as he waded chest deep into our pool for a long, sloppy drink which he performs every time he's thirsty.  So we now have a happy, goofy, smiling and wet dog roaming around the backyard.

The only little incident we had involved our Seal Point Siamese, Bing.  Bing loves dogs and Walter who was cat friendly, had already met all of the kitties in our family with no fuss.  However,  I had gotten into the pool while the girls were on the patio.  Bing had come roaming around the pool and walked up to Walter.  Walter spotting Bing gave him a big sniff and then jumped down with the front part of his body on the ground and his tail way up in the air, wanting to play.  Bing became startled by this big dog making such an aggressive move and without taking his eyes off Walter, Bing jumped up into the air about three feet and then backwards right into the pool.

There was a big splash and we suddenly had a frightened, wet cat swimming like crazy for the edge of the pool.  I was never sure if cats could swim until yesterday and I discovered that they can and quite well.  But at the time the situation was quite stressful.  Bing was swimming for his life, Walter was running laps around the pool smiling, the girls were screaming for Bing's immediate rescue and I was trying to wade my fat body from the shallow end to the deep end where Bing was swimming frantically while sending out pitiful SOS meows.

I was finally able to waddle myself into a position where I could get my hands on Bing and lift him out of the water at which point he raced off at the speed of sound, soaking wet into the house.  Marcy grabbed a towel and quickly snatched him up for some drying off and words of assurance that he really hadn't suffered a near-death experience.

This morning all is well in the Sacco household.  Walter has settled in like he's lived here for years.  While writing this blog this morning Walter and Sammy have been playing almost non-stop with much of their rough housing taking place at our feet or around where we are sitting.  The cats seem fine with him and even Bing seems to have gone back to his old self after his plunge into the icy surf yesterday.

Welcome to the family Walter...or maybe Patton...or maybe Napoleon.  Not sure if a name change is in order yet.

Have a purrable day...

Nick