Summertime is swim time at our house, although the people in our family generally lack the grace and skill of Kodiak, our 8-pound Pomeranian. Kodie started her swimming career early on. In fact, she wasn't even a year old when we discovered her penchant for splashing in a large Tupperware container.
Today, at age 4, Kodie has several pools and has perfected a variety of entertaining moves. Her favorite pool is actually a child's plastic sled which holds about 3 inches of water. This is where our Esther Williams prodigy performs spirited exhibitions for her admiring audience.
"Digging to the bottom of the pool" is Kodie's most aggressive antic as she forcefully churns the water for several minutes, splashing anyone near the pool and nearly emptying the contents onto the deck. The pool must be refilled regularly to maintain the water level. Kodie has developed svelte upper arms with this game. It appears to be very aerobic since her heart rate and breathing elevates considerably as she works her way to the bottom of no where.
Her "Belly Flop" is popular when the weather is so hot that laying down in the pool is the only way to cope. The side of the sled makes a nice head rest and if we would leave her alone, she would probably take a cool watery nap.
Kodie becomes a "Red Cross Life Saving" machine when we throw a favorite toy into the water. Without hesitation our Bay Watch beauty rushes to save it from the rippling water, snorkeling her muzzle down to grasp the errant toy. Once she secures it in her mouth, she dashes from the pool to the deck and drops the victim for a reviving tongue licking. After administering her version of CPR, she picks up the toy and swings it a few times as a reminder that the toy should never swim in the pool again.
"Wading" might seem mundane, but not to Kodie. Standing guard in the pool, she surveys the yard for rabbit intruders and chastises distant fire engines. Sometimes wading turns into a scouting mission to locate snacks that have fallen into the pool. In fact, the snacks that are in her pool are those that she put there for safe keeping.
Every athlete needs official equipment, so Kodie has her own towels and she uses two during each session - one for drying off and the other for resting. Her designated pool toys include a floating mini flexible disk and a rubber octopus. After each use we clean the toys thoroughly to avoid bacteria or fungus growth. Her pools are scrubbed weekly with hot soapy water.
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