He can swim!!!!

[mamadog]

Holy scare me to death!!!
I went to bring luch to my husband this afternoon and I had Finn come along too (he still needs a lot of socialization and he's not ready to be home alone for too long)  So we left the job site and went to a park down the street that is right on a river. The river is quite high this time of year with fast currents.  Finn does great off leash, he won't leave my side. So I let go of his leash and we went on a run. Well, I was running, he was just sorta galloping!  My husband takes him walking down by the river to see what he thinks of the water cause he's never been around it before. Finn gets 2 feet from the river and just jumps in!!! No testing the water with a paw, no sniffing....ju st a full jump right in. I was at the top of the hill and when I saw Finn in the river I went running! My husband was in shock and neither of knew if he could even swim. But as soon as my husband called his name he swam over to the shore and climbed right out, and was a very happy boy! And with the currents in the river he must be a very strong swimmer.
I had just told my husband I was going to ask the IW people in here if they are good swimmers...I know some dogs can't. But I guess I found out, the scary way!

Vicki  and Super Finn!

[Jaimie]

Glad to hear that your pooch can swim, what an ordeal that would have been if he couldn't.  My Dobe LOVES to swim.

[jabear]

Fantastic news! It would've been one heck of a mess if you had to jump in and get him. 

[mamadog]

Oh no... my husband would have had to jump in. I don't swim very well on my own, much less dragging a 80 lb dog!  But now I know he could save me if I needed it!!

Vicki

[nickerbokker]

thank goodness everyone is okay!

LOL, this reminds me of my dummy cody.....i went over to a girlfriends house last summer and brought cody with me to play with her two goldens, and she has a HUGE pool and i didn't' even think anything of it so we were walking aorund and cody was running around smelling everything and me and lisa were just chatting....sh e started to turn around for some reason and i heard her shout and at the same time i heard a splash.....cod y was trying to drink the pool water, and flat out fell into the pool, so we both ran over to it, and my big guy was half under water (what a water dog huh), so we both had our arms in trying to pull him to the steps and i was 2 seconds from jumping in to get him when he starting to swim properly and we went over to the stairs and called him and he swam right up to us.....the darn dog was SOOO glad to be out of the pool, and i was SOOOO glad he was okay and didn't hurt himself during any part of that whole mess.  he didn't go near the pool again!

i totally know what you felt when you saw the furball jump into the water, your heart just stops!  but all is well, and that is now a GREAT story to laugh at right??!?!?!??!

[mamadog]

It is a great story... my husband (who was just as freaked as I was) started bragging about it to his crew as soon as I brought him back to the job site!  Finn is such a Mamas boy that I think it was the first time we have seen him be independant and fearless! Hopefully we will see more of that as he grows.
Our ohter two dogs (they are my baby girls) are about 30 lbs, cute as heck and very much my dogs. My husband wanted an IW, he wanted a dog of his own...and Finn has turned out to be more needy and attached to me than the other 2 are!  We're both hoping he "toughens up" a bit...but it is soooo cute!!!

Vicki

[mamadog]

Honestly, we don't worry. It's not really in my nature. I know of the health problems that are common to IW's and I ofcourse hope that it never happens to us. However I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and if we are only meant to be together for a short time, it will be sad, but I can accept that. I just love the heck out of him now and will do my best for him if and when the time comes for him to leave us, no matter when that is or from what.  I have dealt with loss of close humans in my life and was thankfully able to find peace with the passings. I hope I am able to do the same with my fur babies.
As for the cost... it was a BIG factor for us as well. My husband wanted one so bad, but I am cheap and we're not wealthy. When I saw the price ($1200-2500) I said no way!  When we got Finn it was fate. My husband was looking on line at IW's (which he did a lot). Every breeder I had found was quite far away...  but he found an ad for a 5 month old puppy and he fell in love with the face. I looked at the breeder info and it turned out they were an hour from where we live. We didn't have the $1200 they were asking, but I thought I would call and at least talk to the breeder to learn more about IW's.   I ended up on the phone for 2 hours with her and she said if we wanted him she would love for us to have him and when I told her we didn't have $1200 she said she would sell him for $800 AND take payments... she just felt he was supposed to be ours. So we went to neet him, fell in love and took him home. We had to pay $400 up front and it just so happened that we had $500 left from our tax return money (after paying off some bills) and were going to do something fun with it, but didn't know what yet. It was just too perfect. 
We feel very strongly about rescuing dogs as opposed to buying. Our 2 sheltie mixes came from a shelter and our 2 cats were rescued from bad situations too. Once we're living on our 15 acres I know we will rescue as many as we can feed! But I feel no guilt about Finn....it was meant to be!
I know right now on petfinder.com there are several IW mixes looking for homes, and they're usually reasonable about the price.
I'm in Maine...what state are you in?
And we LOVE Danes too! The first time I saw one in person I was blown away. Beautiful babies!

Vicki

[mamadog]

I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get an IW. They're really speacial, though I know they all are. (but no really....thes e ones are very special!) I don't ever want to live in a house without n IW again. It would feel so empty.
It would be great to get another so Finn could have a playmate. My 2 sheltie mix girls don't really play with him. They get along, but when Finn gallops up to a less than 30lb dog it can be scary! My girls try to get out of the way or bark at him. I feel so bad for him, like the kid on the playground that no one will play with.. And with his size he really could hurt them without meaning to, so it's probably best.
But we are first time home owners, only been here a year so we can't move yet and there really is'nt room here for another dog! 3 humans, 3 dogs, 2 cats in a 2 bedroom house....yikes! Some nights I can't get into my own bed cause it's full before I get there! (I move them! I'm still the big dog!)
But I will get another as soon as we can. My husband and I would be interested in breeding some day...but not any time soon. That is a big commitment and a lot of work and we have tons to learn before we could even think about it!
I'm on my first coffee, and I don't remember where I was going with this!!!
Vicki