Butch the Wonder Dog

I took Butch with me to stay at Elizabeth's while I was hanging out with her and the baby. Every morning Yuki and I would take a walk and go to this little playground about 2 blocks away. There is a little pond there with a walking path around it. And on the pond are many ducks and a few geese. So, Butch was running around checking out the lay of the land, and sees a duck getting into the pond from the shore. To fully understand how completely amazing the following is, first consider that

1. Butch will be 10 years old on September 18th.
2. Butch HATES water. In all the years I've had Butch, he would avoid water like the plague. The most I've EVER seen him do, is just walk in water along the shore of any body of water, but only until the water was about 1/2 way up his legs.

So, there we are watching all these ducks waddle down to the water's edge and start to swim. And to my amazement, Butch jumped in and started to swim after those ducks! I start to panic because I think "Butch Can't Swim." I figure he'll just have to drown because I can't go in after him and leave Yuki on the shore alone. I keep calling to Butch, and when he was about 1/2 way across the pond, he finally listens and comes back to shore. Whew! Close call!

The next day, I think to myself, "I'll go the OTHER way so that Butch won't be tempted by the evil ducks. Lo and Behold we come upon an area with THREE small retaining ponds. The largest one is probably one and a half times the size of the duck pond. But, I see no ducks, and feel confident that I can let Butch off the lead and that he will avoid the water. Yuki and I are examining the pond when about 20 ducks came out of one pond, over a little hill and into the pond we were looking at. All the ducks were mallards except one large white one. In the water they go, and in the water Butch follows! Butch is hot on the tail of the white duck. The duck is not at all concerned, and stays just out of Butch's reach, and, in fact, swims in wide circles in the pond. Butch swims in wide circles behind the white duck. Occasionally the duck would switch directions unexpectedly, and amazingly enough, Butch stayed in the game. Finally I decided that Butch needed to come out of the water before he became too exhausted to continue on and make it back to shore. I called him. He continued swimming in circles behind the white duck. I called again and again. Even Yuki got into it. He calls Butch "B" because he can't say Butch. Suddenly he points at Butch and yells, "B!! blah blah blah!!." I'm not really sure what the translation is there, but Butch sure was getting chewed out! When Butch finally did decide to come to shore, he had a bit of a rough time making it to the bitter end. He was really sucking wind when he finally got his feet under him.

Today, I woke up and decided Eliz just HAD to see Butch do this swimming miracle. But Butch refused to leave the house. Why? Because it was raining, and he hates to get wet...